THUG LIFE... in the suburbs

Kanye West has commonly been referred to as "The White Rapper," as his core audience is mostly upper-middle class college students with a penchant for anti-establishment sentiments. His three most popular albums, Late Registration, Graduation, and College Dropout, continually bash the college institution, referring to higher education as essentially pointless ("Some people graduate but they still stupid; they tell you 'read this, eat this, don't look around'...after all of that, you receive this [diploma]") The irony, of course, is that college students with ample time and money to spend popularized Kanye's music in the first place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CHs4x2uqcQ (Kanye West; "Good Morning)

Hence, we come to a contradiction that is common in most rap music: "bashing" the same establishment that enabled the rapper's success in the first place. While artists such as Lil Wayne glorify street life, ("I forget a lot of sh*t but I cannot forget the streets) from drug dealing to violence, and criticize politicians (he has an entire anti-Bush rap,) the system of capitalism has provided for Wayne's success in the first place. Such a conflict is evident, for instance, in Lil Wayne's recent arrest for gun and drug possession: the illegal lifestyle that he raps about in his songs, that made him popular, that establishes him as a "G," is also resulting in his downfall. We see the impossibility of enjoying both worlds - that of "thug life" (tendency towards illegal activities) and "celebrity life" (i.e. conventional success- the check his record company writes him)



Indeed, mainstream rap is teeming with contradictions. I attended the Lil Wayne concert in 2009 and couldn't help but giggle at over-privileged teenagers screaming "You know that I'ma ride for my motha f*cking n*ggas!" Many rappers that are marketed towards mass audiences utilize their knowledge "street life" for their success and, in doing so, perpetuate the myth of the black "thug" who runs poor neighborhoods with a gun and a gang sign. They benefit from what one would consider an unfortunate situation- being born into the lower class. And they celebrate this lifestyle only after they've escaped it: Lil Wayne no longer needs to sell drugs to support himself. Now, he can rap about the days when he used to sell drugs.