Gangsters

Gangsters was by far my favorite chapter in Sag Harbor. The chapter touched on a lot of issues and themes that I found particularly interesting. The theme I found most interesting in Gangsters was the correlation drawn between the rise of gun violence and the rise of violent themes in hip hop music.

“ Something happened. Something happened that changed the terms and we went from fighting ( I'll knock that grin off your face) to full blown annihilation ( I will wipe you from this earth). How we got from here to there  are the key passages in the history of young black men that no one cares to write. We live it instead.” The part of the statement adult Benji ( Ben) makes between gun violence and the violence depicted in hip hop that intrigued me the most was the part where he talks about how no one really knows how or why violence had suddenly become such a defining feature of black culture. I found this interesting because I realized he was right, lots of people talk of about the negative impacts of the violence depicted in music videos and they draw connections between the violence in music and the rise of violence in the black community but no one ever looks at why music artist started rapping about violence in the first place. 

I think the song “ Why we Thugs” by Ice cube has a very revealing message about why violence has become so prevalent in the black community. The song mainly talks about why people in the black community are considered “Thugs''. Ice Cube talks about how crime has overrun predominantly black communities due to the fact that weapons and drugs are readily available while money and jobs in these communities aren't (lack of money in urban areas is partially a result of suburbanization and white flight. When black people moved into urban areas white people left and so did jobs which resulted in those once wealthy communities/ areas becoming impoverished). Because of the rise of crime in these areas Ice Cube talks about how black people in these communities turn to violence, and crime to survive (“ Its boyz n the hood, toys in the hood, yall wanna know why its noise in the hood, cause its drugs in the hood, thugs in the hood, n*gga killed a Crip and a Blood in the hood, cause when n*ggas get tribal its all about survival nobody liable.”) I think this message is very revealing because music is the reflection of the state a person/community is in, and this song is addressing the state that the black community is in as it pertains to how the black community got there. 

But how did violence become not only prevalent in black communities but also black music (hip hop)? As I stated before I believe music is a reflection of the state a person/community/society is in. Because the black community in the 80s was dealing with a huge rise in crime and violence (Crack epidemic, which led to a lot of other crime outside of drug distribution and use) which resulted in music reflecting the state the black community was in. Songs like Straight outta Compton by NWA (1988), Gangsta Gangsta by NWA (1988), Dope Man by NWA (1987), and Boyz n the Hood by Easy-E (1987) all have very violent messaging and talk about drug use and violence in urban communities. In my opinion the reason violence became suddenly so prevalent in the music of that time is because violence had also recently skyrocketed. ( I would also like to add a side note that Why we Thugs references the war on crime a lot which further supports my theory that music reflects the state of society ( the war on crime  was the mid 90s- 2000s and Why we thugs was released in 2006)) 

Additionally, upon thinking about why violence became so prevalent in the first place I began to wonder why violence is still so common in music today (especially amongst black artists). 


Here are some examples of violence depicted in modern music: 

“I'ma kill 14 n*ggas if 13 b*tch n*ggas play”  - Who want smoke?? Nardo Wick 

“Take his life, he shouldn't have had it” - Who want smoke?? Nardo Wick 

“Kilt yo' mans, you keep on talkin', better get that sh*t in blood” -- Back in Blood : Pooh Shiesty 

“He was dissin' on my cousin, now his a*s all in that 'Wood, huh” - Back in blood : Pooh Shiesty 

“Just bought a Glock, with a ruler clip Boy, don't play with me” - Took Her to the O: Von 

“He don't want no smoke, boy, he not bulletproof” - Took Her to the O: Von 

“Then I raised my Blick, and I don't miss I let off two shots, I hit him in his sh*t” - Took Her to the O: Von 

“I'm ridin' through the city, this Glock got no safety, Keep that b*tch with me so please do not tempt me, I squeeze 'til it's empty, you thinkin', you crazy” - War Wit Us: Von

“Glizzies on every gang member that came wit us, Aim and just spray at them n*ggas that ain't wit us”- War Wit Us: Von

“Put a pretty opp b*tch in a morgue, huh, Call that b*tch drop dead gorgeous, d*mn” -War Wit Us: Von 

“Buddy a*s got shot and we ain't claim it, but I can show his a*s” Ahhh ha : Lil Durk 

“My brother D-Thang just got killed and I been slow since (gang, gang), But we got back on they a*s, I bet they know this” Ahhh ha : Lil Durk 

"He talking about me in 'Pissed Me Off'', and I'm like, "Yes" (yes), If you feel some type of way, you better slide and get revenge” Ahhh ha : Lil Durk 


I came to the conclusion that part of the reason why violence is so prevalent in modern hip hop is due to a chain of events starting with violence in hip hop during the 80s. I think that negative representation in the media has resulted in young black men and women making negative role models out music artists who talk about and represent violent lifestyles. I believe this leads to black youth feeding into violent tendencies which keeps the crime and violence alive in black communities, which then results in more violent music, and the cycle continues.


This was a little all over the place but I hope you found this thread as interesting as I did.

Comments

  1. AnkitaMay 23, 2023 at 12:47 PM

    Great post! I also found this interesting. I think that its definitely a cycle that the more violence is accepted the more it shows up in media the more it is accepted. I also like how you connected the historical events happening around this time (urban decay, white flight) to your analysis of why violence becomes more common.

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  2. Ben DeMarcoMay 23, 2023 at 4:03 PM

    I also think this is pretty interesting since it seems like a lot of them in the book draw a significant part of their identity from music. It would make sense if that was also part of the cause of their obsession with guns, and I also think it's interesting how you connected that cycle of people experiencing violence and then making music about it to the guns in the book.

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