I spent the weekend in New York City doing all the things that a father dreams of doing with his teenage daughter. We dropped by BET's show, "106 & Park" as guests of one of the hosts, Rocsi. It was interesting sitting in the stands with crazy teenagers, watching one video after another. One funny side note about 106 & Park: Rocsi is far thinner in real life than she appears to be on television. I wanted to tackle the poor girl and make her eat a sandwich. No disrespect to Rocsi though, she is a beautiful woman. Of course every other video had Lil Wayne in it, the man is just everywhere.

Another one of my favorite people in the world of media is "Free," who once hosted 106 & Park. My daughter and I did an interview with Free for Power 105, and again, Lil Wayne popped up during our discussion. I look to individuals like Free to help me figure out how to contextualize the impact of Lil Wayne and other unique artists. Given her conscious nature, Free reminds me of another friend out of NYC, "Charlamagne Tha God", the former co-host of "The Wendy Williams Experience." Both Free and Charlamagne have their hands on the pulse of hip hop, but they seem to have an equally strong commitment to embracing that which is most positive for our community. It is for that reason I respect them both.

Charlamagne called me this morning from his new show on 100.3 "The Beat" out of Philadelphia. Today's conversation involved (of course) Lil Wayne. I wrote an article about some disturbing elements of Lil Wayne's performance at the BET Awards. It turns out that I wasn't the only one in the black community who has been curious about Lil Wayne's reach. The incident Charlamagne brought to my attention really took the cake.

In a recent interview, Lil Weezy made a very disturbing comment about his willingness to kill newborn babies in order to defeat his rivals (the audio is in the conversation with Charlamagne below). These words only serve to worsen the fact that Wayne has our kids repeating the phrase "I wish I could f- every girl in the world." His latest hit is one in which he brags about always being "strapped" when he hits the club. I would not be surprised if "being strapped in the club" has become just a little bit cooler than it was before.

It is not my right to decide where the line should be drawn between creative expression and dangerous usage of public platforms. Freedom of speech is important, but if you live in the communities most affected, the lyrics become far too real. The black community is ravaged by gun violence, HIV infections and drug addiction; we can't quite afford to promote and glorify the very worst elements of our existence.

The bottom line is this: Our community has a long list of problems. Additionally, hip hop music is not just about beats and rhymes; it reflects, communicates and promotes a way of life. Such platforms are quite powerful, and there must be a point at which we encourage those with access to these platforms to be responsible in the use of their voice. Lil Wayne is probably not going to come around any time soon, but it goes deeper than him. As a community, there must be accountability placed on those networks and radio stations that play Lil Wayne songs every 10 minutes. These stations must also show that they too care about our children. Grandmaster Flash once said, "A child is born with no state of mind." Well, if we are filling their empty minds with guns, drugs and irresponsible sexual behavior, we are giving them the recipes for self-destruction.

The audio is below if you'd like to take a listen. Enjoy!

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a distinguished Scholar with the Barbara Jordan Institute for Public Policy at Texas Southern University. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered directly to your e-mail, please click here.