| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
|
|
potentially affect the lives of listeners and nonlisteners alike. Second, this book goes to great lengths to make a serious distinction between gangster rap and hip hop. Disentangling one from the other opens the door to a more focused and critical analysis of gangster rap and provides an outline of the unmet potential of rap in hip hop. Third, I employ national surveys as evidence in the debate about the size and characteristics of the rap and hip hop listener audiences. Some surprises appear here that should reframe the controversy surrounding the matter of who listens to and buys rap music. Fourth, the first generation of psychological and social scientific research on rap music is summarized here, through 2010. Fifth, this is the first study to frame the effects of gangster rap on an entire city and the effects of widespread use of the N-word directly derived from gangster rappers. Finally, I submit that the problems in gangster rap are not inevitable, and that society does not have to live with them; they can be effectively addressed without attacking the civil liberties of gangster rappers.
Why Read this Book?
Passionate aficionados of hip hop or gangster music and those who intensely dislike both, young and old, black and white, academics and nonacademics—all will find the content of this book well worth reading. Readers of this book will not turn the last of these pages unmoved and without something to think about and act upon. Those already familiar with the issues will find that a different approach is taken here. For those not familiar with the issues, reading this study will provide a thorough overview. Readers who care a great deal about hip hop may find the discussion here liberating. Others who have suspicions and concerns about gangster rap will find them confirmed here; and for die-hard gangster rap lovers, this will be a disturbing read. Anyone interested in conducting formal social psychological and sociological studies on this topic will find a blueprint for future studies. Most important, for both critics and noncritics who want to eliminate the abuses of gangster rap and liberate hip hop without destroying or banning the music, this book provides strategies and suggestions as to how that might be done.