Gangs and gangsta rap in Chicago: A microscenes perspective

Rap music, race, and perceptions of crime

“…This may explain the proliferation of rap videos on YouTube and other social media platforms that depict gang‐related activity and other criminal exploits. Research has documented how rap videos posted on YouTube often emphasize or exaggerate a rapper's capacity for lethal violence (Harkness, ; Lauger & Densely, 2018; Lozon & Bensimon, ; Patton, Eschmann, & Butler, ), with some noting that the videos “sell the image of the violent gang member to the audience” (Lauger & Densley, , p. 826). In sum, presenting lyrical accounts of a rapper's willingness towards violence and crime has become critical to ensuring success in the industry (Kitwana, ; Kubrin & Nielson, ), a demand arguably rooted in America's racial histories, politics, and ideologies (e.g., Hooks, ; Kitwana, ).…”

“…As such, rap music can be understood pedagogically, in that it educates the public about the aspirations, concerns, and vulnerabilities of many street‐identified Black men and women (Kubrin, ; Kubrin, ; Payne, ; Steinmetz & Henderson, ). Indeed, various ethnographic and historical accounts describe how rappers reference gang activity in their music, typically from the first‐person perspective, even if the rappers are not gang members or are only peripherally associated with street gangs (Chang, ; Harkness, , ; Quinn, ). Lyrics may be based on the life of the artist, but they may also be based on the lives of loved ones or other members of the community, or some combination of stories.…”

Gang glocalization: How the global mediascape creates and shapes local gang realities

“…Hagedorn, 2008;Kubrin, 2005Kubrin, , 2006Sanchez-Jankowski, 1991;Weitzer and Kubrin, 2009). The success of 'hood films' such as Menace II Society (1993) and Boyz N the Hood (1991), or 'gangster rap' music, for example, resides on its perceived 'authenticity' and how accurately it reflects life in the urban ghetto (Harkness, 2013). For this reason, many hood films are shot on location on the West Coast of the United States, an area notorious for gang activity (Fisher, 2006: xii), and many rap artists adopt a 'streetwise identity' based on a 'working knowledge' of gangs and crime (Cutler, 2003).…”

Hip‐hop Urbanism Old and New

“…Condry was there, in Tokyo, bearing witness to and reporting on this time and place. Similarly, Harkness () spent years studying the underground gangsta rap scene in Chicago, settling on the notion of a ‘microscene’. We may conceive of coherent and distinct musical scenes in Los Angeles or New York, but the microscene approach, which emphasizes intensive ethnographic study of a relatively small network of artists and/or fans, helps us understand that there are tighter networks within these broadly accepted urban scenes that operate with both overlapping and divergent rules and expectations for musical practice and participation.…”