The French National Anthem is a war song, too.

They don't glorify violence, they glorify patriotism, courage, the fight for freedom, etc.

but what about gangta rap?

that shit is legit!

french natl anthem has a line like this (paraphrasing):

"let your faces be streaked with the blood of half-breeeeeeeds!"

if that doesnt glorify violence then neither does The Chronic.

Cambridge Union?

Against the Motion:

Freedom of expression is a human right
A ban would not prevent this kind of music from being made and distributed, it would in fact make it stronger (forbidden fruit)
The music doesn't encourage violence- banning it is targeting a symptom not a cause.

For the Motion:

We maintain freedom of speech because of the benefits that result from it, not for any innate benefit. Indeed we have hate speech and incitement to racial violence laws already in this country.
The causes of violence are the culture that you are living in, which the music has a big influence on. The music changes peoples view of street crime and gangs by presenting it in a positive light.
Even if a ban were slightly effective, that is better than nothing.

Isn't patriotism more or less violence sanctioned by the tribe?

patriotism is just love of your country, so no. ^

Ridicule is often a good tactic, if you get on the correct side of the argument pretend to have an advanced copy of Emimen's new CD and list the following tracks stating such material sould be banned.

"Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross",
"Soldiers of Christ Arise"
"Fight the Good Fight"
"Onward Christian Soldiers"

If you happen to be on the other side of the argument just make up some stuff about 37% of all murders who responded to a recent survey said they were influenced by gangsta music, it doesn't matter that is not true, facts always go out of the window when such matters are discussed.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

@TGM

Yes, yes, I am aware that's what it is in theory, but in practice, it's love of your country in comparison with others. Down that road lies Dachau or Da Nang. Admittedly, it's quite a ways down that road. But the point remains: patriotism frequently manifests as violence toward foreigners.

thanks for the advice guys, keep it coming!!
Can a valid argument be made out of the fact that black rappers will suffer the most from this legislation?

@TGM, yes it is Cambridge Union! Did you do it 'back in the day'?
"A ban would not prevent this kind of music from being made and distributed, it would in fact make it stronger (forbidden fruit)"

But if you ban the selling of the music through record companies and on iTunes then producers of the music lose incentive to produce music with violent lyrics, so very little is produced. It also stops youth, new listeners from listening, the most susceptible sector of the audience to its messages.

@dave - 'back in the day'? How old do you think Ghost is!?
Unfortunately for me, this is the sort of policy that could get enacted at my university.

Anyway, to try and be constructive and on topic: Banning something leads to a backlash. If violent songs become illegal then listening to them will become cool. Not quite sure where that leads to (you could use a bit of hand waving to turn that either way) but its another entrance at least. Perhaps if you're for the ban, having something like this banned would make that the rebellious protest of choice, rather than a more sinister alternative.