If Ely Wynton was wrapping up his cultural thesis American Skin during the first Oscar rush of the 2002-2003 season, he might've appended a chapter on the next big step by a major industry that brings a heel down on slices of whte-bread american life. The industry is Hollywood. The milestone is the film"8 mile". The occasion is the first true showcase of the white-american sub-minority. That is, Caucasian-Americans youth feeling burdened of their whiteness where hip-hop and it's preeminent blackness actually are the status quo. The"streets" of Detroit are one such place. The modern media's concept of"cool" is another, if only figuratively.
Read MoreIn just two decades, the movement of hip-hop has emerged from the old school to serve in the army of capitalist theory. The result is a booming multimedia industry dedicated to defining and glamorizing the fabricated life-style known as 'Thug Life.' According to theory, if 'gangsta rap' proves profitable, make all rappers into gangstas and your profit won't know imits. Expanding on that idea, record labels became crime syndicates, MCs became Dons and contemporaries began having each other whacked left and right, while positive hip-hop retreated to the underground.
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