A hip hop artist's visit to a Dallas middle school has sparked controversy.
It's not what he said, or what he did, but what students went home with that's drawing concern.
National hip hop artist Gorilla Zoe visited Pearl C. Anderson Junior High School on Friday.
He was there for a motivational speech but left students with a poster that has some questionable content and left parents wondering why the school allowed it.
This poster contained the cover shot for Gorilla Zoe's new album, showing the rapper smoking, drinking and packing a pistol in his pocket.
Pearl C. Anderson is blanketed in signs prohibiting cigarettes, alcohol and weapons.
So why did every 10 and 11-year-old go home with the poster?
"I'm not with this at all," said one mother.
Some parents were alarmed by the message it sends.
"I don't want this kind of image," the mother said.
The Atlanta-based rap star spoke to the middle school students at an assemby Friday, sharing a positive message.
"He was telling us how we should do better in our classes, how his life was when he was growing up, rap was his last opportunity," said one student.
The event's promoter tells News 8, the school's principal signed off on the visit but the principal had little to say about sanctioning the poster giveaway.
"The spoken word is just as positive," Benita Noiel-Ashford said.
The handout is also upsetting to some activists.
"He may have talked the talk, but he's not walking the walk," said activist, Ron Wright.
His first success, a little tune called “Hood Nigga.”
The Principal
Good Lawd, what was she thinking ??? Rap music today isn't what they had back in our days. This stuff is violent, filthy and all about gangsta driven lifestyles. Yeah, a real role model for young kids.
Subject: hip hop visit 
Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:15 am
