Gangster Rap and Its Social Cost: Exploiting Hip Hop and Using Ra ...

But Jeff Chang and others tell only part of the story. The gang environment in the South Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s was unlike any other in the United States. Great Depression–like levels of overall unemployment were recorded in the South Bronx, which was isolated economically and socially from the rest of society, as were other American ghettos. But the South Bronx experienced a particular plight: The newly built Cross Bronx Expressway, a huge eight-lane interstate highway, cut through the heart of the area, bringing with it heavy pollution, truck and auto traffic, and noise around the clock. The Cross Bronx project was remarkable in the scale of its community disruption and destruction. Unfortunately, rather than acknowledging the devastating impact this highway had on the lowest income communities in New York City, the city government and the real estate industry simply ignored and abandoned these communities. Amidst a citywide fiscal crisis, even the police department stopped patrolling the area; the South Bronx became too dangerous for any police presence but SWAT.

The New York City Fire Department stopped responding to fires because its workers no longer had police protection. In fact, the City of New York shut down firehouses in the South Bronx precisely when more fire companies were needed (Wallace, Wallace, Ahern, & Galea, 2007). Apartment buildings were left to burn. On a clear day, one could look across the Bronx skyline and watch fires in large apartment buildings burning for hours. Drug addicts often started the fires in order to get access to the pipes and wiring so that they could sell the copper wire, elevator parts, or plumbing supplies from the buildings.Telephone service in some neighborhoods stopped for long periods, and streets and traffic lights were not maintained. Proprietors abandoned properties that were now worthless without essential city services. Residents who could do so fled. Entire blocks were abandoned; eventually whole neighborhoods became ghost towns of boarded-up buildings. The only residents remaining on these blocks were rats, heroin addicts, and a few hearty souls who refused to move. In these areas, government ceased to exist, and the remaining residents were left to fend for themselves.