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N.W.A. The Worldst most dangerous group documentary

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N.W.A. The Worldst most dangerous group documentary

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An interesting documentary by Vh1 on N.W.A. (Dr DRE, Ice Cube and co) and how they played a role in L.A., rap culture, gang culture, foreseeing the L.A. riots etc. And retracing the story of the group and their individuals. Interesting to see where they come from and are today.

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Documentary_N.W.A. The World's Most Dangerous Group

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Straight Outta Compton N.W.A.  (Ice Cube, Dr Dre. Eazy-E & MC Ren)

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Straight Outta Compton N.W.A.  (Ice Cube, Dr Dre. Eazy-E & MC Ren)

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N.W.A. (Niggas With Attitude) was the rap group through which Dr. Dre and Ice Cube started their careers. Straight Outta Compton, portrays the relationship between the police and the inhabitants of Compton L.A.. Compton being one of the poorest neighbourhood's of L.A. known for its gangs and high crime level.

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An interesting piece on the evolution of sub/counter-cultures during the sixties.

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Gangsta rapper, with an elaborate taste in art and fashion.

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A$AP Rocky - Fashion Killa (Explicit Version)

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LONG.LIVE.A$AP AVAILABLE NOW iTunes: http://smarturl.it/LONGLIVEASAP?IQId=yt Amazon: http://smarturl.it/LONGLIVEASAPamazon?IQid=yt Google Play: http://smarturl.it/LONGLIVEASAPGP?IQid=yt Director: A$AP Rocky, Delaware Music video by A$AP Rocky performing Fashion Killa. (C) 2013 RCA Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

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The History of Rap by Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon February 2014

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The History of Rap by Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon February 2014

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Most of the songs are rap songs coming straight of the 'gangsta rap' culture. But are totally acceptable once portrayed by the white media elite?

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Ice Cube 'Gangsta Rap made me do it' 2008

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Ice Cube 'Gangsta Rap made me do it' 2008

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MC Ice Cube's 'Gangsta Rap made me do it', on gangsta rap, its implications for him and society and how it is perceived by the establishment (government, media, etc)

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Ice Cube - Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It (Official Video)

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New video for 2008 for Ice Cube's street single called Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It. This is an uncensored version off of myspacetv.

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Empty Mirror: The Beat generation vs. 'The Beatniks'

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Empty Mirror: The Beat generation vs. 'The Beatniks'

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An interesting post on what differentiates the Beat from 'The Beatniks'.

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"Beatnik" is sometimes - incorrectly - used to describe to the Beat Generation writers and artists. We're going to straighten out the confusion for you! Here's an explanation of who the Beats were, and what the term "beatnik" is all about.

What is the "Beat Generation"?

"Beat Generation" refers to a group of writers who hit their creative stride in the 1940s-1960s. They didn't share a writing style, but were part of a social group, holding certain interests, aims, or beliefs in common.

Jack Kerouac, in conversation with the writer John Clellon Holmes, coined the term "Beat Generation" in 1948; he was thinking of "beat" in the sense of "weariness" or "worn down," and of "beatific."

Four years earlier, in 1944 the three original Beat writers (though of course they weren't known as Beats until later), Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs became friends while at New York's Columbia University. They shared a vision for a new type of literature, which escaped the boundaries of academia and used a more natural language and form similar to that used in speech. They were interested in experimentation not only with language - but also with art, drugs, sexuality, spirituality and lifestyles in the interest of finding greater meaning in life. The Beat Generation movement was a rebellion against the status quo of American life, and an exploration of meaningful self-expression.

Later, others joined and became friends with Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs and the loosely-formed group expanded. As the orignal group traveled to the West Coast - particularly San Francisco - they met and formed friendships other poets and artists who eventually also became known as members of the Beat Generation. They are sometimes referred to as the "West Coast Beats."

Who are the Beat Generation writers?

Though others are sometimes included in the list; the primary Beat Generation writers include:

Jack Kerouac
Allen Ginsberg
William S. Burroughs
Neal Cassady
Gregory Corso
Michael McClure
Gary Snyder
Philip Whalen
Lew Welch
Joanne Kyger
John Clellon Holmes
Ted Joans
Diane di Prima
Amiri Baraka (né LeRoi Jones)
Peter Orlovsky
Carl Solomon
Bob Kaufman
Hettie Jones
Herbert Huncke
ruth weiss

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Books published many of the Beats, and Ferlinghetti is often associated with them, even though he doesn't claim to be a Beat.

It wasn't until after Kerouac's novel, On the Road, was published in 1957 and became successful that the general public became aware of most of the Beat writers and the term, "Beat Generation." Allen Ginsberg's poetry collection, HOWL, was the center of a controversial censorship trial that same year.

OK, so what's a Beatnik?

The origin, and the stereotype

The Beat Generation writers were not "beatniks." But the "beatnik" phenomena sprung from a stereotyped, often derogatory image of some of the things associated with them.

"Beatnik" is a word coined by Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle in April of 1958, in the midst of the new media attention given the Beat Generation. He fused together "Beat" from the "Beat Generation" and, inspired by the satellite Sputnik, the Russian "-nik" suffix. He meant it in a disparaging way. (And given that "-nik" is Russian, he may have meant to equate beatniks with communists.)

When the media latched onto the Beat Generation, it became a phenomenon, spawning a raft of products aimed at those who admired the "Beats" and their perceived (but not actual) lifestyle. To outsiders, the Beats had an aura of hipness, of cool - even though the Beats never really sought to be any of those things. The Beats were looking for real meaning, authenticity and a deeply personal self-expression in their lives and work, not conformity in a black turtleneck and a cheesy beret.

Companies and the media quickly picked up on the term "beatnik" as a marketing tool, and then it was everywhere - books, movies, television, in the press, and on commercial products.

"Beatnik" became the word to describe the stereotype of the actual Beat Generation creatives - shallow, goateed, anti-materialistic, slang-using, black beret-wearing, bongo-playing, jazz-listening hipsters reciting nearly unintelligible poetry in dark coffee-houses. They were often portrayed as violent or lacking morals. This "beatnik" image didn't reflect the lives or reality of any of the Beat writers.

The truth of it is that certain details associated with the Beat Generation writers were picked up, twisted, and amplified, almost beyond recognition and wildly embellished by the media and the marketing departments, into the the "beatnik" stereotype.

The reality

Sure, coffee houses and poetry readings were popular during the era when the Beat Generation became popular; some of the Beats even occasionally read in such venues. Some used slang. And yes, jazz was certainly popular with the Beats. But they didn't look or act like cartoons. They didn't care about fashion, or expectations. They were individuals, and each rejected conformity in favor of finding their own voice and their own path.

And yes, some people embraced aspects of this perception of what "Beat" was, in their own lives. Absolutely they did.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a growing subculture that was looking for answers, and ways of life that just weren't being found in mainstream America. Some of these folks hung out in coffeehouses, listened to jazz, dressed in the "hipster" clothing of the time, read the Beat writers and the works of other authors and thinkers, expressed themselves artistically, protested aggression, or rejected commonly accepted ways of thinking or living.

You could some of them "beatniks" if you like. But painting people with such broad strokes often means missing a lot of important detail.

The Beats on "beatniks."

The Beats actually rejected the term "beatnik." In a letter to the New York Times, Allen Ginsberg shared his thoughts on "the foul word beatnik," commenting, "If beatniks and not illuminated Beat poets overrun this country, they will have been created not by Kerouac but by industries of mass communication which continue to brainwash man."

In a 1969 interview with The Tampa Bay Times, Kerouac said, "I'm a Catholic, not a beatnik."

Modern day beatniks

"Beatnik" is sometimes used in an affectionate way these days, to, with a wink, refer to someone with an affinity for the Beats or with certain interests. As such, it can carry a sort of retro charm. However, due to the misunderstandings that so often stem from use of the word, perhaps it is best to use another term.

Are there modern day "Beat" writers?

Well, yes, and no.

Some of the Beat Generation writers are still alive and writing today. They include Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Diane di Prima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Hettie Jones.

Some young writers today describe themselves as "Beat writers." "Beat-influenced" would be more accurate, as the Beats were a specific group of writers, all born in the early 20th century.

Many writers today have been influenced by the Beats and owe much to them, in philosophy or style. They, along with some artists, musicians, filmmakers - and readers - are important; they're the ones who keep the Beats' artistic legacy alive.

The Beats' influenced contemporary attitudes and perceptions not just with regard to the arts, but also spirituality, drugs, the environment, sexuality, politics, self-expression, and the role of the individual in society.

It's been reported that upon recently being asked by a student about what happened to the Beat Generation, Michael McClure replied, "Where's the Beat Generation? It's in you somehow."

About Denise Enck

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The Beat Generation vs. "Beatniks" - Denise Enck

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"Beatnik" is sometimes - incorrectly - used to describe to the Beat Generation writers and artists. We're going to straighten out the confusion for you! Here's an explanation of who the Beats were, and what the term "beatnik" is all about. What is the "Beat Generation"?

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Tony Sewell, Mail Online, Don't howl Starkey down. Gangsta culture is a poison spreading among youths of all races. Aguust 2011

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Tony Sewell, Mail Online, Don't howl Starkey down. Gangsta culture is a poison spreading among youths of all races. Aguust 2011

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Tony Sewell on Starkey's comments on the BBC and the wider implications of his assertions.

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The air is filled with tension and anxiety. Explosive controversies are now flaring up over a host of issues, from zero-tolerance policing to public expenditure cuts.

Now, the historian Dr David Starkey has sparked a conflagration of his own.

During a debate about the disturbances on BBC2's Newsnight, Dr Starkey argued that one of the central problems was the influence of a 'violent, destructive and nihilistic' black culture that had corrupted too many of Britain's youngsters.

Warming to his theme, he said: 'A substantial section of the chavs have become black. The whites have become black. Black and white, boy and girl, operate in this language together . . . which is wholly false, which is a Jamaican patois that's been intruded in England, and this is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country.'

He then further stoked the flames by adding that Enoch Powell was right in warning, more than 40 years ago, that immigration would ultimately cause conflict across our cities.

Dr Starkey's outburst not only outraged his fellow panellists in the BBC studio, but also many commentators who watched the show, even though over the weekend he insisted that he 'was not talking about skin colour but gang culture'.

Piers Morgan called him a 'racist idiot' and pronounced Starkey's television career to be over. Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, accused him of 'nasty ignorance'.

As a black academic and head of an organisation that encourages young blacks to apply for university, I might be thought of as an obvious candidate to join this swelling chorus of disapproval.

And I cannot dispute the fact that David Starkey is guilty of blundering, both through his unfortunate choice of expression and through the falsity of some of his opinions.

It is absurd, for instance, to claim that last week's carnage proved that Powell was right.

As Dr Starkey should know, what Powell predicted on our streets were race riots, but the recent looting was nothing of the sort. The violence was not perpetrated by one ethnic group against another. There was no racial dimension to the targets of the attacks. Asian, white and black shopkeepers and businesses all came under assault, while many of the criminal gangs, especially outside London, were multi-ethnic.

David Starkey is not a figure who has much credibility when pontificating about black youth culture. With his donnish demeanour and Fifties voice, he hardly exudes experience of the wider world. Cloistered lecture rooms and candlelit dining halls are his province, not the mean urban streets of London and Birmingham.

And he seems to take an almost malicious delight in provoking rows. Not for nothing was he once known as 'the rudest man in Britain'.

Yet, for all my dislike of what he said, I feel uneasy about the howling, strident anger that has been unleashed against him. This is partly because I think that, in the current debate about our social malaise, it is wrong to silence any voice through a form of politically correct McCarthyism.

We will achieve nothing if we create a mood of absolute conformity by hurling accusations of racism at those with whom we disagree. Freedom of speech is too important to become another casualty of the riots.

More importantly, I feel that Dr Starkey, in his own clumsy way, may have stumbled on a difficult truth about the influence of black youth culture.

For, despite the attempts of some apologists to dress up the looting as a political act against an oppressive Tory establishment, the fact is that the ethos of materialism - or 'bling' to use the street term - that pervades urban black youth played a major part in the widespread criminality perpetrated by rioters of all races.

That is why the looters targeted specific stores that are cherished in this culture, such as those selling mobile phones, trainers, sports clothes or widescreen TVs. Let's face it, there were no reports of the vandals looting bookshops or public libraries.

What motivated the troublemakers was not genuine poverty but rather a raw acquisitiveness that is fuelled by so much in this black-led youth culture, from the imagery in rap videos to the lyrics of hip-hop music. The twin central themes of this world are sex and material possessions.

It is a milieu that glories in loose women and fast cars, in macho dominance and easy wealth. Concepts of restraint, hard work and personal responsibility are absent. Respect is something to be demanded rather than earned.

So much of the music and the video output is close to pornographic, with women degradingly treated as little more than sex objects. In this world, the highest ideal to which a man can aspire is to be a philandering, gun-wielding gang leader.

Where I believe Dr Starkey is right is that it is now just as likely to be a white or Asian teenager posing on the internet in baggy designer clothes and dripping in gold chains, either waving a weapon of some kind or pointing their fingers at the camera in a grotesque parody of a shooting.

Tragically, this has become the acme of 'cool' for a generation of youngsters, regardless of the colour of their skin.

Even the boy whose Spanish-born mother may be evicted from her council house after his arrest for looting last week was photographed in an oversized rapper-style cap and T-shirt with a skull motif.

A key aspect of 'gangsta' culture - one that we saw writ large on the streets last week - is an utter disregard for the police and the rule of law. You only have to consider that one of the most controversial rap songs of the past two decades was called Cop Killer to understand the danger posed by these influences.

This is all a far cry from the black music culture that used to exist in the Sixties and Seventies. There were two main strands then, entirely different to those of today.

One was the demand for social justice for blacks, inspired by the flowing rhetoric of leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The second strand was a belief in the importance of romance, with men encouraged to be chivalrous and treat women properly.

But from the mid-Eighties there was a dramatic change in tone. Justice and romance were out. Aggression and materialism were in. This was partly due to the rise of the television music channel MTV, which allowed explicit videos to be seen.

Cynical producers quickly realised there was a huge commercial market out there for this material, especially among young urban males. The arrival of the internet gave further impetus to this new style.

Furthermore, the continuing collapse of the traditional family meant many young blacks looked to their peers in street gangs for an alternative structure of support, which again reinforced the appeal of hip-hop and rap, in which those gangs were glorified.

All this helped to make black culture truly global. It soon became the dominant force among the world's youth, from the U.S. to all of Europe.

That's why young white and Asian, often middle-class, Britons - anxious for a bit of street cred - adopted the language and clothes of the culture, as Sacha Baron Cohen so mercilessly parodied in his comic creation Ali G, a white teenager from Staines who is desperate to be seen as black. And here, I think, we are getting at what David Starkey wanted to convey.

So prevalent is this 'gangsta' culture that, if you get on a bus in London and shut your eyes, you will often not be able to tell the ethnicity of the young people who are speaking, since they all use the tone, phraseology and language patterns of black youths.

Now some might view this as a welcome development, a sign our society is truly a melting pot. But my great fear is that, in practice, we are limiting the opportunities of young people and denying them the chance to use the wonderful richness of English. If they all speak in a type of African-Caribbean creole, they will cut themselves off from mainstream society, which will drastically hurt their job prospects.

The sadness in all this is that, because of its global dominance, black culture could be a force for good if it were re-fashioned and channelled in a different direction. The willingness of white and Asian youths to embrace black music and culture shows that racism is not nearly as ingrained as some of the professional grievance-mongers claim.

But, at present, the culture is heading down the wrong street, a demeaning and negative one that can only lead to more social problems. In his own awkward way, that is precisely what David Starkey was trying to say.

* Tony Sewell is CEO of the charity Generating Genius.

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TONY SEWELL: Don't howl Starkey down. Gangsta culture is a poison spreading among youths of all races

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The air is filled with tension and anxiety. Explosive controversies are now flaring up over a host of issues, from zero-tolerance policing to public expenditure cuts. Now, the historian Dr David Starkey has sparked a conflagration of his own.

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David Starkey on the BBC 'The White have become blacks' Riots in England

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David Starkey on the BBC 'The White have become blacks' Riots in England

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David Starkey historian, conservative point of view on 'Gangsta culture', race and street culture.

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Historian David Starkey has told BBC's Newsnight ''the whites have become black'' in a discussion on the England riots with author and broadcaster Dreda Say Mitchell and the author of Chavs, Owen Jones.

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'Gangsta Culture a deadly virus, says top TV presenter' by Martin Bright, The Observer September 2004

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'Gangsta Culture a deadly virus, says top TV presenter' by Martin Bright, The Observer September 2004

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Interesting article portraying the 'risk' of street culture and in this case gangsta culture affecting young black Brittons.

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Gangsta culture a deadly virus, says top TV presenter

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One of the best known black personalities on British TV said yesterday that 'gangsta' street culture was a 'deadly virus' that was destroying a generation of African-Caribbean boys.

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Merriam Webster Dictionnary definition of Beatnik

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Merriam Webster Dictionnary definition of Beatnik

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The dictionary offers a less biased and more objective observation to define 'Beatnik'

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a person who participated in a social movement of the 1950s and early 1960s which stressed artistic self-expression and the rejection of the mores of conventional society; broadly : a usually young and artistic person who rejects the mores of conventional society... See the full definition

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The Beatnik Generation an article by The Voices of East Anglia

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The Beatnik Generation an article by The Voices of East Anglia

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Whilst many of us know the term 'beatnik' and are aware of the old cliché of berets, roll-neck jumpers, goatee beards and saying the word daddio a lot how many of us actually know the history behind the beatniks, where they started from, what they did and where they ended up. Not many if our recent VoEA office survey is to be believed. We were quite surprised at our lack of knowledge regarding this long-lost youth culture so we decided to do a bit of research and share it with our good readers.

The word 'beatnik' was first used in 1957 by San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Herb Caen. Just months prior to this the Russian space mission Sputnik 1 (meaning Satellite 1 in English) had launched and Caen, a noted observer of pop culture, had seen the rise of the 'Beat Generation' and wrote that "Look magazine hosted a party for 50 Beatniks....and over 250 bearded cats and kits were on hand". This new term though didn't go down well with the rather earnest beat writers and Allen Ginsberg wrote of "the foul word beatnik" and claimed (probably rightly) that it was a media creation and not something he or the other beat writers were happy to be associated with. In addition it could be argued Caen was questioning the patriotism of these beatniks by grafting a Russian term on to the word beat.

The term 'Beat Generation' was first coined by Jack Kerouac as early as 1948 to describe the group he was knocking about with in New York using it to mean down-trodden or put-upon - he saw a connection between his generation and the Lost Generation of the First World War. This was presumably a reference to the post-WWII blues that Kerouac and others were experiencing and there's no denying it must have been a very tough time for all involved. Later though Kerouac and other beat writers tried to turn the term around and use it in a more positive manner implying it was derived from the biblical term 'beatitude' when Jesus presented a new set of Christian ideals (Beatitudes derived from the Latin word beatus meaning happy or blissful) in the Sermon on the Mount. Regardless of the exact meanings by 1959 the terms 'Beat Generation' and 'Beatnik' had stuck and started moving firmly into the mainstream.

That a handful of writers were able to influence a whole youth movement is quite remarkable but as with all fashions and youth cults it started small and developed at a fairly rapid pace. Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' (1957), Ginsberg's 'Howl' (1956) and William S. Burroughs 'Naked Lunch' (1959) were the three most influential Beat books and pretty soon almost everyone wanted to be a writer or a poet and rebel against the constraints of late 1950s / early 1960s American society (for it was in the main an American trend).

At the time beatniks were considered to be a media construct and were not necessarily 'Beat' which many saw as a state of mind almost, an alternative way of looking at society. Anti-materialistic and counter-cultural it was all about one's inner-self rather than the shallowness of material possessions. However, the term beatnik had caught on and berets, sunglasses, black roll-neck jumpers and a book of poetry were de riguer for many young Americans who wanted to be seen as being outside the mainstream. The new and exciting modern jazz was the music of choice and bongos were the instrument many beatniks wouldn't be seen without. Advertisers soon caught on and the term 'Beat' was used extensively to sell to the youth not least with the new long-playing vinyl records that were just starting to become popular. Whilst the 'Beat Generation' founders took themselves oh-so seriously the beatniks unintentionally generated a comical air about them even to the extent that in New York a 'Rent-a Beatnik' service was started where your party or gathering could be enhanced with a poetry reading beatnik in the corner.

Musically the 'Beat' influence was extensive and even the Beatles used the word beat in their name by way of a reference. Ray Manzarek from the Doors was quoted as saying they wanted to be beatniks and Jim Morrison was heavily influenced by Jack Kerouac. Allen Ginsberg's Christmas card list reads like a who's-who of 1960s cool being friends with Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed and the Grateful Dead to name but a few.

As was the way back then fashions and trends moved very quickly and 1967 was a watershed year in both fashion and musical terms. January 1967 saw the Human Be-In at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco essentially a protest at a new California law banning LSD and where Timothy Leary first used the term 'turn on, tune in, drop out'. This event is viewed by many as the first hippie gathering. The Summer of Love that followed saw the hippie revolution spread from the west coast of the US to Europe and the rest of the World. In no time at all it was free love everywhere, tie-dyed t-shirts and huge flairs. Any self-respecting beatnik could not ignore this overwhelming new fashion and in no time at all the psychedelic revolution took over. It is interesting to note that the term hippie derives from the word hipster which was what a lot of the early beatniks were called.

It can be argued that the progression from beatnik to hippie was a very natural one almost evolutionary in its manner. The beatnik's drug of choice - marijuana was enhanced with LSD and the dark somber clothes were replaced with bright colourful kaftans. Musically the Beatles release of 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' in June 1967 couldn't have come at a better time and was as they say these days a game changer. It was almost a perfect storm of music and events coming together and had a massive influence around the World. Beatniks didn't so much die out as morph into hippies and undoubtedly provided the blueprint for what was almost certainly the first worldwide youth cult.

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Whilst many of us know the term 'beatnik' and are aware of the old cliché of berets, roll-neck jumpers, goatee beards and saying the word daddio a lot how many of us actually know the history behind the beatniks, where they started from, what they did and where they ended up.

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Clip from Primitive London 1965 on Mods, Beatniks and Rockers.

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Clip from Primitive London 1965 on Mods, Beatniks and Rockers.

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Interesting perspective on different cultural trends and behaviour in the early 1960's.

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Short BBC extract on a report by Alan Whicker  for BBC's tonight programme in 1960.

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Short BBC extract on a report by Alan Whicker  for BBC's tonight programme in 1960.

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Interesting, how would society react today?

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Beatniks in Newquay 1960. Interviewed by Alan Whicker for BBC's "Tonight programme. Captures the spirit of the time!

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Brent Staples 'The Politics of Gangsta Rap' New York Times Editorial 1993

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Brent Staples 'The Politics of Gangsta Rap' New York Times Editorial 1993

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An insightful perspective on the relation of class and culture in the context of 'Gangsta culture'. What happened to the middle class?

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And then there's gangster rap.

For those who haven't caught up, gangster rap is that wildly successful music in which all women are "bitches" and "whores" and young men kill each other for sport. It's hard-core, and bristles with guns. Hear a band called Onyx, recently number one on the charts, urging its listeners to "Throw ya gunz in the air/ And pop-pop like ya just don't care." Hear the rapper called Dr. Dre: "Rat, tat, tat, tat/ Never hesitate to put a nigger on his back."

Hear the Beatnuts, in an ode to the machine pistol: "It ain't nothing you should laugh to/ I'll shoot your moms if I have to." These lyrics go out to an audience of young black men who are being murdered at five times the national average.

The rappers claim variously that they are "telling it like it is," or "reporting what we see in the streets," or "creating characters" that listeners misinterpret. The most effective rejoinder comes from Mike Davis's "City of Quartz," a history of Los Angeles, where gangster rap was born. "In supposedly stripping bare the reality of the streets, 'telling it like it is,' " Mr. Davis writes, "they also offer an uncritical mirror to fantasy power trips of violence, sexism and greed."

Rappers, take note: The key phase is "uncritical mirror." The music "plays" at rape and murder in a way that celebrates them.

The final irony is that some gangster rappers are middle-class guys posing as inner-city killers. A rapper from Onyx named Suave recently took offense when accused of middle-class origins. "That's bull, I'm a real [ expletive deleted ] ," he told Frank Owen of New York Newsday. "I've been seeing people get shot all of my life."

Here, by way of Suave, is the problem simply put: In the streets, middle-class normalcy for blacks is viewed as an inferior state of being. The news and entertainment industries are often in complicity with this attitude. That's unfortunate because cultural ideology is powerful, especially in the lives of the young. It determines how we see them, how they see themselves and, to a large extent, what they aspire to become.

When middle-class blacks fabricate violent urban pasts, they pay homage to murder. When record company executives pose for pictures with gun-toting rappers, and when they push that murderous music, they trade in blood.

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Editorial Notebook:; The Politics of Gangster Rap

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And then there's gangster rap. For those who haven't caught up, gangster rap is that wildly successful music in which all women are "bitches" and "whores" and young men kill each other for sport. It's hard-core, and bristles with guns.