LENA: Mommy, who is Nicki Minaj?

A few keystrokes on Youtube brought back dozens of Nicki Minaj clips. I chose the first one. Without any effort, I found content that was vulgar and salacious enough to prove my point. Nicki Minaj's music is checkered with cursing, overt sexuality, attitude (particularly, that rude g'yal, "baddest chick" pretense), and the list goes on.

Last night's conversation coincided with some good news I received earlier in the day: the Music Rocks Your Soul campaign is up for a huge Pepsi grant. When I heard the details, I, for one, immediately headed over to the PEPSI voting site and bigged up the Music Rocks Your Soul campaign...twice! But, please, don't snitch, hear? It's just that MRYS makes it so easy to support their cause.

You see, music hypnotizes. For better or worse, it lures. It sells. It molds ethos. One is what one listens to.

Materialism. Promiscuity and other forms of confused sexuality. Alcoholism (blame it on the what?) Narcissism. Irresponsibility. Cynicism. Rebellion. Criminality plus murders, even.

All are beautified in today's music. To be sure, it's not just rap, but pop, R&B, and rock as well. Albeit, rap and hip hop certainly lead the pack.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Terrance Davis, a meek yet confident college senior and Public Relations major, was diligently chipping away at his senior thesis. Ever the conscientious student, he spends long hours in the library. Terrance's theory and research posits the notion that hip hop is a form of soft porn. From time to time, he and I converse - as it's always a pleasure to pick his brain.

"Tell me more about your research," I said this afternoon as he browsed the stacks for a particular title.

"Well, hip hop has really changed," Terrance contended. "Hip-hop reflects what our culture stands for. Musically and culturally, we suck."

Similar to Terrance, I've long grown weary of the deterioration of hip hop and all mainstream music, for that matter. Escaping the madness requires enormous filtering, vigilance and intention...which is why my daughter is taught not to avoid ALL secular music, but to be selective.

Is it hard? You bet! Nevertheless, filtering our music reinforces our household mission: LOVE IS SPOKEN HERE.

Lena and I take joy in downloading secular songs like "Just Fine" by Mary J. Blige and "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera (among many a Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers' hit). Sadly, though, positive non-Christian songs like "[Living my life like it's] Golden" by Jill Scott and "Put your Records on" by Corrine Bailey Rae or even "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield are few and far in between.

Going back to MRYS...the crew isn't just praying for a difference and asking God to change our musical climate. They ARE the difference. MRYS puts feet to their faith by discovering and developing conscious artists, hosting concerts, and providing workshops.

They tell AND show.

So, please, if you have a moment swing on by musicrocksya.com and show some love for this campaign.

Ana Guthrie is a super cool chick with a heart for God and love for youth culture. She doubles as a not-so-naughty librarian and instructor at Florida Memorial University in Miami, Florida.