Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It: Subconscious Racism & Hip Hop

"Fuck the police."

It's a mantra that hip-hop listeners are all too familiar with. Year after year, statistics prove that the black community in America--particularly in lower-class neighborhoods--is subjected to unjust treatment from those supposedly designated to protect them. For the most part, these are the same communities that dominate the rap marketplace. It makes sense, then, that emcees would want to utilize their elevated status to take a stand against those who have continually treated them as second-class citizens. But what if antagonizing cops is actually exacerbating the problem and contributing to an endless cycle of violence?
The following article is not intended to provide answers. The scenario about to be presented is very much a chicken-or-the-egg kind of situation, so any point made here has an equal-but-opposite argument that's as valid as the first. The idea here is to get a conversation going and see how we, as hip-hop listeners, writers, and artists, can promote positive change. If this is a conversation you think is worth having, please read on.


How Hip Hop (And The Media) Contributes To Subconscious Racism
It's no secret that the media is about as kind to the black community as they are to sharks. With few black actors getting cast in principal roles for films that aren't about "the hood" and the majority of news outlets pushing every piece of gang-related violence they can get their hands on for easy ratings, the population is hardly portrayed in a positive light. (Hell, the first black Disney princess didn't come around until 2009.) This imagery sticks with people in socially destructive ways.
I won't try and defend the other mediums for their haphazard treatment of racial issues. (That's a topic for another day.) But the major difference between television and news in comparison with hip-hop music is that the other two come from outside perspectives. It's hard to blame news outlets for airing what will drive ratings, and it's hard to blame white screenwriters for not writing great black leads. Hip-hop artists, on the other hand, choose to, and often will, glorify (or "report," as I'll address later) gang violence and demonize the police for no reason other than to be "street." This, unfortunately, is a direct result of listeners pressuring artists to live up to those standards. Even a multi-platinum artist like Drake can't release a song without being called "soft." We live in a supply and demand society; if mainstream listeners start boycotting records that poorly represents the community and supporting those which don't, the rap game would change substantially.
There's a long-held myth that rap music--or anything with violent lyrics really--promotes violence, misogyny, and substance abuse. Whether or not that's true is certainly up to debate. What isn't up to debate, however, is that hip-hop artists have an enormous influence, not just within their community, but in how the rest of the world sees that community. When N.W.A. released Straight Outta Compton, they set the standard for what the outside world expects to find in South Central LA. To date, passers-by roll up their windows and lock their doors when they through the area. Now imagine that person passing through, anxious and fearful, is a cop with a gun. That's not a safe situation for the cop or the community.


"I give you the news with a twist of just his ghetto point of view." -Jay Z
You could argue, as many rappers have, that N.W.A's album didn't create Compton's culture, it simply reported it; that if the communities are fixed then the music will be too. The problem with this argument is that it implies that the fixing can be accomplished entirely by the government itself. In order for the police and the ruling powers to fix communities like those in Detroit, St. Louis, and Chicago, there has to be cooperation within the areas. The "fuck the police" and similarly counterproductive "don't snitch" agendas pushed through the music in those regions all but ensure that this cooperation never happens.
Now, that being said, there are productive ways to do this reporting. Following the incident with Mike Brown, J. Cole penned a touching tribute filled with the sorrow and humanity. It's the kind of track that instigates empathy--the kind of music that hip-hop needs more of in general.
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