dt_flasher=
In 2003, <a href='http://www.salon.com' target='_blank'><u>Link to Salon</u></a> hip-hop is more tolerable to the masses than it has ever been. These days, rappers are often better known than contemporary rock stars -- even emcees not named Eminem. Seeing rappers doing commercials for major consumer products still gives pioneering hip-hop journalist and "media assassin" Harry Allen pause. "I'm one of those people that, to this day, when I hear hip-hop in a commercial, I'll write down the name of the commercial and the product, just as a form of recording it," Allen says. "I remember very clearly when you didn't hear that." 
White kids have jumped on hip-hop the same way that their parents and grandparents did with Little Richard. But there are still curmudgeons, just as there were in the days of early rock 'n' roll. The obvious example has been Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly, rap's most visible critic over the past six months. His first attack on the genre came against Pepsi's choice of rapper Ludacris as its spokesman. O'Reilly and his viewers managed to get the spots pulled, ostensibly over Luda's foul language. Later, O'Reilly attacked Jay-Z when the rapper was named Principal for a Day at schools during his latest tour. Both actions were made under the auspices of protecting "morality," and that is certainly O'Reilly's prerogative. But when Pepsi chose Ozzy Osbourne -- full-time legend, shock-rocker emeritus, and current winner of the Cleaver/Huxtable TV Dad of the Year Award, O'Reilly was notably silent. 
