Concerned Parent Complains about Song Po Pimp Homework Assignment

The song “Po Pimp,” featuring rap artist Twista, was mentioned in a sentence of the homework assignment, causing a concerned parent to complain to the school board. The appearance of a 1990s rap song title in a fourth-grader’s homework assignment has prompted complaints by an angry parent in Georgia.

Scott Tolleson appeared before a school board in Newton County, Ga., after his son showed him a homework assignment featuring a sentence about “Po Pimp,” a hit song by rap group Do or Die. “Try to explain to a fourth-grader what ‘Po Pimp’ is,” Tolleson told WSB-TV.

The assignment, part of an English language-arts class, dealt with sentence structure and relationship of ideas, including concepts of compare and contrast, sequence, and cause and effect. The sentence in question dealt with a chronological series of career milestones by rap artist Twista, including his appearance in the “Po Pimp” video in 1996.

Tolleson said that after watching the video for “Po Pimp,” he was disturbed by the song’s references to illegal activity and the objectification of women. “It was very upsetting to my family when we saw this,” Tolleson said. “My wife was left in tears at the kitchen table.”

Aside from the song’s content, Tolleson asked the school board if “this kind of slang is appropriate in language arts.” “We take great care to review documents selected by our curriculum teams,” Samantha Fuhrey, superintendent for Newton County schools, said in a statement. “Unfortunately we missed this item.”

Fuhrey reportedly apologized to Tolleson at the school board meeting and promised to address the issue. In 2013, the same sentence appeared in a fourth-grade homework assignment for students in Vermilion Parish, La., enraging several parents.