Someone posted an op-ed piece from nytimes on our forum. In it the author voices his opinion about how the “hypermacho” gangsta-rap image being served by MTV networks and similar distribution channels is being embraced by troubled youth around the globe, but only to their detriment. Most notably he describes the “hip-hop” attitude and swagger that the rioters in Paris seem to be projecting.
American ghetto life, at least as portrayed in rap videos, now defines for the young, poor and disaffected what it means to be oppressed. Gangsta resistance is the most compelling model for how to rebel against that oppression. If you want to stand up and fight The Man, the Notorious B.I.G. shows the way.
This is a reminder that for all the talk about American cultural hegemony, American countercultural hegemony has always been more powerful. America’s rebellious countercultural heroes exert more influence around the world than the clean establishment images from Disney and McDonald’s. This is our final insult to the anti-Americans; we define how to be anti-American, and the foreigners who attack us are reduced to borrowing our own clichés.
I’m not even sure why I put this up. It’s nice for the author to share his great observation, but I know if I was writing for the nytimes I would at least try to be a little bit constructive. Oh well. This article also struck me somewhat because it reminded me of my recent trip to Guyana. You never would have imagined the children in the country side, one moment speaking with their Carribean accent, and then the next minute mouthing off 50′s lyrics sounding like they are from Jamaica Queens (or whatever the hell 50 sounds like, sometimes I can’t tell).