Wellington - A chain of New Zealand music stores announced Sunday that it was launching an exclusive range of top 10 and classic hip hop albums that have had explicit lyrics removed. "The move comes at a time when parents are expressing increasing concerns around the explicit lyrics featuring in popular music," said Matt Ruys of the Sounds Music chain.
"The clean albums give parents the ability to buy popular albums for their children to listen to without being concerned about the nature of the lyrics. Many parents are concerned about the type of language that's becoming more prevalent in music, but they also don't want their kids to have to miss out on the albums being released by today's hip hop and R&B artists."
Ruys said the clean versions were exactly the same as the original recordings, but explicit lyrics had been removed by duplicating other words, replacing words or removing words to leave instrumentals only.
The clean albums range from latest releases like 50 Cent's new album, Curtis and Kanye West's popular Graduation, to hip hop perennials like Dr Dre, 2Pac and Notorious BIG.
