Week 4 Summary article Identity and the code of the street in rap music
•Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of sociological research on identity, culture, and violence
in inner-city black communities.
•This work portrays a black youth culture or street code that influences the identity and behaviour of
residents, particularly with respect to violence. Typically ethnographic in nature, this literature
describes how the code supplies compelling elements of local culture, a culture of the streets in
which violence is rendered accountable and even normative.
•One complementary medium for studying these issues that has not been fully exploited is rap
music, a genre consistently noted for its focus on masculinity, crime, and violence.
•Rap music has undergone major transformations in the last two decades. One of the most
significant occurred in the early 1990s with the emergence of gangsta rap. Its roots can be traced to
early depictions of the hustler lifestyles, which glorified blacks as criminals, pimps, pushers,
prostitutes, and gangsters. Mainly associated with West Coast artists, gangsta rap is considered a
product of the gang culture and street wars in South Central Los Angeles, Compton, and Long Beach.
•Today, gangsta rap purportedly provides an insiders’ look into black urban street life via crime and
violence.
•Much of the existing literature assumes that the street code is a product of neighbourhood
processes and neglects additional sources such as popular culture which may reflect, reinforce, or
even advocate street-code norms. This study builds on the existing literature through a content
analysis of rap music that explores how the code is present not only in the street, but also in rap
music. This research does not suggest that rap directly causes violence; rather, it examines the more
subtle discursive processes through which rap helps to organize and construct violent social identity
and account for violent behaviour.
•Theoretically, the study considers how structural conditions in inner-city communities have given
rise to cultural adaptations- embodied in a street code- that constitute an interpretive environment
where violence is accountable, if not normative.
Social-structural conditions in inner-city communities: the context
•Growing recognition of the utility of an integrative approach has led researchers to consider the
relationships between structural disadvantage, cultural and situational responses to such
disadvantage, and the perpetuation of violence within African American communities.
•The social, political, and economic forces that have shaped these conditions include, among other
things, globalization and deindustrialization, punitive criminal justice policy, and a legacy of slavery
and discrimination.
•An important element of such disadvantaged communities is the opportunity structure available for
residents. The inner city affords limited venues for adolescents to obtain the types of social status
and social roles available to youth in other environments. Street-oriented peer groups dominate
social roles, and few opportunities exist for broader participation in community life.
•At the same time, illegitimate avenues for success are abound.
•The prevalence of drugs- and crack cocaine in particular- generates more than increased illegitimate
opportunities. Crack and the drug trade create neighbourhood battles for the control over markets
where violence is used as social control.
•Contributing to the violence, the ready availability of weapons in these communities increases the
stakes, often turning what would have been an assault into a homicide. Tenuous police-community
relations contribute to these problems.
The code of the street and neighbourhood subculture
•Anderson argues that a street code provides the principles governing much interpersonal
•Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of sociological research on identity, culture, and violence
in inner-city black communities.
•This work portrays a black youth culture or street code that influences the identity and behaviour of
residents, particularly with respect to violence. Typically ethnographic in nature, this literature
describes how the code supplies compelling elements of local culture, a culture of the streets in
which violence is rendered accountable and even normative.
•One complementary medium for studying these issues that has not been fully exploited is rap
music, a genre consistently noted for its focus on masculinity, crime, and violence.
•Rap music has undergone major transformations in the last two decades. One of the most
significant occurred in the early 1990s with the emergence of gangsta rap. Its roots can be traced to
early depictions of the hustler lifestyles, which glorified blacks as criminals, pimps, pushers,
prostitutes, and gangsters. Mainly associated with West Coast artists, gangsta rap is considered a
product of the gang culture and street wars in South Central Los Angeles, Compton, and Long Beach.
•Today, gangsta rap purportedly provides an insiders’ look into black urban street life via crime and
violence.
•Much of the existing literature assumes that the street code is a product of neighbourhood
processes and neglects additional sources such as popular culture which may reflect, reinforce, or
even advocate street-code norms. This study builds on the existing literature through a content
analysis of rap music that explores how the code is present not only in the street, but also in rap
music. This research does not suggest that rap directly causes violence; rather, it examines the more
subtle discursive processes through which rap helps to organize and construct violent social identity
and account for violent behaviour.
•Theoretically, the study considers how structural conditions in inner-city communities have given
rise to cultural adaptations- embodied in a street code- that constitute an interpretive environment
where violence is accountable, if not normative.
Social-structural conditions in inner-city communities: the context
•Growing recognition of the utility of an integrative approach has led researchers to consider the
relationships between structural disadvantage, cultural and situational responses to such
disadvantage, and the perpetuation of violence within African American communities.
•The social, political, and economic forces that have shaped these conditions include, among other
things, globalization and deindustrialization, punitive criminal justice policy, and a legacy of slavery
and discrimination.
•An important element of such disadvantaged communities is the opportunity structure available for
residents. The inner city affords limited venues for adolescents to obtain the types of social status
and social roles available to youth in other environments. Street-oriented peer groups dominate
social roles, and few opportunities exist for broader participation in community life.
•At the same time, illegitimate avenues for success are abound.
•The prevalence of drugs- and crack cocaine in particular- generates more than increased illegitimate
opportunities. Crack and the drug trade create neighbourhood battles for the control over markets
where violence is used as social control.
•Contributing to the violence, the ready availability of weapons in these communities increases the
stakes, often turning what would have been an assault into a homicide. Tenuous police-community
relations contribute to these problems.
The code of the street and neighbourhood subculture
•Anderson argues that a street code provides the principles governing much interpersonal
