At TV station WITI in Milwaukee, no news was the news when Ludacris played Summerfest July 1.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened and that was the Fox network affiliate’s lead story on the morning newscast, according to a blog from Milwaukee’s alternative weekly Shepherd Express. The rapper performed a G-rated show after being asked to perform a “clean” concert without obscenities, according to TMJ4-TV. Ludacris even spoke out against violence in Milwaukee. There were a reported 30 arrests at Summerfest in comparison to 66 arrests on July 5, which featured Bon Jovi, indie-rockers Spoon, and B.B. King.

Around this time, the Kansas City Star asked if country music is getting a pass on misogynistic and violent lyrics. Rappers aren’t the only ones to be comfortable with marijuana. Toby Keith is apparently down with the chronic, too, announcing to the world that he’ll “Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again.”

Keith has released another “bus song” called “Running Block,” where a friend sets up the song’s narrator with a sister that once was the high school prom queen. Instead, “I tried to drink her skinny, but she’s still about 215. Sometimes you got to bow up and take one for the team.”

Keith told the paper the song is about a friend lying to his buddy, not about overweight women. And if anyone thinks differently, Keith says they should have a sense of humor.

“The idea that women are objects is prevalent in country music – it’s not exclusive to rap,” David Cantwell, co-author of “Heartaches by the Numbers: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles,” told the Kansas City Star.

“Rap uses more of what is considered vulgar language, but country is full of songs that appreciate women solely for their bodies or their looks.”

So although the meaning behind the lyrics may sometimes be the same, is it the specific word choices that make the difference?

“One thing about those kinds of country songs,” Cantwell said, “is they’re all done mostly tongue-in-cheek. They’re supposed to be funny. I think a lot of rap is kidding around, too. I just think that people who don’t listen to a certain genre tend not to get its humor. They miss the subtleties or don’t get the context.”

The opening track on Miranda Lambert’s new album, Gunpowder and Lead, is a song about a woman and her abuser that contains the lyrics, “His fist is big but my gun is bigger. He’ll find out when I pull the trigger.”

Lambert told the Star the song is about justice and women’s empowerment rather than a promotion of violence. Dixie Chicks promoted their share of similar empowerment with “Goodbye Earl.”

Of course, it’s harder to get insurance for a rap concert than a country concert because of past problems. But when it comes to lyrical content, is controversy genre specific? For instance, Keith and Lambert played Summerfest after Ludacris left but it appears the local press didn’t bother mentioning that nothing happened at these shows.