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The debate over lyrics that promote the worst in our culture is an ongoing affair that we all secretly deal with. It can be difficult to define the line between intentions to either sound the alarm or glorify atrocious acts of violence. As such controversy drives what the music industry seems to expect from Hip-Hop, these two motivations have become blended together – drowned and shrouded in either the obscurity or bright lights of the center stage.

Specifically, domestic violence has drawn such momentum and scrutiny. From Alice Walker’s "Color Purple" to Camron’s Purple Haze, misogyny poses an all too real threat focused specifically within African-American culture. But in all honesty, this cultural scourge neither thrives solely in ethnic distinction nor the Hip-Hop phenomenon. It exists as society’s underside as a whole that threatens our very source of life. After all, a bruised apple can’t fall far from the tree that’s been too ravaged to produce fruitful seeds.

“Battery’s Not Included”

I’ve taken a vow of poetic non-silence

To disavow and correct

a sense of domestic violence.

The Palm Pilot I write with guides this

as it strikes its latent surface.

So to stop hits, I’ll drop this.

When the cops miss, I’ll admonish…

Battery topics are catastrophic

when they break the circuit.

Somewhere along the Alpha line

Some primates crossed the alkaline.

Some men are satisfied

smacking and being rude to women.

I don’t care how much acid she spits,

NO woman EVER asks to be hit…

No woman wants to match bruises

of blackened blueness with hues of crimson.

To operate relationships,

the battery’s not included.

If he stomps you into disgracefulness –

such flattery’s abusive.

Let me gladly stop the foolishness –

real men don’t bruise or hit their better halves.

And just so you know,

that pink bunny he gave you

Can’t excuse being a beating dummy

to channel his rage through…

As long as he tramples his way through –

such kinetics can never last.

Whether an internal bruise or verbal abuse,

You’d best believe it’s still hurtin’ you.

Certain brutes choose rudeness

to influence their ladies’ worth.

Undermining the treasure within women

Un-designs their measure suspended in gems…

As the extent of such men upends them

with hateful words.

Such emotional scars left

run deeper than the physical.

Such vocal alarms set

leave discreet residuals.

They’re completely pivotal

as they load interior bombs set.

If this is his tune –

dislocate him from your hips.

If dude berates you like a b*tch

You ought to replace him by the pitch

of his inferior complex.

Even worse, there should be

no quicker way to draw a charge

Than when liquor plays a part

in battery – small or large.

Cell units should foster and guard

them if AA’s part of their past.

Alcohol only worsens the scenario

As amalgam brawls merge with barley flows…

Only sorry bros spar their souls’

match once they’ve left the bar smashed.

Whether abusive drunks or unruly punks,

These men should use a ‘rule of thumb.’

Though disproved by some –

its lore should be viable for some.

It states that women can’t

get hit by a blunter source

Than anything wider

than a thumb of force…

So whether she’s collided

with one punch or four –

she’s liable to shake, slide him and run.

Sadly though, when females’

strength is beaten out of them

With strategy blows detailed

by heathens that pound them,

There’s a power outage

expounded by cowards

who assault their worth.

As they’re allowed to devour

our brightest sparks,

They sour our

women’s timeless marks…

It’s high time they’re tossed –

lest they trample afoot

the true salt of the earth.