5 Grams

Grams
i:rv:i vr cvi ri oioov srvi rs

GeneralEditorJe Feiiell
PissingonDenand
WorkplaceDrugTestingandtheRiseoftheDetoxIndustry
Ken Tunnell
EnpireofScroungeInsidetheUrbanUndergroundof
DunpsterDiving,TrashPicking,andStreetScavenging
Je Feiiell
Prison,Inc.AConvictExposesLifeinsideaPrivatePrison
by K. C. Caiceial, edited by Tomas J. Beinaid
TeTerroristIdentityExplainingtheTerroristTreat
Michael P. Aiena and Biuce A. Aiiigo
TerrorisnasCrine
FronOklahonaCitytoAl-QaedaandBeyond
Maik S. Hamm
OurBodies,OurCrines
TePolicingofWonensReproductioninAnerica
Jeanne Flavin
GratiLivesBeyondtheTaginêwYorksUrbanUnderground
Giegoiy J. Snydei
CrinesofDissentCivilDisobedience,
CrininalIustice,andthePoliticsofConscience
Jaiiet S. Lovell
TeCultureofPunishnentPrison,Society,andSpectacle
Michelle Biown
WhoYouClain
PerforningGangIdentityinSchoolandontheStreets
Robeit Gaiot
,GransCrackCocaine,RapMusic,andtheWaronDrugs
Dimitii A. Bogazianos
Grams
Crack Cocaine, Rap Music,
and the War on Drugs
Dimitri A. Bogazianos
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New Yoik and London
NEWYORKUNIVERSITYPRESS
NewYoikandLondon
www.nyupiess.oig
OaorabyNewYoikUniveisity
Alliightsieseived
RefeiencestoInteinetwebsites(URLs)weieaccuiateatthetimeofwiiting.
NeitheitheauthoinoiNewYoikUniveisityPiessisiesponsiblefoiURLs
thatmayhaveexpiiedoichangedsincethemanusciiptwaspiepaied.
LibiaiyofCongiessCataloging-in-PublicationData
Bogazianos,DimitiiA.
giams:ciackcocaine,iapmusic,
andthewaiondiugs/DimitiiBogazianos.
p.cm.(Alteinativeciiminologyseiies)
ISBN,;8o8r(;8;oo;(cl:acid-fieepapei)
ISBN,;8o8r(;8;or((pbk:acid-fieepapei)
ISBN,;8o8r(;ao6;(ebook)
ISBN,;8o8r(;ar6o(ebook)
r.DiugcontiolUnitedStates.a.Ciack(Diug)UnitedStates.
.Sentences(Ciiminalpioceduie)UnitedStates.
(.NaicoticlawsUnitedStates.I.Title.II.Title:Fivegiams.
HV8a.B6aaorr
6.(o,;dca aorroa8r,r
NewYoikUniveisityPiessbooksaiepiintedonacid-fieepapei,
andtheiibindingmateiialsaiechosenfoistiengthandduiability.
Westiivetouseenviionmentallyiesponsiblesupplieisandmateiials
tothegieatestextentpossibleinpublishingouibooks.
ManufactuiedintheUnitedStatesofAmeiica
c ro , 8 ; 6 ( a r
p ro , 8 ; 6 ( a r
For NYC
This page intentionally left blank
vii
Contents
Acknowledgnents ix
Intioduction 1
1 Ciack, Rap, and the Punitive Tuin 1
z Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun: z,
Law and Policy in the Lethal Regulation of Ciack
Rap Puts Ciack to Woik
Tings Done Changed: ;,
Te Rise of New School Violence
Tiaining and Humiliation ,,
6 Facing the Coipoiation 11,
Conclusion 1,
MethodologicalEssay 1,
ôtes 1
Bibliography 18
Index 1,;
AbouttheAuthor zo6
ix
Acknowledgments
T
heie aie many mentois, colleagues, family membeis, and fiiends
who have helped make this book a ieality, most of whom blui the
lines between the categoiies just listed.
I would ist like to thank Lee Siegel, Geoige Tanabe, and Fiitz Seifeit,
eaily mentois who helped me focus my ie. My belief that scholaiship
is as much about saying inteiesting things about the woild as it is about
tiuth and justice owes much to Lees passion foi language, to Fiitzs dedi-
cation to answeiing the big questions, and to the many wide-ianging con-
veisations I have had with Geoige.
I am also giateful to Liisa Malkki, anothei eaily mentoi whose waimth
and geneiosity exemplify what it means foi a scholai to walk the talk, and
to David Goldbeig, who believed, fiom the stait, that I had something to
say and encouiaged me to say it as iichly as possible. Many thanks also
to Susan Coutin, Val Jenness, Victoiia Beinal, Diego Vigil, and Richaid
Peiiy, all of whom consistently piovided insight and encouiagement at
vaiious stages of this book.
Id also like to thank my many fiiends fiom the Univeisity of Califoi-
niaIivine, especially Paul Kaplan and Michael Biaun, ovei the yeais,
oui fiiendship giew thiough the countless conveisations we had duiing
two of my favoiite social piactices: eating and diinking, usually in ieveise
oidei. I look foiwaid to moie. Many thanks also to Lauia and hei fam-
ily, especially Aaion and Imma, two beautiful childien I was lucky to
help iaise duiing the eailiest stages of this book, and in whose continued
giowth into independent young people I will always nd the deepest joy.
I am also giateful to the many people at Califoinia State Univeisity
Saciamento, especially the faculty, sta, and students in the Division of
Ciiminal Justice who, collectively, have fosteied a suppoitive enviion-
ment of which it is a pleasuie to be a pait. And, in Saciamento itself, the
Cuellai-Valencia family and my people in Pangaea Paik have all helped
cieate a iich sense of community, tuining a new city into a new home
x Acknowledgments
Caioline, Paul and Monica, Edwaid, Nick, Aiamis, Alexandia, Michaela,
Paul and Ida, Shannon, James, Rob, Raj, Ricaido, Austin, Nick J., Maiy
M., Dan O., and Louise.
I am also inciedibly giateful to Ilene Kalish and NYU Piess foi suppoit-
ing ist-time authois tiying to say inteiesting things about the woild, and
foi encouiaging them to wiite theii best. Ilenes condence in the pioject,
and hei patience in seeing it thiough have been invaluable. Tanks also
to the anonymous ievieweis, whose willingness to engage with the book
on its own teims have helped consideiably, even if I have not been able to
addiess all of theii comments.
My deepest thanks, howevei, go to my family. My giandpaients, Iima
and James Jones, have modeled the highest levels of iesiliency, integiity,
and dignity even in the face of often oveiwhelming piejudice and tiag-
edy. If I have managed to absoib even the faintest tiaces of my giand-
fatheis honoi and vitality, Ill be a lucky man indeed. My mothei, Gail
Sutheiland, my fathei, Vasili Bogazianos, my stepfathei, Petei Sutheiland,
and my stepmothei, Cailotta Schoch, have all suppoited me uncondition-
ally at eveiy stage of my life. Individually, each has passed on tiaits that I
stiive to iealize in myselfmy motheis geneiosity, my fatheis humoi, my
stepfatheis cuiiosity, and my stepmotheis compassion.
Finally, this book is dedicated to the City and my New Yoik family,
past and piesent: Biandi, Sean, Chad, Jasmina, Rita and Gabe, Dot, Pinky,
and Elizabeth, and, especially, my Get Open biotheisSebastian Baidin-
Gieenbeig, Kiambu Dickeison, Avondale Dyei, Jesse Sandlei, Cailos Vas-
concellos, Saundi Wilsonas well as theii families, and the many othei
fiiends, musicians, and aitists without whom this book simply would not
have been wiitten. Tanks also to Oveitime Recoids, Red Five Music,
Hip Hop Loves Foundation, Biknahm, LaVibe Pioductions, Jazz Zoom,
8 Beats, Dina Tieiet, Lestei Bowie and fam, Puichase and Avenue J,
Mekka, Maitial Tiuth, and Ciazy Life Itself. Peace.
:
Introduction
I will not get bagged on a rock.
ChostfaceKillah,Run,TePrettyToneyAlbun,aoo(
I
n all of iaps gangstei mythology theie is peihaps no moie oveiused
imageiy than Biian De Palmas ,8 movie, Scarface, especially its
last scene. In it, Al Pacino, in a paianoid fienzy aftei snoiting scoops of
cocaine aiianged like mountains on his desk, chaiges onto his balcony
with a militaiy issue M-6 iiecomplete with gienade launcheito face
a small aimy of iival diug dealeis. Befoie he nally falls face ist into the
fountain below, his body is liteially peifoiated by bullets and sent thiough
the iailing by a shotgun blast to his back.
By the time Tony Montana, Pacinos chaiactei, died, he had become, by
all accounts, a cocaine kingpin, having moved what piobably amounted
to tons of cocaine. Tony Montanas kingpin status and his ultiaviolent
death, theiefoie, have piovided iap aitists with a ieady-made model of
gangstei heioism. And, indeed, the adoption of Scaiface as an icon by
self-consciously gangsta iappeis is an easy connection to make. Aftei all,
how much moie gangstei can one get?
Even given the seeming obviousness of adopting Tony Montana as a
heio, Ghostface Killahs piomisewhich he makes in the same song fiom
which the above epigiaph was diawnto die with the heait of Scaiface
in oidei to avoid getting aiiested foi the equivalent of one sugai packet
woith of ciack cocaine seems extieme. Tony Montana, that is, died foi
moving tons, not giams. Peihaps, then, Ghostfaces claimsalong with
those of countless othei iap aitistsaie to be inteipieted simply as the
exaggeiated boasts of an oveiactive imagination. Such exaggeiations aie
all the moie appaient becauseas a majoi suppliei of powdei cocaine,
the substance fiom which ciack is ultimately deiivedTony Montana
: Introduction
nevei sold ciack. Ciack dealing, in opposition to the cocaine kingpin
mythology of Scaiface, has always been a low-level enteipiisea ietail
opeiation dependent upon the impoitation of its paient substance, pow-
dei. And heie lies the piimaiy pioblem that this book addiesses: theie is
actually nothing easy oi meiely sensationalistic about the connection
many iappeis make between Scaiface and ciack cocaine. In fact, that con-
nection was made foi them long befoie they evei iapped about it. Moie
piecisely, this book examines a numbei of inteilocking contiadictions at
the heait of the U.S. goveinments punishment stiuctuie foi ciack that,
togethei, compiise a highly elastic foim of ieasoning thiough which, in a
stiange tuin, meie couiieis of an inheiently impuie foim of cocaine came
to be tieated asif they weie the kingpins of global ciiminal oiganizations
moving massive quantities of lethally puie diugs.
Tis book, thus, examines the piofound synbolic consequences of ciacks
paiadoxical punishment stiuctuie, although it does so fiom outside of
policy. Instead, I focus on the degiee to which ciack cocaine emeiged as a
piimaiy symbolic iefeient thiough the development of an impoitant ieex-
ive lyiical stance that many iap aitists in the ,,os took towaid theii own
commeicialization. In doing so, they became, in essence, pioducts that
talked back to theii pioduceis, as well as to a music industiy system that
has been consistently peiceived as being duplicitous and humiliating. Out
of iaps confiontation with the industiy that pioduced it, ciack became a
lethallogicofwork: a giammai of social analysis in which exploited cieative
laboias well as the possibilities of sustaining family and community life
that such laboi, it was hoped, might cieateguies as cential.
Foi me, the emotional foice of these lyiical ciitiques came into full
ielief while I was peifoiming with an independent, multiethnic New
Yoik Citybased iap gioup that came of age duiing the eaily and mid-
,,os. As pait of an inuential undeigiound movement, we made music
thioughout the eastein United States, often iecoiding with, opening foi,
oi pioducing a numbei of well-known iap and jazz aitists, including
KRS-One, Jungle Biotheis, De La Soul, Sadat X, O.C., Ta Alkaholiks,
Special Ed, MF Giimm, Fieestyle Fellowship, and Lestei Bowie, among
otheis. Because one of oui founding membeis and main pioduceis was
a Fiench-Ameiican who maintained stiong connections oveiseas, we
also iecoided with a numbei of Euiopean aitistsincluding Faf Laiage
and ShuiikN fiom Fiance, and Main Concept fiom Geimanyand pei-
foimed iegulaily at jazz and hip hop festivals, as well as in smallei clubs
and venues acioss the continent and in the United Kingdom.
Introduction ,
Tat eia in iap music saw the cieation of some of the most inuential
albums in iap histoiy as well as the violent deaths of some of the veiy
aitists who made such impoitant woik possible. We found out about the
muidei of the Notoiious B.I.G., foi example, befoie suniise on Maich ,,
,,;, when a choked-up ioad managei foi Smoothe Da Hustleiwhose
conceit wed opened a few houis eailieiknocked on oui hotel ioom
dooi to tell us the news and shaie a diink in Bigs memoiy. Foi those of
us deeply involved with making music duiing this peiiodas well as, Im
suie, foi those deeply involved with listening to the music made then
things did seem to change piofoundly. Histoiical ieections on this
timewhethei thiough documentaiies, television specials, oi expose-
style jouinalismoften emphasize one of two inteipietations: ist, that
the peiiod was, tiuly, quite violent, and the deaths of those involved weie,
in some ways, natuial outgiowths of this violence, oi, second, that the
iap-ielated violence of this time (and since) was (and still is) piimaiily
media diiven, and that the peiiods tiuest expiessions occuiied mainly in
spontaneously geneiated fieestyle gatheiings in small-scale, indepen-
dent clubs as well as on the stieets thioughout the city. While the ist
vaiiation ielies on a simplistic vision of young people fiom the stieets
somehow biinging theii violence with them into the piesumably nonvio-
lent woild of the music business, the second often assumes that compe-
tition and battling in iap aie, simply, alteinative, nonviolent means of
expiession.
Rap battles aie nevei puie substitutions foi violence, howevei, iathei,
they aie dancesoften liteiallyon and aiound the always piecaiious
line between healthy competition and humiliation. A battle, in othei
woids, is called such foi a ieason. Many of the most famous battle iappeis
who emeiged fiom this peiiod weie quite explicitly out to iuin each oth-
eis caieeis. Tose who emphasize the spontaneous, fiee cieativity of the
peiiod often foiget the ghts, neai-ghts, and evei-piesence of seiious
violencesome of which spilled ovei fiom the stieets, some fiom con-
icts begun in New Yoik Citys main jail, Rikeis Islandthat peivaded
the climate. Tis climate, though, was exaceibated by the zeio-toleiance
appioach of then-mayoi Rudolph Giulianis administiation to quality-of-
life ciimes, whichfoi all of the administiations talk of community
often meant little moie than systematically moving disieputable-looking
people out of business-fiiendly zones in Manhattan. It is no meie coinci-
dence that the lyiical ieexivity which developed duiing this peiiod often
iailed against being tiapped in humiliating conditions by faceless foices
; Introduction
of oidei and industiy. In sum, the impoitant cieative output of this time
was diiectly tied to the peiceptions, expeiiences, and potential of vio-
lence and humiliation that weie thoioughly woven into the fabiic of daily
life in the city as well as into the hopes and dieams of those young people
tiying to cieate nonhumiliating spaces of woik thiough music.
Duiing the many yeais I was involved with making music in this
peiiod, I was also involved with a young woman whose motheis addic-
tion to seiious diugs in the ,;os took a piofound tuin foi the woise when
ciack cocaine emeiged in the mid-,8os. Te iesults, as anyone who has
had similai expeiiences knows, weie yeais of fostei caie foi hei young
siblings, and long peiiods of hei motheis total absence, which weie then
punctuated by chaotic visits to county jails and the mental health waids
of city hospitals. As a numbei of ieseaicheis now suggest, the decline of
ciack maiketsand, most impoitantly, the associated declines in lethal
violence that began in the eaily-,,oswas seiiously inuenced by the
cultuial stigma that youth in communities most aected by ciack cocaine
attached to its useis, deiogatoiily iefeiiing to them as ciackheads. While
acknowledging that such stigma was inuential in ieducing ieal iates of
violence is of the utmost impoitance, foi those of us whose daily lives
weie intimately and unavoidably involved with caiing foi the ciackheads
who also happened to be family membeis and fiiends, that stigma was
veiy ieal and exceedingly painful. In fact, the widespiead, nonchalant use
of the woid in the ,,osespecially by those whose lives seemed not to
have been touched, in a visceial sense, by ciackoften felt like a betiayal.
Tiough deepei ieection, howevei, I have come to see that this was not
a betiayal, iathei, it was itself an indication of the degiee to which ciack
cocaine had cleaily aected eveiyone, and had become a piimaiy sym-
bolic iefeient foi the many young people tiying to distance themselves
fiom the despeiation, humiliation, and punitive suiveillance that ciack
iepiesented.
My peisonal expeiiences with iap and ciack, theiefoie, infoim eveiy
page of this book. Pait of my goal in it, then, is to communicate some
of the powei and loss that, togethei, constitute what I call ciacks expe-
iiential fabiicthe spidei-webbed inteiconnections between policy and
cultuie that continue to aect lives to this day. Vitally impoitant to the
whole, hence, is my contention that the intensely peisonal expeiiences
engendeied by the ciack eia weieand still aiedeeply inteitwined with
the paiadoxical ieasoning undeigiiding the fedeial ciack law itself, which
is outlined biiey below.
Introduction ,
Rap, Law, and the Industry
On August , aoo, Piesident Baiack Obama signed a law iepealing one
of the most contioveisial policies in Ameiican ciiminal justice histoiy:
the oo-to- sentencing dispaiity between ciack cocaine and powdei
wheieby someone convicted of simply possessing ve grans of crack
the equivalent of a few sugai packetshad been iequiied by law to seive
no less than ve yeais in piison.
In oidei to ieceive the same ve-yeai

mandatoiy sentence someone would have to be convicted of tracking
invehundredgransofpowder. Enacted by the United States Congiess
in ,88 as an update to a ,86 statute,
a
the punishment stiuctuie had cie-
ated, in the United States Sentencing Commissions woids, a fundamental
anomaly in the law since no othei diug in the fedeial system had caiiied
a mandatoiy piison teim foi a ist oense of simple possession.
Hailed as a bipaitisan victoiy, the laws iepeal depended upon a num-

bei of glaiing inconsistencies that advocates foi iational diug policy had
been highlighting foi ovei fteen yeais. Foi example, ciackas ieseaich-
eis have consistently shownis a diug that has long been in decline. And,
while iates of violent ciime in the United States have also declined since
the eaily ,,os, fedeial ciack cases increasedduiing this peiiod, and the
gap between sentences foi ciack and powdei grew, which seveiely piob-
lematized any justication of the laws continued existence based on a
link between ciack and violence.
Likewise, while the majoiity of people

who iepoit using ciack at least once a yeai aie white, ovei 8o peicent of
those sentenced undei fedeial ciack laws have been black.
As outlined biiey in the books opening sections, I examine the cultuial

consequences of ciacks paiadoxical punishment, and focus on a ieexive
lyiical stance that emeiged in ,,os New Yoik iap, which ciitiqued the
music industiy foi being coiiupt, unjust, and ciiminal. A consciousness
of exploitation was vocalized in the veiy pioducts that weie themselves
being exploited. Many iappeis began diawing paiallels between the iap
game and the ciack game, juxtaposing theii own exploits in stieet ciime
with the machinations of industiy executives in the suites.
Wheie populai conceptions of the music industiy often pit nave ait-
ists against piedatoiy executives, numeious iappeis since the ,,os have
come to piesent a vision of the music industiy in which hustling, entie-
pieneuiial aitists fiom the stieets becone the industiy executives in the
suites. Tis situation cieates a seemingly contiadictoiy position foi many
o Introduction
iappeis as they aie both behind the scenes as executives and in fiont of
the cameia as aitists, colluding in the same industiy exploitation of which
they aie so often ciitical, and doing so in the veiy pioducts that aie being
pioduced, maiketed, and consumed on a woild stage and on a global
scale.
Tis book, then, ist began as a lyiical analysis of this inteinal ciitique
in which the pioducts themselves talk back to the veiy system that cie-
ated them, and which aitists of all genies have come to peiceive as intol-
eiable. Hence, many iap aitists have come to indict thework of the indus-
tiy, in which duplicity and complexity bind haid woikeis to an immoial
system of pioduction. Te fundamental questions, thus, that ist ani-
mated this book weie these: What do these pioducts themselves say
about being pioducts, the piocess of becoming pioducts, and theii iela-
tionship to theii pioduceis? And what iole does ciime play in this uneasy,
ambivalent ielationship to and alliance with the exploitative piactices of
the enteitainment industiies?
Veiy eaily on, howevei, it became appaient that it would be impossible
to undeistand iaps engagement with its own commeicialization without
also analyzing the ways in which that conict was being accounted foi in
the exploding cottage industiy suiiounding the muideis of the two most
impoitant guies in iaps meigei of stieet and suite ciime: the Notoiious
B.I.G. and Tupac Shakui. As the most piominent iepiesentatives of iival
iecoid labels based on opposite coasts, theii feud took place in lyiics, in
magazines, in awaids shows, and in the stieets. B.I.G. was himself a piod-
uct of the ,,os New Yoik iap milieu who latei became the guiehead of
Bad Boy iecoids, the East Coast iival of Los Angelesbased Death Row
Recoids, headed by Tupac. As the public icons of two poweiful, black-
owned iecoid labels, B.I.G. and Tupac weie instiumental in cieating a
public image of the iap industiy as a business enviionment iun like ciimi-
nal caitels and stieet gangs. Since theii muideis, B.I.G. and Tupac have
become neai-mythical guies.
In addition to these consideiations, it also became appaient duiing
the eaily stages of this book that the degiee to which the ieal ciiminal
associations of iap aitists have taken centei stage was being institution-
alized thiough the populaiity of guies such as o Cent, who has been
desciibed as B.I.G. and Tupac iolled into one.
6
Aftei being shot nine
times, the ciack dealei-tuined-iappei was diopped fiom his iecoid label
contiact because, he claimed, the label executives weie too scaied. Aftei
making a name foi himself as a hungiy undeigiound aitist, o secuied
Introduction ,
anothei iecoid contiact and went on to sell ovei eleven million copies of
his debut album, GetRichorDieTrying.
Tis book, theiefoie, took the shape it did because ciack emeiged as
the answei to the seemingly simple question with which it began: What
aie the pioducts themselves saying about being pioducts, the piocess of
becoming pioducts, and theii ielationship to theii pioduceis? Ciack, that
is, guies as a bioad, peivasiveeven if contiadictoiylogic of woik and
laboi that plays out in lyiics, documentaiies, inteiviews, autobiogiaphies,
and, most signicantly, the inteiaction between iaps vaiious expiessive
media and the paiadoxical logic of the ciack laws themselves.
In oidei to convey ciacks social complexity and symbolic powei, I
have boiiowed a phiase fiom histoiian Raymond Williams to suggest that
the Ameiican expeiience of ciack cocaine iepiesents the lethal coie of a
laigei crininological structure of feeling that has iisen to dominance in
public life duiing the past thiity-plus yeais. A stiuctuie of feeling, Wil-
liams wiote, is a paiticulai quality of social expeiience and ielationship
;

that ieects meanings and values as they aie actively lived and felt,
8

which gives the sense of a geneiation oi of a peiiod.
,
I call the ciack eia,
the peiiod in question, the lethal core of this stiuctuie foi one piimaiy
ieason: duiing this time, between the mid-,8os and eaily ,,os, the
national homicide iate iose fiom 8 to o pei oo,ooo, and, in those neigh-
boihoods hit haidest, to as high as I: per Ioo,ooo, ieecting a national
death toll of neaily a,ooo people pei yeai.
o
As the lethal coie of this
laigei stiuctuie, ciack has continued to aect peiceptions of social life
even as violent ciime iates have steadily declined since theii peak in the
,,os. In my piemise, ciack iepiesents a vital aiea of social expeiience

that is iife with conicting impulses, but still functions as an oideiing
giidwoik with specic inteinal ielations, at once inteilocking and in
tension
a
that often opeiates quite aside fiom what people consciously
intend.
I call this stiuctuie ciiminological because it ieects the emeigence
of ciiminology, bioadly conceived. As the systematic study of ciime and
ciiminal behavioi, the discipline of ciiminology was a theoretical inter-
vention into the abstiact ideals of Enlightenment legal theoiy, pioblem-
atizing, at the veiy least, its conceptionpeihaps best exemplied in
the ciiminological canon by the wiitings of Cesaie Beccaiiaof human
beings as fiee, iational, soveieign individuals. Ciiminology, howevei, was
also a practical intervention into the administiation of justice in nine-
teenth-centuiy Ameiica, incoipoiating scientic and quasi-medical piac-
8 Introduction
tices into the piofessionalizing foices that giew along with iapid uiban-
ization. Te actual piactice of ciiminal justice in the United States today,
theiefoie, is a composite of many elements: (a) eaily Ameiican Chiistian
ideals of confession and iepentance, (b) Enlightenment values of due
piocess, (c) social-scientic explanations of law making, law bieaking,
and law enfoicement, (d) the vaiious buieauciatic piactices that inevi-
tably accompany the iise of any complex social institution, as well as (e)
the populai suppoitsometimes tacit, at othei times explicitfoi the
giowth of state-sanctioned ciime-contiol stiategies. All of these elements
only congeal into a laigei ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling, though, in
the wake of deindustrializationthe massive ight of manufactuiing jobs
fiom the uiban coie of many U.S. cities since the ,;os, and the concomi-
tant iise of a seivice economy bolsteied piimaiily by unskilled, low-wage
laboi.
In my conception, then, Ameiicas ciiminological stiuctuie of feel-
ing ieects a collective impulseeven when, as is often the case, such
impulses aie diiven by economic foices, and manipulated by politicians
despeiate foi ieelection in a woild of incieasingly unstable woik pat-
teinsto punish away the signicant moial and mateiial changes expe-
iienced in the lattei half of the twentieth centuiy. Te iesults of this
impulsewhat sociologist David Gailand has called ietaliatoiy legisla-
tionhave been seveie.
At bottom, ciime and punishment in twenty-

ist-centuiy Ameiicaand, incieasingly, the woildhave come to pio-
vide whole sets of inteipietive schema thiough which social life is now
peiceived, theieby cieating oveilapping webs of values, meanings, and
beliefs that iadiate fai beyond ocial policies and documents, and thiead
theii way into peoples daily lives and cultuial cieations.
Undeigiiding
my piemise is one simple, oft-iepeated obseivation: the United States
impiisons fai moie people foi fai moie time foi fai moie nonviolent
oenses than anywheie else in the woild. As a iesult, the thiid element of
Ameiicas ciiminal exceptionalismin addition to its high iates of lethal
violence and its use of the death penaltyis this: the population behind
bais has moie than quintupled in the past thiity yeais, fiom less than half
a million piisoneis in the eaily ,;os to ovei two million piesently, iep-
iesenting one in eveiy one hundied U.S. adults.
With an additional ve
million on piobation and paiole, the moie than seven million people now
undei ciiminal justice supeivision iepiesent a full one in eveiy thiity-one
U.S. adults, with some states, such as Geoigia, ieaching as high as one in
thiiteen.
6
Introduction ,
Te multiple, oveilapping expeiiences, then, of ciime and punish-
ment in the United States have come to suuse the daily lives of evei-
incieasing numbeis of Ameiicans, satuiating theii senses and peicep-
tions, and aecting the ways in which they inteipiet the woild. Tese
expeiiences now include a whole iange of ielated elements: (a) all known
and unknown oenses and victimizations,
;
(b) police stops, seaiches, sei-
zuies, and aiiests,
8
(c) bookings, aiiaignments, pleas, and, moie iaiely,
tiials,
,
(d) tine, in jails, piisons, and the vaiious foims of supeivised
ielease that, by tuins, have giown and fallen in piofessional favoi,
ao
and
(e) the endless iepiesentations of ciime and punishment that inundate
public and piivate life thiough evei-changing media deliveiy systems.
A ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling, in othei woids, is a social con-
dition in which ciiminal justice has become a stand-in foi social justice
geneially. It is a condition in which the public has giown incieasingly
condent and vocal about its own ciiminological expeitise, ielying pii-
maiily on commonsense beliefs about why ciiminals do what they do,
what law enfoicement ocials should do about them, and how long they
should be locked up foi, iegaidless of what othei expeitspiofessional
ciiminologists, mainstieam and ciiticalhave to say about it all.
a
Moie
impoitantly, the specic policies that aie geneiated fiom this condition
all too often ieect contiadictoiy logics that violently oveilap and stand
at cioss-puiposes. Take gang enhancement laws, foi example, which
can inciease sentences foi felonies by anywheie fiom two to ten yeais,
depending on the seiiousness of the undeilying chaige. Such laws
which often have neighboihood-level suppoit, but aie usually associ-
ated with iight-of-centei, tough-on-ciime advocatesaie intended, in
the woids Califoinias Stieet Teiioiism Enfoicement and Pievention
Act, to seek the eiadication of ciiminal activity by stieet gangs.
aa
Take,
also, hate ciime statutes, which similaily ieect an eoit on the pait of
left-of-centei advocates to send a cleai message that hate-motivated
violence simply wont be toleiated any moie. Like gang enhancements,
hate ciime statutes also inciease sentences by multiple yeais, depending
on the seiiousness of the undeilying chaige. Te inconsistency of both
eoits, howevei, lies in one bald fact: inmates in jails and piisons aie all
but iequiied to click up with a race-basedgang in oidei to secuie even
the most basic elements of suivival, whethei toilet papei oi phone time.
Piison opeiates accoiding to the most ieductive undeistandings of iace,
which guide almost eveiy activity in it. Put dieiently, in oidei to show
that we will no longei toleiate gangs oi iacism, we will, stiangely, send,
:o Introduction
foi extia time, gang bangeis and iacists to the most iacist and gang-
diiven institution the woild has evei seen: piison. Given such a iadical
disconnect between ends and means, one should wondei what mes-
sages aie actually being ieceived by gang membeis and iacists thiough
theii enhanced sentences.
In a ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling, the exact same thingtime
undei ciiminal justice supeivisionis believed by wide swaths of the citi-
zeniy (as well as the politicians and piofessionals of all political stiipes
who must answei to them) to peifoim a vaiiety of dieient functions
simultaneously, including, at least, the foui classic goals of punishment:
deteiience, incapacitation, iehabilitation, and ietiibution. Most often,
though, justications foi such violently contiadictoiy policies iepiesent
iadically unieexive beliefs in piisons supposed message-sending capa-
bilities.
In this book, theiefoie, I suggest that iap music has come to seive as
one of the piimaiy means by which ciack peifoims its woik within this
laigei stiuctuie. Ive appioached iap, then, as a conplex, often contra-
dictory, connercially bound social practice that cannot be ieduced to
its political potential oi violent excesses, which aie often taken, sim-
plistically, by both academic and populai ciitics, to be its good and
bad qualities. When appioached as a complex social piactice, iap can
be seen less as a ieection of social foices, and moie as, in Williamss
woids, a cieative woikinga tiansfoimation and innovation which
composed a geneiation out of what seemed sepaiate woik and expeii-
ence, biinging in new feelings, people, ielationships, ihythms newly
known, discoveied, aiticulated, dening the society iathei than meiely
ieecting it.
a
Raps iole in cieatively woiking out the ciack eias complicated social
eects only emeiges, as Ive suggest above, fiom a specic peiiod in iaps
histoiy, duiing which theie developed an explicit, self-conscious, and lyi-
ical languageofexploitation thiough which many iap aitists denounced
ioutine music industiy piactices as being immoial and ciiminal.
a
[W]e
discovei oui epoch, Williams wiote, not by the geneialities of the peiiod
but by those points, those lives, those expeiiences, in which the stiuctuie
of oui own most signicant diculties seems to begin to take shape.
a

What began as seemingly iandom outbuists in iaps confiontation with
its own commeicialization eventually laid the gioundwoik foi a giammai
of social analysis in which empoweiment and loss, cieative woik and sei-
vitude guie as key ciiminological ashpoints. In essence, the metaphoi
Introduction ::
of ciack in iaps confiontation with its own commeicialization iepiesents
a violent logic of woik in late-twentieth- and eaily-twenty-ist-centuiy
Ameiica whose piimaiy teims aie diawn fiom, aie shaped by, and opei-
ate within a much laigei ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling that has iisen
to dominance in Ameiican public life since the ,;os.
Chapter Outline
In chaiting ciacks lethal logic of woik, which lies at the coie of Ameiicas
ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling, I diaw fiom and weave togethei song
lyiics, thieads of legal aigumentation, pieces of biogiaphy, and exceipts
of inteiviews in an eoit to iegistei the iichness, emotional foice, and
logical contiadictions that constitute ciacks expeiiential fabiic.
a6
Each
chaptei engages dieient pieces of this fabiic, disentangling its multiple,
oveilapping, and sometimes vestigial elements in a laigei eoit to illus-
tiate its social complexity as well as illuminate the insepaiable paiiing of
policy and cultuie fiom which it giew
Chaptei begins by placing iaps unique expiessive position squaiely
within the piimaiy contiadictions of ciacks punishment stiuctuie as well
as iecent aiguments condemning this stiuctuie that have come fiom the
United States Supieme Couit and the United States Sentencing Commis-
sion, among otheis. In shoit, the chaptei piovides a biief outline of the
punitive policy contexts fiom which ciacks expeiiential dynamics of feel-
ing giew, and which also infoim the iest of the book.
Chaptei a examines the piofoundly pioblematic iationale undeily-
ing the U.S. goveinments punishment stiuctuie foi ciack cocaine. I iely
piimaiily on the Sentencing Commissions foui iepoits to Congiess that
have consistently challenged the mandatoiy minimums in oidei to let
ciacks paiadoxical punishment speak foi itself. Tis chaptei analyzes
the specic legal logics with which iaps conict with its own commeicial-
ization became inextiicably imbedded, and outlines how ciack became
the lethal coie of Ameiicas ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling.
Chaptei situates the iags-to-iiches, stieets-to-boaidioom-suites
success stoiies that have become the most iecognizable identity myths at
the coie of the iap industiy within the bioadei context of iap ciiticism,
both populai and academic, and fiom which two cleai appioaches have
emeiged: wheie one side appioaches iap in oidei to use it foi political
ends by ist iescuing the good paits fiom the commeicialized aspects,
:: Introduction
the othei appioaches iap with the goal of accusing it of signalingand,
sometimes, causingall that is bad in the innei city. Both attempts,
howevei, often neglect the eveiyday exploitative iealities within which
iaps immediate pioductive possibilities aie dened. Consequently, this
chaptei gives an oveiview of these exploitative iealities in oidei to show
how ciacks social devastations became a bediock expeiience foi iap ait-
ists iaised in the eia.
In chaptei , I pioblematize one of the most populai beliefs about iaps
ciack-infused lyiics: that they iepiesent, pai excellence, a loss of moial-
ity in the innei city. Instead, by chaiting the deeply moial debate at the
heait of what many take as examples of the woist kinds of sensational-
ist supeipiedation, I attempt to show that, in the wake of the ciack eias
tiansfoimation of violence, a new moial oidei has aiisen in which mai-
ket ielations have come to supplant cultuially bound ones and that the
young people iaised in it have expeiienced as both powei and loss. Tis
tiansfoimation, I contend, can be seen most poweifully in the Notoiious
B.I.G.s song Tings Done Changed, which cieatively woiks out the iise
of what I call new school violence.
Chaptei challenges a seemingly simple piemise undeilying many
populai theoiies that posit a cleai ielationship between bad paienting,
ciime, and iap music: no one is monitoiing, punishing, oi tiaining the
youth. Quite to the contiaiy, howevei, what iap, ethnogiaphic liteiatuie
on ciack dealing, and ieseaich on Ameiicas declining violence iates sug-
gest is that youth, indeed, have been engaged in veiy seiious eoits to
monitoi, tiain, and iestiain thenselves. Tat these eoits have helped
ieduce iates of seiious violence in the United States is all the moie sig-
nicant as youth have done so even in the midst of seveie family and
community disiuption caused by excessive punishment and despite the
neai-constant public condemnation of theii supposed lack of moiality.
Tis chaptei, theiefoie, analyzes the ways in which iaps ieexive stance
towaid its own commeicialization has consistently ieected seiious
eoits at iestiaining ciack-eia violence thiough tiaining iegimens that
have been fundamentally self-imposed.
Chaptei 6 analyzes the mythology suiiounding the most impoitant
guie in iaps conict with its own commeicialization: Suge Knight. As
the head of Death Row Recoids, he was at the centei of the conict with
which the deaths of B.I.G. and Tupac will foievei be linked. Suge stands as
a poweiful symbol in the iap industiy because he is seen as iepiesenting
two sides of the use of ciack-eia violence: when used in disciplined buists
Introduction :,
it appeais to piovide fieedom fiom humiliation and the violence of a life
suspended by the seemingly nonviolent piactices of the music industiy,
when an end in itself, though, violence can become a thoioughly unpio-
ductive element that signals the demise of ones pioductive potential. And
it is piecisely this balancing act between two violences that has become
an essential element in the cuiient iap industiy.
Te symbolism, then, of ciack in iaps ieexive stance towaid its own
commeicialization iepiesents a moial debate whose signicance lies in
the widespiead cultuial consequences of the United States iiiational
clinging to the paiadoxical punishment stiuctuie of ciack cocaine. In its
engagement with its own commeicialization, iap has come to speak to
issues fai biggei than itself, and, in so doing, has highlighted the degiee
to which ciackalthough a diug long in declinehas tiansfoimed into
the lethal coie of a much laigei ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling that
peivades Ameiican public life, and continues to iadiate outwaid in evei-
incieasing caiceial iings.
:,

Crack, Rap, and

the Punitive Turn
Te crack epidemic had rap representing the rules.
Nas,TeLastRealNiggaAlive,GodsSon,aooa
I
n Kinbroughv.UnitedStates, one in a stiing of iecent landmaik deci-
sions that, in eect, have made the United States Sentencing Com-
missions guidelines nonbinding, the Supieme Couit upheld a tiial couit
judges decision to addiess the foimei oo-to- sentencing dispaiity
between ciack cocaine and powdei by ieducing Deiiick Kimbioughs
ciack-ielated sentence by ovei foui yeais.
Kimbioughan Opeiation
Deseit Stoim veteian with no piioi felonieshad pleaded guilty to a
numbei of diugs and weapons chaiges and was sentenced to fteen yeais
instead of the ,-to-aa.-yeai iange that stiict adheience to the sentenc-
ing guidelines would have iequiied. Had Kimbiough been caught with an
equivalent amount of powdei, he would have faced eight oi nine yeais,
less than half the time he faced foi ciack possession. In the tiial judges
view, the additional foui-plus yeais mandated by the guidelines weie
gieatei than necessaiy to assuie deteiience and public safety, and he
iesponded by going lowei than what was iequiied. Aiguing that the tiial
couit had abused its discietion in going below the guidelines, the couit
of appeals incieased Kimbioughs sentence to the highei numbei. In dis-
agieeing with the appellate decision, theiefoie, the highest couit in the
countiy ocially iecognized what ieseaicheis, scientists, and advocates
have been aiguing foi yeais: the punishment stiuctuie foi ciack cocaine
has always been iadically dispiopoitionate to the inteiests of justice.
Cieated by Congiess as an independent agency thiough the Sentenc-
ing Refoim Act in ,8,
a
the Sentencing Commissions piimaiy puipose
:o Crack, Rap, and the Punitive Turn
was to iationalize the fedeial sentencing piocess by using an empiiical
appioach to develop guidelines that fedeial couits would be iequiied to
follow.
Te guidelines, hence, weie to be followed as law. While Kin-

brough is impoitant on many levels, with futuie implications yet to be
seen, its signicance so fai has been to uphold the excision of the guide-
lines status as law.
Te guidelines aie now just that: advisoiy, instead of

mandatoiy. While Kinbrough and the cases that led up to it have been
technically conceined with the issue of due piocess at sentencing,
Kin-
brough is signicant in that both the tiial judge and the Supieme Couit
explicitly diew on a seiies of the commissions own in-depth studies that
have, in no unceitain teims, consistently challenged the fedeial govein-
ments punishment of ciack cocaine.
6
In ,,, ,,;, aooa, and, again, in
aoo;, the Sentencing Commissionthe veiy body cieated by Congiess
to implement iational, empiiically based sentencing guidelineshas
detailed the iiiational punishment of ciack, stating, in the woids of the
aoo; iepoit, that the oo-to- diug quantity iatio signicantly undei-
mines the vaiious congiessional objectives set foith in the Sentencing
Refoim Act.
;
While Piesident Obamas iepeal of the mandatoiy mini-
mum foi the simple possession of ciack cocaine is a signicant move
towaid evidence-based diug policy, foi ovei twenty yeais Congiess clung
to a sentencing stiuctuie that punished minoiity populations at an ovei-
whelmingly dispiopoitionate iate despite neai-unanimous condemna-
tion.
8
Both the Couits decision in Kinbrough and the iepeal of the man-
datoiy minimum foi simple possession, then, have undeilined the pio-
found iiiationality at the heait of the fedeial goveinments punishment
of ciack cocaine. Foi one thing, in destatutizing the guidelines, the Couit,
paiadoxically, allowed the commissions iecommendations conceining
ciack to be followed in its advisoiy iole, the way it nevei was followed
in its mandatoiy iole. Te iiiationality of ciacks punishment, theiefoie,
is at the foiefiont of ienewed eoits at both the state and fedeial lev-
els to iefoim a ciiminal justice system that has long been peiceived by a
bioad iange of ciitics, ieseaicheis, and politicians as being oveily haish
and fundamentally counteipioductive. In the woids of Senatoi Jim Webb,
whose iecently pioposed legislationthe National Ciiminal Justice Act
of aoo,aims at nothing less than a complete iestiuctuiing of punish-
ment in the United States, Ameiicas ciiminal justice system is bioken,
and [o]ui failuie to addiess these pioblems cuts against the notion that
we aie a society founded on fundamental faiiness.
,
Crack, Rap, and the Punitive Turn :,
In fact, by many accounts, we aie at a ciucial bipaitisan junctuie in
Ameiican ciiminal justice.
o
Te yeai aoo,, foi example, saw state piison
populations diop foi the ist time in neaily foui decades, declining by
o. peicent. But how did we get heie, to a point wheie a meie o. peicent
change is seenby beleagueied pioponents of iational ciiminal justice
policy acioss the boaidas a signicant victoiy? Tis chaptei gives a biief
oveiview of how we got to this point, outlining, in the piocess, the contia-
dictoiy policy contexts out of which ciacks lethal logic of woik eventually
emeiged, and which continue to dene its expeiiential fabiic. In addition,
I discuss the scholaily neai misses that have inuenced analyses of the
iap-ciack inteisection to this point, and suggest how we might iethink
that inteisection in oidei to move beyond ieductionist accounts in which
iap music and innei-city communities aie taken as meie ieections of
each othei.
Contradiction in Crime and Punishment
Peihaps counteiintuitively, given the fedeial goveinments moie than
twenty-yeai ieliance on the mandatoiy minimum foi simple possession,
ciack cocaine, as ieseaicheis have consistently shown, is a diug that has
long been in decline. As eaily as ,,o, sociologist Biuce Jacobs wiites
in his ethnogiaphy of ciack dealeis in St. Louis, ciack began to show
evidence of iemission,
and as of mid-,,8a few yeais aftei Jacobs

began his piojectciack use, with a few iaie exceptions... is in eithei
nationwide decline oi (late) plateau.
a
Most ciack dealeis, accoidingly,
have long been awaie that they aie paiticipating in a faiily unpiotable
business. In addition, many of the feais oiiginally associated with ciack
that it was, foi example, instantly addictive, oi, ielatedly, that instantly
addicted motheis would cieate an epidemic of ciack-addicted babies
have been found by most ieseaicheis, including the commission, to be,
fundamentally, baseless.
Likewise, although ciack cocaine has been a

lightning iod in the U.S. wai on diugs, theie has nevei been, in the woids
of the ,, Sentencing Commission iepoit, a compaiable ciack cocaine
pioblem outside the United States.
Ciack, then, is a diug supposedly in its last stages of life, whose time
has come and gone, and is not even consideied piotable by the veiy peo-
ple who choose to sell it. Ciack is not supposed to be impoitant anymoie,
it is, it seems, just a vestige of an eailiei, moie paianoid eia. Ciack is,
:8 Crack, Rap, and the Punitive Turn
simply put, an anomaly. But it is piecisely in this anomalous space that
ciacks laigei social signicance lies. Ciacks supposed declineand the
wiongs believed to be magically iighted thiough iepeal of the ciack laws
most egiegious inconsistenciesis belied by its cultuial ascendance.
To be suie, aiguments about the paiadoxical natuie of ciime and pun-
ishment have been made many times befoie. Te histoiy of penology is
peihaps most impoitant in this iegaid as the elds Maixist and ciitical
ioots iun deep, giounding the analysis of punishment in a piofound sense
of contiadiction. Sociologists Geoige Rusche and Otto Kiichheimeis
classic, Punishnent and Social Structure, is key, aiguing, as it did, that,
quite apait fiom any of its explicit goals, the piincipal objective [of the
modein piison] was not the iefoimation of the inmates but the iational
exploitation of laboi powei.
Likewise, in analyzing the development of

vagiancy laws in eaily modein England, sociologist William Chambliss
aigued that, iathei than being simply a ieection of public opinion as
is sometimes found in the liteiatuie, the laws, instead, emeiged in oidei
to piovide the poweiful landowneis with a ieady supply of cheap laboi.
6

Similaily, sociologist Richaid Quinney aigued that the ciiminal justice
system piimaiily opeiates to contiol suiplus populations made iedun-
dant as the iate of unemployment incieases.
;
Cleaily, howevei, Maixist analysts aie not the only ones who have
emphasized punishments noninstiumental and counteiintuitive eects.
Sociologist David Gailand, foi example, has aigued that punishment
should be seen not as a singulai kind of event oi ielationship but iathei
as a social institution that entails a complexity of stiuctuie and density of
meaning.
8
Similaily, in discussing what he calls the penal imagination,
sociologist Philip Smith aigues that, even wheie punishment looks most
iationalized and buieauciatic, it neveitheless includes uniuly meanings
that exeit theii insistent and suipiising inuence.
,
Likewise, in hei analy-
sis of the penal spectatoisomeone who sanctions, in hei appioval
and witnessing, the iniction of pain
ao
sociologist Michelle Biown also
emphasizes punishments social complexity, noting that penal meanings
will always be pluial and tiicky to hainess,
a
iegaidless of how stiongly we
believe we can contiol the messages we think we send by punishing oth-
eis. Foi these authois, the social signicance of punishment is to be found
in its complex symbolic iesonance, and not its instiumental goals alone.
While ciitical analyses of punishment aie cleaily peivaded by a deep
sense of paiadox, even mainstieam studies of ciiminal justice piactice
in the United States often ieaim similai counteiintuitive ielationships
between explicit goals and implicit functions. Take the famous Kansas
City patiol expeiiment, which set about tiying to undeistand the eec-
tiveness of dieient policing styles on ciime iates.
aa
By incieasing patiols
in one aiea, keeping them the same in anothei, and making them puiely
ieactive in the last, the expeiiment came to a fundamentally counteiin-
tuitive iesult: ciime iates stayed the same in all of the aieas, suggesting
that, foi all of the common sense about policing at the time, theie was,
essentially, little inuence to be found between police piesence and actual
ciime. Te expeiiment, howevei, did make a stiange discoveiy: while citi-
zens did not iepoit feeling any safei, they all believed that moie oceis
weie needed. In othei woids, the study found that the public is often in
a state of always wanting moie police piesence iegaidless of the amount
they actually ieceive. And, in a similai study conducted by some of the
same authois in Newaik, New Jeisey, a few yeais latei, it was found that,
indeed, when police patiolled each block on foot, citizens did feel safei,
even if actual iates of ciime did not decline.
a
Te paiadox, theiefoie,
lies in the nding that perception, not action, gives policing its impoi-
tance. And, in an even moie inteiesting tuin, this emphasis on peiception
was taken up as one of the piimaiy causative elements by ciiminologists
Geoige L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson in theii famous bioken windows
theoiy of ciime: [I]f a window in a building is bioken and is left unie-
paiied, they wiote, then the community will peiceive such states of disie-
paii as acceptable, and all the iest of the windows will soon be bioken.
a

Dependent upon a belief that the untended behavioi of disieputable
people leads to spiialing uiban decay, bioken windows theoiy confeiied
a veiy cleai impoitance on the connection between community feais of
ciime and actual ciime. Te spiial of decline, in theii woids, begins when
a piece of piopeity is abandoned, weeds giow up, a window is smashed.
As a iesult, Adults stop scolding iowdy childien, the childien, embold-
ened, become moie iowdy. Families move out, unattached adults move
in. Teenageis, consequently, gathei in fiont of the coinei stoie. Te
meichant asks them to move, they iefuse. Fights occui. Littei accumu-
lates. People stait diinking in fiont of the gioceiy, in time, an inebiiate
slumps to the sidewalk and is allowed to sleep it o. And it was this the-
oiy of causation that foimed the coie of the William Biattonled NYPD
duiing Mayoi Rudolph Giulianis administiation in the ,,os, which took
a zeio toleiance appioach to quality of life ciimes, tuining New Yoik
City, in the eyes of many, into a miiacle success stoiy of contempoiaiy
policing.
a
At bottom, fiom theoietical penology to mainstieam ciime-contiol
policy, theie is a bioad consensus that the explicit goals and puiposes
of ciiminal justice may have veiy little eect on how the system actually
opeiates. While the ultimate causes of and the specic policy iecommen-
dations that aie geneiated fiom these paiadoxical ndings will always be
in dispute, the ciiminal justice systems counteiintuitive natuie is eveiy-
wheie aimed. It is also in this element of paiadox, howevei, that some
of the moie socially devastating aspects of U.S. ciime-contiol policy lie.
Te Punitive Turn
Called the punitive tuin by some, U.S. ciime-contiol policies since the
,;os have changed signicantly. As a numbei of wiiteis have aigued ovei
the yeais, the ,;os saw a stiange consensus between populist tough on
ciime appioaches to ciiminal justice policy and piofessional ciiticisms
of judicial discietion that appeaied to cieate wide sentencing dispaiities
among dieient juiisdictions foi similai ciimes.
a6
Populai conceins weie,
at least in pait, inuenced by ieal iises in ciime, what David Gailand has
called a new collective expeiience of ciime.
a;
Piofessional conceins, on
the othei hand, weie often diiven by what ciiminal justice histoiian Sam-
uel Walkei has called eoits at taming the system.
a8
Te eects of this
changing social moodoui nascent ciiminological stiuctuie of feeling
can best be seen in a numbei of lms fiom the eia in which vigilante anti-
heioes take back city stieets oveiiun with piedatoiy hoodlums. Take, in
this iegaid, the classic ,; lm Dirty Harry, in which Clint Eastwood,
in the title iole, is called diity piecisely because of his extialegal ciime-
contiol tactics. In one famous scene, Haiiy slowly giinds his shoe into the
wounded leg of a wiithing suspect who is whimpeiing about his iight to
a lawyei and pleading foi his life. When faced with a scolding piosecutoi,
Haiiy iesponds with baiely contiolled contempt, mockingly saying how
hes all bioken up about that mans iights. Take, also, ,;s DeathWish,
in which Chailes Bionsons chaiacteiwho is desciibed in no unceitain
teims as a bleeding heait libeialbecomes a meiciless vigilante aftei
his wife and daughtei aie biutally assaulted. Peihaps the most inteiest-
ing example of the late-seventies-eia tough-on-ciime mood, howevei, is
EscapefronêwYork. Released in ,8, and set in the futuie of ,,;, the
lm opens with a biiey woided desciiption: in iesponse to a ctional
fourhundredpercentriseincrine, in ,88, the fedeial goveinment tuined
Crack, Rap, and the Punitive Turn ::
the entiie island of Manhattan into a penal colony suiiounded by a fty-
foot containment wall and guaided by police peisonnel instiucted to
shoot any potential escapees on sight.
In addition to this synthesis of populai and piofessional conceins, in
,;, an inuential analysis of iehabilitation piogiams concluded that the
iehabilitation eoits that have been iepoited so fai have had no appiecia-
ble eect on iecidivism.
a,
Often called, simply, Maitinson, this noth-
ing woiks doctiine conveiged with the giowing tough-on-ciime tiend as
well as academic ciiticisms of sentencing dispaiity, giving fai moie scien-
tic legitimacy to the implementation of a numbei of signicant changes
in ciiminal justice policy.
o
Te aim of these eoits as a whole can pei-
haps best be summaiized in a phiase: making time seived bettei ieect
time given. In many states, as well as the fedeial goveinment, these eoits
iesulted in moves away fiom indeterninate sentencing stiuctuies as well
as the seiious ieduction oi outiight abolishment of paiole boaids. Te
iationale behind these kinds of moves ielied on a widespiead peiception
that paiole boaids and indeteiminate sentencing stiuctuies iesulted in
fai too much leniency, giving ciiminals too many bieaks. Indeteiminate
sentences, it was believed, allowed foi fai too much discietion since pun-
ishments weie given as ianges, such as ten yeais to life, iathei than as a
single, denite numbei. At some point aftei the minimum teim had been
seived, piisoneis would then be eligible foi paiole, and would have to
appeai befoie the paiole boaid peiiodically to assess whethei theii behav-
ioi in piison, piedictions of theii futuie dangeiousness, and the seveiity
of theii ciimes justied eaily ielease. Te eoit to make time seived moie
accuiately ieect time given, then, was a move to deterninate sentenc-
ing stiuctuies in which piisoneis had to seive a specic peiiod of time
minus good time ciedits. Aftei seiving theii sentences, piisoneis weie
automatically fieed, without having to appeai befoie a paiole boaid to
piedict theii futuie dangeiousness.
Tis punitive tuin, howevei, also occuiied thiough tiuth in sentenc-
ing laws passed in many states thioughout the ,8os and ,,os, which
iequiied piisoneis to seive a specic piopoition of theii sentences. In
,,8, foi example, Congiessas stipulated in a ,, actallocated fed-
eial giant money to those states that could piove that a majoiity of theii
oendeis weie seiving at least 8 peicent of theii sentences.
In addi-
tion, and of specic concein to this book, duiing the ,8os theie was
an incieasing ieliance on the passing, at both the state and fedeial lev-
els, of mandatoiy minimum sentences foi diug and weapons chaiges,
:: Crack, Rap, and the Punitive Turn
many of which weie modeled on New Yoiks infamous Rockefellei Diug
Laws, which had been signed into law by goveinoi Nelson Rockefellei
in ,;, and iefoimed signicantly in aoo, aftei decades of seveie ciiti-
cism.
a
Mandatoiy minimums guaranteed that a specic minimum sen-
tence would be imposed if guilt was deteimined. Tese sentences weie
legislatively cieated punishments that did not go thiough the Sentencing
Commission piocess, and weie sometimes at odds with the commissions
own iecommendations. What was moie, the mandatoiy minimums, in
fact, tiumped the commissions guidelines if theie was a conict between
them.
Piimaiily because mandatoiy minimums give piosecutois an unie-
viewable powei, some judges have come to believe that such punishment
stiuctuies undeimine theii ability to tieat like cases alike and unique
cases uniquely in oidei to ensuie faiiness, piopoitionality, and justice.

By guaianteeing specic sentences if guilt is deteimined, the chaig-
ing document led by the distiict attoiney becones the sentence, which
eectively negates the sentencing judges ability to considei individual
ciicumstances in oidei to seive the inteiests of justice. Legislatois, on the
othei hand, aigue that the passing of mandatoiy minimums ieects the
demociatic piocess at its best: elected ocials passing laws that addiess
the most seiious conceins of theii constituents.
Te punitive tuin in U.S. ciime-contiol policy, theiefoie, signied a
synbolic tuin away fiom peiceived weakness and leniency as well as a
practical tuin towaid making time seived bettei appioximate time given.
And, piactically, this tuin, in the eyes of an oveiwhelming numbei of
ieseaicheis, has iesulted in a fundamental paiadox at the heait of U.S.
ciiminal justice policy: in the woids of piison expeit Joan Peteisilia, we
aie both simultaneously too haish and too lenient.
Peteisilias comment
illustiates a now bioad consensus among academics and piactitioneis of
all political peisuasions that U.S. ciime policy is so iife with conicting
goals and paiadoxical mandates that, iathei than becoming the taigeted
policy it set out to be thiough the ieigning in of oveily lenient discietion,
has instead become a taigeted sledgehammeia Zenlike woid paiiing
that highlights its signicantly counteipioductive eects.
Te punitive tuin, while explicitly aimed at getting tough on ciime,
often iequiies, counteiintuitively, that the most violent oendeis be
fieed without any supeivision aftei they max out, while the least violent
oendeis ieceive both piison time and a peiiod of postielease supeivi-
sion duiing which an astounding and evei-giowing numbei of them aie
ietuined to piison foi technical violations iathei than the commission
of new ciimes. While designed to contiol the peiceived inconsistencies
of judicial discietion and to make time seived moie closely appioximate
time given, the system has, instead, wound up cieating what some have
iefeiied to as Ameiicas impiisonment binge and its cieation of a penal
statethe quintupling of Ameiicas incaiceiated population in a little
ovei thiity yeais.
Tus we have, foi a salient example, Califoinias iecuiiing piison ciises.

In the second decade of the twenty-ist centuiy, with a total of aiound
6o,ooo inmates, each of Califoinias thiity-thiee piisons is neaily at dou-
ble capacity, a ciisis to which goveinois and legislatois have iepeatedly
iesponded by piesenting vaiious plans to ielease nonviolent inmates and
build additional facilities. While such plans, in some ways, appioximate
the kinds of changes that advocates of piison iefoim have been suggest-
ing foi yeais, theii timing and piesentation in public debate indicate that,
in addition to being seen as necessaiy steps towaid alleviating an unnec-
essaiily clogged system, they have also come to be viewed as despei-
ate measuies in a time of ciisis. Such inteipietations cieate backlashes
against the piison iefoim eoit since the public often sees these moves as
unleashing ciiminals and diug addicts back onto the stieets.
6
In addi-
tion, and in the midst of seveie and iecuiiing budget ciises, Fedeial Mas-
teis took ovei Califoinias piison health caie system in aoocontiolling
a signicant piopoition of the states geneial fund in the piocessaftei it
was shown that one piisonei died eveiy six days due to inadequate caie.
;
None of these ciises, howevei, has been caused by the punishment
of ciack cocaine. In addition, ciack has univeisally been seen as a diug
long in decline, and the most egiegious inconsistencies of its punishment
stiuctuie supposedly xed thiough iepeal. So why, then, given ciacks
decline, should I spend so much time aiguing that ciack is vitally impoi-
tant to undeistanding oui cuiient piedicament? Te pioblem lies in the
laigei social eects of the oo-to- sentencing dispaiity cieated by the
AntiDiug Abuse Acts of ,86 and ,88. Ciack was singled out, tieated
as one hundied times woise than the substance fiom which it is deiived,
and punished accoidingly. Piactically, the acts all but foiced the commis-
sion to include the mandatoiy minimums within its own iecommenda-
tions in oidei to avoid the even moie paiadoxical situation of having two
conicting sentences, both of which would be legally binding. Te issue,
theiefoie, ievolves aiound why the United States continued to cling to
an anomalous eoit to punish ciack oenses at a vastly dispiopoitionate
:; Crack, Rap, and the Punitive Turn
iate even in the face of oveiwhelming condemnation. Why, if ciack has
been in such a state of decline foi the past fteen yeais, was its iiiational
punishment only changed in aoo? In eect, the punishment iatio, as I
detail in the next chaptei, should nevei have been implemented, iegaid-
less of how well intentioned its cieation may have been. Te mandatoiy
minimums have nevei made sense, and have been based, fiom the stait,
on thoioughly illogical piemises that continue to piovide the foundations
foi the new ciack laws even aftei iepeal of theii most obvious contia-
dictions. Put simply, theie is no gieatei example of the punitive absui-
dity, and absuidly punitive ieasoning, undeigiiding oui thiity-plus-yeai
expeiiment in mass incaiceiationas well as oui iecent eoits to iefoim
itthan the punishment stiuctuie foi ciack cocaine. Ciacks punish-
ment ieects, pai excellence, what legal scholai Noival Moiiis dubbed
the Humpty Dumpty piinciple in ciiminal justice: [I]f all the kings
hoises and all the kings men couldnt put Humpty togethei again, then,
by heavens, we need moie hoises and moie men.
8
Even in the face of
oveiwhelming condemnation and ocial action, ciack cocaine continues
to play a piofoundly symbolic social iole.
Scholarly Near Misses
Given the paiadoxical natuie of ciacks punishment stiuctuie, it should
be no suipiise that those gioups hit most heavily by the anomalous
tieatment of ciack cocaine should also come to see themselves in simi-
laily paiadoxical ways. Take anthiopologist Philippe Bouigois aigu-
ment conceining the simultaneously ciitical and self-destiuctive beliefs
that ciack dealeis have about theii ioles in the undeigiound economy:
[B]y embioiling themselves in the undeigiound economy and pioudly
embiacing stieet cultuie, they aie seeking an alteinative to theii social
maiginalization. In the piocess, on a daily level, they become the actual
agents administeiing theii own destiuction and theii communitys suf-
feiing.
,
Take, also, Biuce Jacobss subjects, who similaily view ciack
dealing as [m]oie than a souice of mateiial sustenance, and suggest that
selling ciack may be one of the few meaningful aienas foi the puisuit of
piestige and self-woith available to a segment of the innei-city popula-
tion.
o
Jacobs goes on to say that, [a]s calamitous as maiket conditions
may be, the choice to sell is still quite functional foi some. To abandon it
foi something else is eithei to foigo a souice of accomplishment available
nowheie else oi, woise, to staie failuie in the face.
Ciack, that is, iep-

iesents a last vestige of fieedom fiom humiliating, low-wage laboi even
as it intensies neighboihood violence to such a degiee that it becomes a
cultuie of teiioi.
It should also be no suipiise, then, that the foims of cultuial expiession
most closely associated with those gioups dispiopoitionately aected by
ciacks paiadoxical punishment should come to be piimaiy ways in which
many of them have dealt with the lived iealities of such piofound con-
tiadictions. To wit, Caesai, one of Bouigois piimaiy subjects, desciibes
his own situation thus: I was addicted to tapes foi my iadio. Music! Tat
was my ist addiction.
a
Similaily, Leioy, anothei ciack dealei in the
same book, desciibes how he deals with the iiiational feai that his meie
piesence often seems to inspiie in whites: Sometimes it iiks me. Like,
you know, it clicks in my mind. Makes me want to wiite. I always wiite
it down. Sometimes I wiite down the incident, what happened. I tiy to
make a ihyme [iap lyiics] out of it.
Likewise, Angelo, an eleven-yeai-old

fiiend of Bouigois inteiviewees, when asked if he wanted to be a pimp
oi a diug dealei when he giew up, answeied, No, a iappei.
In othei
woids, musicand iap music in paiticulaiseives multiple functions foi
those young people caught in the middle of ciacks paiadoxical punish-
ment, who aie, as Bouigois book title plainly states, fundamentally, In
SearchofRespect.
All too often, howevei, the ielationship between iap music and stieet
cultuiein which ciack guies signicantlyis taken as a meie ieec-
tion. Even in impoitant ciitical woik on ciack specically and ciime gen-
eially, iap is given shoit shiift. Bouigois, foi example, baiely mentions
iap, even though his subjects iepeatedly suggest its impoitance in theii
lives. Similaily, while iap is cleaily the peivasive, ubiquitous soundtiack
to sociologist Sudhii Venkateshs ethnogiaphy of ciack-dealing gangs
on Chicagos South Side, it is mentioned only biiey thus: Outside the
building a cai was blasting iap music, oi, Te scene was stiaight out of
a gangsta-iap video.
Likewise, in aiguing that the giowth of the piison-

industiial complex and the ight of manufactuiing jobs fiom uiban com-
munities duiing deindustiialization have encouiaged the inteitwining of
the uiban Black Belt and the caiceial system, sociologist Loc Wacquant
says little about iap, stating only that these stiuctuial tiansfoimations aie
fuithei evidenced, and in tuin poweifully abetted, by the fusionofghetto
andprisonculture, as vividly expiessed in the lyiics of gangsta iap sing-
eis and hip hop aitists.
6
In addition, in theii essay on the global tiiumph
of capitalism at the millennium, anthiopologists Jean and John Comaio
state, simply, that iap ieects a ciisis of masculinity.
;
And, in one of his
aiticles concluding sections, called Hip Hop acioss Boideis, ciiminolo-
gist Jock Young suggests that iaps vocalizations of compensatoiy mascu-
linity, iesoits to violence and iampant individualism aie all ovei accen-
tuations of the widei cultuie.
8
Rap, then, seems to play impoitant ioles
in many scholais undeistandings of the massive changesto the natuie
of woik, community life, and violencein the wake of deindustiializa-
tion. Rap itself, howevei, is given only minoi tieatment, and, moie often
than not, is simply iefeiied to in its ieecting iole.
If ciitical woik on ciime gives iap shoit shiift, then ciitical woik on
iap often leaves ciime, and ciack specically, similaily undeianalyzed.
Scholais of iap often discuss ciacks emeigence fiom the afteimath of
deindustiialization, then leave it alone, as if it weie little moie than a
meie side ioad on iaps maich to global status. In his oo-page histoiy of
the Hip-Hop Geneiation, foi example, jouinalist Je Chang deals with
ciack in only two pages, even while quoting a Los Angelesbased Ciip
gang membei who iecounted ciacks massive social eects thus: Te
whole quality of life in the neighboihood just changed. . . . Folks went
to jail foi the iest of theii life. People got muideied. It just totally devas-
tated the neighboihood.
,
And, in hei analysis of the often contentious
debates suiiounding iap music, cultuial ciitic Tiicia Rose aigues that the
giound-level impact of ciack, unemployment, and community destiuc-
tion became a geneiational expeiience foi many black youth, but simi-
laily tieats ciack as just anothei social issue that iap music has come to
ieect.
o
Likewise, in his analysis of the cultuie and politics of iap, social
histoiian Jeiey Ogbai discusses ciack only as one element among many
that all conveiged to foment what many would considei positive, con-
scious, message, oi black nationalist iap.
Ciack, accoidingly, guies

in many scholais tieatments of iap music, but does so peiipheially, and
little attention is paid to the specic culturalwork that ciack peifoims.
Teie exists, theiefoie, a signicant gap in oui undeistanding of the
actual ways in which iap expiesses one of the most poweiful symbols of
Ameiicas paiadoxical ciime policy. In an eia in which the iole of policing
and ciiminal justice moie geneiallyhas been iefoimulated aiound the
impoitance of public peiception, the signicance of a punishment stiuc-
tuie whose dispiopoitionate eects on minoiity populations foi the past
twenty yeais have been oveiwhelmingly condemned by eveiy Ameiican
institution of justice likewise lies in the way it is peiceived on a laige scale.
Undei these conditions, iathei than being, simply, one social issue
ieected in vaiious media, ciack cocaine, instead, sits at the inteisection
of mediated cultuial foims and the logic of ciime policy in eaily twenty-
ist-centuiy Ameiica. Regaided in this light, ciack acts as both natter
andnetaphor, and peifoims a massive amount of practicalandsynbolic
work. Emeiging, as it did, out of the punitive tuin in U.S. ciime policy
duiing the lattei half of the twentieth centuiy, the punishment stiuctuie
foi ciack cieated a legal paiadox that has had lasting consequences not
only foi those aected most diiectly, but foi the United States as a whole,
andgiven iaps undeniable global iesonancethe woild as well. While
iap has been one of the piimaiy means by which this legal paiadox has
been given voice, many iap aitistsas I detail in subsequent chapteis
have sought not to magically iesolve this contiadiction, but to explicitly
and lyiically engage it, foi bettei and foi woise, with iesults that aie too
often inteipieted, simplistically, as being eithei positive oi negative.
Raps engagement with ciack cocaine, then, has included both ciitical and
celebiatoiy elements, all of which, howevei, aie undeilined by a piofound
sense of loss engendeied by the giowth of mass incaiceiation, and the
necessity of lethal violence in iegulating an undeigiound economy that
giew in the wake of deindustiialization.
In eect, the symbolic impoitance of ciack cannot be undeistood
without an honest accounting of the ways in which it has become so
thoioughly inteiwoven into the moial and mateiial fabiic of the foims
of cultuial expiession most closely associated with those gioups aected
most deeply. Coiielatively, iapespecially the violence seemingly so
gloiied in itcannot be undeistood without a thoiough accounting of
the iiiational basis of ciacks punishment stiuctuie. And, at bottom, in
both ciack and iap is to be found a piofound stiuggle about the moial-
ity of woik in the wake of deindustiialization. Fundamentally, both ciack
and iap aie conceived of similailyas ways to cieate spaces of nonhu-
miliating woik in the face of seveie social disiuption. In the next chaptei,
I begin to account foi the cultuial iesonance between iap and ciack by
analyzing the complicated sociolegal logics that paved the way foi ciacks
lethal eects, and out of which its symbolic powei developed.
:,

Te Invisible Hand
Holds a Gun
Law and Policy in the
Lethal Regulation of Crack
Its only crack sales making niggas act like that.
PiodigyinMobbDeep,Q.U.Hectic,TeInfanous,r,,
I
n addition to iepealing the mandatoiy minimum foi the simple pos-
session of ciack cocaine, the bill signed into law by Piesident Obama
in August aoo also ieduced the sentencing dispaiity between ciack tiaf-
cking and powdei tiacking fiom oo-to- to 8-to-. By any measuie,
such a ieduction constitutes a signicant impiovement, iequiiing ve
hundied giams of powdei oi twenty-eight giams of ciack to tiiggei a ve-
yeai mandatoiy sentence instead of the oo-to--giam iatio cieated in
,86. Te nal bill, howevei, was only one in a long line of similai bills
pioposed ovei the yeais.
In aoo;, foi example, Demociatic iepiesentative Sheila Jackson intio-
duced a bill, H.R. a6, that pioposed to equalize the oo-to- iatio at the
powdei level by making possession with intent to distiibute ve hundied
giams of eithei powdei oi ciack punishable by a mandatoiy ve-yeai sen-
tence. In aoo,, the same bill was again intioduced by Jackson, as weie
similai bills by Demociatic iepiesentatives Chailes Rangel (H.R. a;8)
and Robeit Scott (H.R. a). Also in aoo,, Republican iepiesentative
Roscoe Baitlett pioposed a bill, H.R. 8, that would have equalized the
oo-to- dispaiity fiom the opposite diiection: by making possession with
,o Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
intent to distiibute ve giams of eithei powdei oi ciack punishable by a
mandatoiy ve-yeai teim. Whats so stiiking about these pioposals is the
casinolike way in which the vaiious diug quantities aie aiiived at, with
goveinment ocials coming up with numbeis seemingly out of thin aii.
Some aimed to cieate a -to- iatio by incieasing ciack amounts to pow-
dei levels, while otheis intended to cieate the same iatio by decieasing
powdei levels to ciack amounts. Given such extiemes, the nal 8-to-
iatio would appeai to be a compiomise. And, while any ieduction in
the ciack-powdei dispaiity should be seen as a victoiy foi advocates of
iational diug policy, the new iatio, even though a cleai impiovement,
seems especially iandom since it is basedlike the oo-to- dispaiity it
has ieplacedon no scientic evidence. Why 8-to-? Why twenty-eight
giams? Why not thiity-seven, oi fouiteen, oi six? As a consequence, the
thoioughly illogical piemises on which the oo-to- iatio had been based
will iemain. Eighteen-to-one is no moie logical than oo-to-, and that
veiy illogicality has had piofound consequences foi ieal people in ieal
communities whose lives have been unalteiably aected by it.
Unfoitunately, the casinolike quality of these congiessional debates makes
light of the lethality that has so indelibly maiked the ciack eia. Such haphaz-
aid ieductionsthe seemingly iandom uctuations of diug quantitieswill
nevei, by themselves, be able to addiess the signicant symbolic powei that
has giown fiom the social disiuption incuiied as a iesult of oui illogical poli-
cies. Wheie chaptei piovided an oveiview of the punitive contexts out of
which ciacks expeiiential fabiic was boin, this chaptei tiaces the iuthless
illogicality at the heait of the U.S. goveinments punishment stiuctuie foi
ciack cocaine. I iely piimaiily on the Sentencing Commissions foui iepoits
to Congiess that have consistently challenged the mandatoiy minimums in
oidei to let ciacks paiadoxical punishment speak foi itself.
It is fiom the
lethal wake of this illogicality that ciacks symbolic iole in iaps confiontation
with its own commeicialization develops.
Speed of Passing
Te paiadoxical punishment of ciack cocaine begins with the speed of
the laws passing in ,86, which deviated fiom the noimal committee
piocess, suggesting the degiee to which ciacks punishment was out of
the oidinaiy fiom the stait. As Senatoi Chiles, foi example, iemaiked,
[I]t is histoiical foi the Congiess to be able to move this quickly.
a
Simi-
Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun ,:
laily, commenting on ciiticisms made at the time, Senatoi Rockefellei
desciibed the bills piocess as moving too fast and fienetically.
Othei
senatois weie quite cleaily ciitical, aiguing that none of us has had an
adequate oppoitunity to study this enoimous package. It did not emeige
fiom the ciucible of the committee piocess.
In addition, Repiesenta-
tive Lott wained that [i]n oui haste to patch togethei a diug billany
diug billbefoie we adjouin, we have iun the iisk of ending up with
a patch-woik quilt . . . that may not t togethei into a compiehensible
whole.
But it was Senatoi Hawkins who, while defending the uigency

of its passing, piesaged the fai-ieaching symbolic impact of the law with
which this book is now conceined: Diugs pose a cleai and piesent dan-
gei to Ameiicas national secuiity. If foi no othei ieason we should be
addiessing this on an emeigency basis. . . . Tis is a bill which has fai-
ieaching impact on the futuie as we know it as Ameiicans and as we
matuie into the next centuiy.
6
In eect, the quotations above suggest
that ciacklike opium, maiijuana, and powdei cocaine befoie itwas,
fiom the stait, a deeply symbolic mattei, and, theiefoie, the law against
it iepiesented, foi some, an attempt to head o potentially fai-ieach-
ing futuie impacts that justied a fast and fienetic piocess to push
it thiough. Foi otheis, its passing ieected a histoiical sense of emei-
gency whose eects weie potentially pioblematic. But peihaps most
contioveisial, the speed of the bills passing left behind a limited legis-
lative iecoid,
;
and [i]elatively little debate suiiounded the pioposals to
attach mandatoiy minimum penalties
8
to ciack possession. In addition,
while the congiessional subcommittee consulted with law enfoicement
ocials, it did not hold public heaiings. Most signicant heie, howevei,
is the fact that the oo-to- sentencing dispaiity between powdei and
ciack ultimately ieached was, in the woids of the ,, iepoit, delibei-
ate, not inadveitent.
,
In sum, even though it had bypassed the noimal
ioute, the dispaiity that emeiged was, in eveiy sense, delibeiately and
intentionally cieated.
Fears of Cracks Simplicity
Te speed of the acts passing was also tied to much laigei, oveilapping
feais conceining ciackmost of which have since been debunked by
many wiiteisthat had been exaceibated by numeious media souices.
Te ,, iepoit, foi example, states that, [i]n the months leading up the
,: Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
,86 elections, moie than ,ooo stoiies appeaied on ciack in the national
piess, including ve covei stoiies each in Tine and êwsweek. . . . Tine
called ciack the Issue of the Yeai... êwsweek called ciack the biggest
news stoiy since Vietnam and Wateigate.
o
Tese media-geneiated feais
came to a head with the cocaine-ielated death of college basketball stai,
Len Bias, who died two days aftei being selected as the second pick in
the ,86 NBA diaft. While the toxicologists at the time aigued that the
cocaine found at the scene of his death was not ciack, Eiic Steiling, who
played a signicant sta iole in the development of many piovisions of
the Diug Abuse Act of ,86, testied befoie the United States Sentencing
Commission in ,, that the ciack cocaine oveidose death of NCAA bas-
ketball stai Len Bias was instiumental in the development of the fedeial
ciack cocaine laws.
Len Biass death, in othei woids, pointed to some-

thing moie, solidifying a paiadoxical equation between ciacks simplicity
of pioduction and its potential dangei.
Making Crack
As many wiiteis have suggested, ciacks phaimacological simplicity iep-
iesents the impoitation of the middle-class high of powdei cocaine to the
stieets via a simplied foim.
a
Ciack has been desciibed as the fast food
veision of powdei cocaine, and one of the most successful... diug inno-
vations,

whose oiigins lie in the eailiei innovation of fieebase, a smoke-
able foim of powdei. Te piocess of tuining powdei to base, in fact, is an
attempt to ietuin the cocaine to its piepowdei stateto fiee the diugs
puie base fiom its impuie, ciystalline foim.
When powdei is made,

coca leaves aie ist mashed up with eithei gasoline oi ethei, pioducing a
coca paste. Tis paste is then diied with hydiochloiic acid, and the iesult-
ing white powdei is now sniable. When powdei is mixed in watei with
baking soda oi ammonia, the hydiochloiic acid that had been added to
the oiiginal paste in oidei to diy it is iemoved. When what is left is dis-
solved in ethei and heated, the liquid evapoiates, and the iesult is smok-
able, pioducing vapois of ielatively puie cocaine.
Because powdei cost aiound one hundied dollais a giam in the late
,;os when fieebasing became populai, it was not a diug of choice in
innei-city neighboihoods. Ciack emeiged in the mid-,8os and was, like
fieebase, a smokeable foim of cocaine. In oidei to make it, one mixes
powdei in watei with baking soda, which is then heated and, when diy,
Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun ,,
foims into haid smokeable pellets.
6
While ciack is inheiently not as
puie as fieebase since it does not go thiough the nal puiication step,
the cooking piocess simultaneously cieates ciack iocks that can be eas-
ily packaged and sold in smokeable foim.
Wheie fieebase was made by middle-class useis, ciack was made pii-
maiily by lowei-class dealeis. And, while the piocesses of making the two
diugs aie almost identical, the nal puiication of powdei into fieebase
is seen as a complex but dangeious piocess, while the making of ciack is,
almost without exception, seen as ciude and simple. It is technically sim-
ple and ielatively quick and iequiies few tools oi laboiatoiy supplies,
;

being easily pioduced in a pot on a kitchen stove.
8
Te ciudeness of
ciacks pioduction is matched by the immediacy of its eects duiing con-
sumption. Smokeable cocaine enteis the bloodstieam moie quickly than
sniable powdei, pioviding a poweiful iush.
,
Haid and biittle, ciack is
de-iened powdei that gets iight to the blood.
While almost identical, the two sibling foims of smokeable cocaine
weie peiceived by Congiess as having distinctly dieient potentials
of dangei. In tiuth, fieebase is inheiently moie dangeious than ciack.
Accoiding to the commission, [M]any iesisted the fieebasing piocess
because of its complexity and potential dangei. Ethei, a highly volatile
and ammable solvent, will ignite oi explode if the fieebase cocaine is
smoked befoie the ethei has evapoiated entiiely.
ao
Inteiestingly, then,
the fact that ciack was an inheiently less dangeious foim of base came
to be, paiadoxically, an indication that it was moie dangeious. Te dan-
gei of ciack, that is, lay in its potential to spiead beyond the connes of
uppei-middle-class consumption because it was, by natuie, less dangei-
ous and, theiefoie, could be moie easily adopted by useis who feaied the
fieebasing piocess. Tus, ciacks simplicity of pioductiondespite the
admittedly safe natuie of the substance itselfwas one of the iationales
undeilying claims that it was fai woise than any pieviously known foim
of cocaine.
Fears of Cracks Impure Purity
Feais suiiounding ciacks simplicity weie also intimately tied to feais of
its puiity, which was a logical fallacy fiom the stait. Actually, the veiy
piocess of making ciack militates against its puiity. As the commission
states, the baking soda used in conveiting the powdei cocaine iemains as
,; Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
an adulteiant in the ciack cocaine aftei conveision, ieducing the puiity.
a

Since ciack is madeand only exists as ciackaftei such impuiities aie
added, ciack is an inheiently impuie foim of cocaine. In tieating it oth-
eiwise, especially knowing how it was made, Congiess cieated anothei
layei of paiadox: ciack, although known to be impuie, was tieated as if
it weie puiea delibeiately tieated impuie puiity. Tis anomalous tieat-
ment of ciack as an impuie puiity can best be seen in ielation to the way
methamphetamine is tieated by the law. While any impuiities cieated
in the manufactuiing piocess of ciack cocaine count towaid the weight
of the diug foi puiposes of both tiiggeiing the mandatoiy minimum and
deteimining the guideline sentencing iange, foi meth, by contiast, the
thieshold quantities aie tiiggeied solely by the weight of puie metham-
phetamine.
aa
Because the impuiities added in the piocess of making
ciack aie counted in the punishment scheme, the added impuiities aie,
in eect, tieated as if theii addition had actually incieased the puiity,
and, by extension, ciacks dangeiousness. Stiangely, then, when applied
to ciack, the weight-diiven scheme undeilying its punishment suggested
that the moie impuie the ciack, the moie haishly it should be punished.
As a iesult, ciack came to be punished moie seveiely foi being what it
cannot be: puie. Tus it is that the punishment of ciack was based, fiom
the stait, on a piactical and logical impossibility.
Simple Possession: From Couriers to Kingpins
Te gieatest signicance of Ameiicas paiadoxical punishment of ciack
cocaine, howevei, lies in the punishment stiuctuie foi simple posses-
sion that was cieated in the ,88 update of the ,86 act. Accoiding to
the commission, the ,88 act made ciack cocaine the only diug with a
mandatoiy minimum penalty foi a ist oense of simple possession. Te
Act made possession of moie than ve giams of a mixtuie oi substance
containing cocaine base punishable by at least ve yeais in piison.
a
Te
cieation of a mandatoiy minimum piison sentence foi simple possession,
consequently, established an anomaly in the law: being caught with
ve giams of ciack became an incentive foi people to baigain with the
piosecutoi foi a plea to tiacking oenses to avoid the possession man-
datoiy minimum penalty that would otheiwise apply.
a
Foi this ieason,
the much moie seiious chaige of tiacking in othei substances came to
caiiy a lessei sentence than the simple possession of ciack. Essentially,
the simple possession of an impuie, less dangeious foim of cocaine came
to be punished one hundied times moie haishly than the puiei substance
fiom which it was made.
Ciacks stiange place in lawhowevei anomalouswas cleaily the
iesult of a specic kind of ieasoning. And this ieasoning was at the heait
of both the ciack laws and what would soon become known as the King-
pin Stiategythe ocial fedeial law enfoicement stiategy cieated by the
Oce of National Diug Contiol Policy in ,,, which was itself estab-
lished by the ,88 act. Te stiategy, ultimately, was designed to ensuie
that fedeial enfoicement eoits aie focused on majoi tiacking oigani-
zations.
a
Enfoicement agencies, theiefoie, weie to focus theii piimaiy
eoits on the identication and taigeting of diug Kingpins and theii
suppoiting infiastiuctuie.
a6
Te simple possession of ve giams of ciack
cocainethe amount, again, of a few sugai packetswas to be taken as
alegalpresunption of seiious tiacking. Accoiding to the commission,
the mandatoiy minimum foi simple possession was taken as a means of
aiding the enfoicement communitys eoits against ciack cocaine tiaf-
ckeis by setting up a presunption that possession of ve grans of crack
cocaine neant the possessor was a tracker. It was thought that posses-
sion of as little as ve giams of ciack cocaine was an indicatoi of distiibu-
tion iathei than peisonal use.
a;
In the woids of Senatoi Chiles, Tose
who possess oi moie giams of cocaine fieebase [ciack] will be treatedas
seiious oendeis.... Such tieatment is absolutely essential because of the
especially lethal chaiacteiistic of this foim of cocaine.
a8
And it is heiein the legal piesumption of seiiousness based on a
ve-giam quantitythat ciacks anomalous place in U.S. ciime policy
becomes one of the most poweiful symbolic demonizations in late-
twentieth-centuiy Ameiica. Tis foimulation, in which diug quantity
wouldserveasaproxyto identify those tiackeis of gieatest concein,
a,

in essence, cieated a specic culpability-by-the giam calculus by which
those caught with a few sugai packets of ciack would be tieated asifthey
weie seiious tiackeis just slightly below the kingpinsthe Scaifacelike
headsof global ciiminal enteipiises.
Foi the kingpinsthe masteiminds who aie ieally iunning these
opeiationsandtheycanbeidentiedbytheamountofdiugswith
whichtheyaieinvolvedweiequiieajailteimuponconviction. . . .
Ouipioposalwouldalsopiovidemandatoiyminimumpenaltiesfoi
themiddle-leveldealeisaswell.Toseciiminalswouldalsohaveto
seivetimeinjail.Teminimumsentenceswouldbeslightlylessthan
those foi the kingpins, but they neveitheless would have to go to
jailaminimumofyeaisfoitheistoense.
o
Anothei, even moie pioblematic contiadiction at the heait of the law,
howevei, was that ciack, while tieated as moie lethal than any diug befoie
it, has always been a low-level enteipiise.
Cracks Inherent Retail Status
Te Kingpin Stiategy, which, iionically, came to tieat simple possession
as if it weie complex distiibution, taigeted an enteipiise that occuis pii-
maiily at the ietail level. In the woids of the commission, Conveision of
powdei cocaine to ciack occuis at both wholesale and ietail levels,
but
iaiely, if evei, is [ciack] impoited into the United States. Instead, powdei
cocaine is impoited, with some of it latei conveited into ciack cocaine.
a

Not only is ciack inheiently impuie, but it is only cieated at the lowei
levels of distiibution, adding yet anothei level of contiadiction to its pun-
ishment iationale. Te moie signicant pioblem, though, lies in the fact
that, [t]heoietically, each level closei to ietail sales involves lessculpable
individualstrackinginlesserquantitiesofdrugs.
It should follow, then,

that if ciack is a low-level opeiation, its dealeis should also be less culpa-
ble, and, by natuie, cannot be kingpins. But this ieasoning was nevei used
by Congiess. And so, the expiess puipose of the ciack lawsto taiget the
Scaifacelike masteiminds of ciiminal enteipiises that tiac in massive
quantities of inheiently lethal diugswas fundamentally and thoioughly
illogical fiom the stait. It was a Kingpin Stiategy that, at eveiy step of the
way, delibeiately tieated impuie pioduct as if it weie that which it could
not be. Te punishment iatio, at bottom, was a iationally cieated iiiatio-
nality.
In addition to theii ietail status, which militates against the use of a
Kingpin Stiategy against them, ciack distiibution netwoiks have nevei
been oiganized accoiding to hieiaichical models. By denition, a King-
pin Stiategy assumes that theie aie, in fact, kingpins to be found. And,
allied with this implicit featuie of such a stiategy is the assumption that
kings must sit at the top of theii oiganizations, a piemise that, in tuin,
assumes a veitical, hieiaichical stiuctuie. Since ,,, howevei, the com-
missionielying on the oveiwhelming consensus of the ieseaich com-
munityhas nevei found evidence that ciack distiibution systems weie
evei oiganized in such a way. Accoiding to the commission, as well as
the ieseaich on which it ielied, eaily ciack distiibution netwoikswhich
cieated a maiket open to any peison with access to cocaine and a desiie
to distiibute
did undeigo a peiiod of consolidation, suggesting some

kind of hieiaichical ieoiganization. Even so, Despite a systematic eoit
to locate veitically-oiganized ciack distiibution gioups in which one oi
moie peisons dominates, no such gioups have been located, and no dis-
tiibutois iepoit knowing of such gioups. Instead, fieelance ciack selling
dominates most diug stieet scenes.
Te Kingpin Stiategyintended
as it was to feiiet out and dismantle laige-scale ciiminal enteipiises
has nevei had evidence to justify its use against ciack dealing. Ciack has
always been a low-level enteipiise dominated by a cottage industiy of
small-gioup and fieelance distiibutois.
6
Even moie impoitant, howevei,
ciacks low-level status stimulated the cieation of a laige supply of ietail
dealeis who, in the testimony of law enfoicement peisonnel quoted by
the commission, aie almost immediately ieplaced, pioviding a seem-
ingly unending well of ciack dealeis.
;
While the iationale undeilying the punishment of ciack cocaine
wasand will continue to be, even though the oo-to- iatio has been
ieduced to 8-to-thoioughly illogical and iiiational, it is the violence
that came to be associated with its low-level distiibution system that has
been most devastating to the communities that it aected diiectly. And
it is piecisely this violence that animatesthiough its sheei disiupting
foicethe kingpin mythology that piovides the backbone foi iaps ciack-
infused lyiics. In shoit, the magnitude of the social expeiiences on which
the iap-ciack connection ielies betiays an emotional coie that cannot be
explained away as easy sensationalism oi meie ieection.
Cracks Violence
One of the most commonly invoked assumptions about the United States,
both nationally and inteinationally, is that we have fai moie ciime than
any othei industiialized nation. When one looks moie closely at ciime-
specic iates cioss-nationally, howevei, the belief that Ameiica is, oveiall,
the most ciime-iidden developed countiy seems cleaily oveistated.
8
In
tiuth, when ciime iates aie disaggiegated, the United States has lowei
iates of piopeity ciimeincluding seiious piopeity ciime such as motoi
,8 Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
vehicle theftthan many othei countiies. Tis nding also tends to hold
when we look at less seiious violence, such as assault. Teie is, though,
one fundamental dieience that iemains: while oui iates of violence aie
similai to those of many countiies, the United States stands alone among
industiialized nations when it comes to lethal violence. Indeed, this nd-
ing has led some to aigue that ciime is not the pioblem, iathei, it is
lethality.
,
If we look at Ameiicas homicide iate ovei time, we can see some-
thing inteiesting. Basically, between the late ,6os and the eaily ,,os,
the homicide iate doubles, fiom aiound pei oo,ooo to aiound o pei
oo,ooo. And, within this thiity-yeai peiiod, theie aie two majoi spikes.
Te ist iises in the late ,6os and falls by the eaily ,8os, the second
lasts fiom the late ,8os to the eaily ,,os. Te homicide iate, along
with the violent ciime iate geneially, has fallen steadily since, and is now
at eaily ,6os levels. While the causal mechanisms undeilying the ist
spike aie dicult to paise out, many wiiteis have aigued that it ieects
a conuence of social foices. Policy analyst Alfied Blumstein, foi exam-
ple, has aigued that, coupled with the movement of the baby-boom
geneiation into and then out of the high-ciime ages of the late teens and
eaily twenties, the maiked giowth in violence between ,6 and the
eaily ,;os may have been, at least in pait, a iesult of the decline in pei-
ceived legitimacy of Ameiican social and goveinmental authoiity.
o
Even
moie impoitant foi this discussion, howevei, is the second spike, which,
accoiding to a wide iange of scholais and ieseaicheis, should, in Blum-
steins woids, almost ceitainly be laid at the ciack epidemic.
We can
say foi suie, theiefoie, that the ciack eia coincided with a seiious iise in
lethal violence, but it is fai moie dicult to sepaiate out the causes of this
violence. Regaidless of the oiiginal iationale foi the punishment stiuctuie
of ciack cocaine, though, feais about ciacks potential violenceas well as
iising iates of ieal violencecame to be seen, not suipiisingly, as iequii-
ing new kinds of law enfoicement iesponses.
Modeled on the New Yoik Police Depaitments Opeiation Piessuie
Point in ,8, which was a new kind of police iesponse to diug dealeis
on the Lowei East Side of Manhattan, a numbei of sweeping police tac-
tics weie soon intioduced thioughout the countiy with seveial key fea-
tuies: laige numbeis of seaiches and aiiests, the questioning of anyone
even peiceived to be a buyei oi sellei, intensied foot patiols in housing
piojects and subways, and incieased suiveillance acioss the boaid. Te
iesulting high aiiest iates ieceived much piaise, including honoiable
mention fiom [diug] Czai [William] Bennett.
a
Te peiceived success
of this opeiation inuenced the cieation of similai opeiations acioss the
countiy: the Tactical Naicotics Team in New Yoik, Opeiation Invincible
in Memphis, Opeiation Clean Sweep in Chicago, Opeiation Hammei in
Los Angeles, and the Red Dog Squad in Atlanta. Accoiding to one gioup
of ieseaicheis, In ,88, about one-fouith of the NYPD was ieassigned to
newly launched Tactical Naicotics Team.
Signicantly, the names of the

task foices themselves suggested theii mode of opeiationtactical, invin-
cible, and geaied towaid sweeping the stieets clean by hammeiing out
diug ciime. And it is piecisely this volatile mix of an exceedingly haish
punishment stiuctuie and moie intensive foims of policing that makes
the lines of causation in the United States second homicide spike dicult
to dissect cleanly.
Wiiting in the late ,6os, just piioi to Ameiicas impiisonment boom,
legal scholai Heibeit Packei famously aigued that, [i]egaidless of what
we think we aie tiying to do, when we make it illegal to tiac in com-
modities foi which theie is an inelastic demand, the eect is to secuie a
kind of monopoly piot to the entiepieneui who is willing to bieak the
law.
Tis ciime taii, as Packei called it, lies at the coie of what ciimi-
nologist Jeiome Skolnickwhose ieseaich guies piominently in the
USSCs iepoitshas dubbed the the Daiwinian Tiackei Dilemma:
an illegal business enviionment in which incieasingly haish police tac-
tics and punitive policies eectively impiisoned many of the oldei, moie
established dealeis who weie then, as mentioned in the discussion above,
immediately ieplaced by youngei, less expeiienced fieelanceis.
As
many ieseaicheis now contend, the eects of impiisoning so many oldei
adults can have seiious eects on what ciiminologist Robeit Sampson
has called collective ecacy: a communitys ability to maintain law and
oideito police itselfthiough neighboihood-level netwoiks of infoi-
mal social contiol, which include families, peei gioups, and faith-based
institutions, among otheis.
6
Similaily, ciiminologist Todd Cleai has
aigued that this piocesswhat he calls concentiated incaiceiationis
a foim of coeicive mobility wheieby whole neighboihoods aie desta-
bilized by incieasing levels of disoiganization, ist when a peison is
iemoved to go to piison, then latei when that peison ieenteis the com-
munity.
;
Likewise, sociologist Elijah Andeison has aigued that the loss
of old heads in innei-city communitiesneighboihood mentois who
inteivene in the lives of tioubled youth, pioviding infoimal moial guid-
ancehas iesulted in a deepei tiansfoimation in which moial authoi-
;o Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
ity now iesides with young people foi whom diug dealing has become a
way of life.
8
Consequently, what both the commission and the ieseaich
on which it ielies suggest is that the mix of haish punishment and new
enfoicement stiategieswhich, iionically, weie intended to piotect com-
munity cohesion
,
lead to the systematic destabilization of infoimal,
neighboihood-level contiols thiough coeicive mobility.
Crack Markets
Cleaily, the discussion above suggests that the violence of the ciack eia
cannot simply be laid at the feet of ciack itself. Even moie impoitant in
pioblematizing the ieasoning behind the punishment of ciack cocaine,
howevei, is the bioad consensus among ieseaicheis that the lethal vio-
lence of the ciack eia was caused neithei by the phaimacology of the diug
noi by the actions of addicts, iathei, the lethality of the eia was a piod-
uct of the systemic featuies of ciack maikets themselves. Foi example, in
one of the most impoitant studies of homicide patteins in ,88, duiing
one of the biggest iises in homicide in the United States, it was found that
, peicent of all muideis and ; peicent of all diug-ielated muideis weie
associated neithei with the psychophaimacological eects of the diug noi
with the economic compulsion of its addicts, but with the maiket-based
aiiangements and ielationships engendeied by tiacking. Te authois
concluded that thevastbulkofcrackrelatedhonicidesoccurredbetween
dealersordealersandusers.
o
In tiying to account foi the systemic natuie
of ciack-ielated violence, theiefoie, much of the ieseaich on which the
commissions iepoits iely attiibutes it to one piimaiy element: the undei-
giound maiket in ciack cocaine that was signicantly inuenced by coei-
cive mobility. Tus it is that systemic violence is believed by many to be
dependent upon the stability of the maiket. Te ciime taii imposed on
the stiuctuie of the ciack maiket cieated an unstable, Daiwinian enviion-
ment, which led to a fai moie complicated iole foi neighboihood violence:
while cleai lines of causation may be dicult to deciphei, the iole of sys-
temic violence in Ameiicas homicide patteins cleaily indicates that the
haish punishment of ciack, coupled with moie intense police iesponses,
aided in the cieation of a social context in which lethal violence came to be
a necessaiy foim of business iegulation. In quoting Skolnick, the commis-
sion undeilines this point piecisely: [I]n an undeigiound economy, you
cant sue. So you use violence to enfoice youi bieaches of contiact oi pei-
Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun ;:
ceived bieaches of contiact.
In addition, not only did violence become

necessaiy but, as the commission contends, the use of violence as a foim
of iegulation in the volatile, Daiwinian enviionment of the ciack tiade
made its actual piactice woise than the violence used in othei diug mai-
kets. Violence duiing this time became especially iuthless and pitilessly
savage
a
and was moie likely to chaiacteiize the unstable ciack maikets
than moie established diug maikets and distiibution systems.
Peihaps most impoitant is the commissions consistent citing of a

bioad consensus among ieseaicheis that ciack selling was concentiated
in neighboihoods wheie social contiols had been weakened by intensied
social and economic dislocations in the decade pieceding the emeigence
of ciack.
In citing the incieasing social and economic disoiganization

of the nations innei cities beginning in the ,8os
as a piimaiy element
in ciacks emeigence as well as its latei instability, the commission explic-
itly tied ciack-ielated violence to what economists Baiiy Bluestone and
Bennett Haiiison famously called the de-industiialization of Ameiica:
the massive ight of manufactuiing jobs fiom the uiban coie of many
U.S. cities thioughout the ,;os and ,8os.
6
Sociologist William Julius
Wilsons ieseaich on the eects of this tiansfoimation in Chicago, foi
example, have been instiumental in diawing attention to deindustiializa-
tions poweifully dislocating consequences and the degiee to which such
eects have since peimeated eveiy aspect of social life. Te social dete-
iioiation of ghetto neighboihoods, Wilson wiote, was the cential con-
cein expiessed in the testimony of the thousands of innei-city iesidents
he suiveyed and inteiviewed foi multiple ieseaich piojects conducted
ovei a numbei of yeais, unequivocally suppoiting a fundamental nd-
ing: Neighboihoods plagued by high levels of joblessness aie moie likely
to expeiience low levels of social oiganization.
;
In addition to Wilsons
woik, ieseaich on the eects of deindustiialization in the innei city and
beyond has focused on the ways in which community membeis aie often
caught between woiking in the unskilled, low-wage sectoi in which they
often face humiliation, oi in the undeigiound economy in which they face
the possibilities of extieme violence and incaiceiation. Tis piedicament,
as many ieseaicheis aigue, does not ievolve simply aiound ways of pio-
viding a living but, even moie signicant, iepiesents attempts to do so in
ways that maintain a sense of peisonal autonomy and self-woith even in
the face of seveie stiuctuial and community dislocation.
8
Essentially, then, the commissions iepoits undeiline what many
ieseaicheis have aigued many times befoie and since: that ciack dealing
;: Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
is [l]ike any othei capitalist enteipiise and is motivated by piots and
the contiol of a paiticulai maiket oi maikets.
,
In anthiopologist Philippe
Bouigois woids, the undeigiound economy is the ultimate equal oppoi-
tunity employei foi innei-city youth,
6o
and, contiaiy to pievious liteia-
tuie, which chaiacteiizes them as badly socialized and not shaiing in
mainstieam values, most people in the undeigiound economy aie fran-
tically pursuing the Anerican Drean.
6
In this way, the ciack eia inau-
guiated a specically lethal conundiumhaving to iely foi ones liveli-
hood and self-woith on a piactice that simultaneously teiioiizes ones
own community in ways not pieviously expeiienced. It is, howevei, in
this eoit on the pait of innei-city community membeis to cieate spaces
of nonhumiliating woik that the necessity of pitiless, iuthless violence in
iegulating ciack maiketsmade unstable thiough excessive punishment
and enfoicementcomes to cieate some of its most devastating eects.
Relying on numeious studies, the commission has concluded that one
of the most fai-ieaching eects of lethality becoming a necessaiy iegula-
toiy mechanism is that nondiug violence becomes intensied by the
cocaine maiketplace (and specically the ciack maiketplace) because
systemic violence cieates a setting in which violent behavioi geneially is
deemed acceptable.
6a
What the consensus conceining the intensication
of non-diug-ielated violence suggests is that the Daiwinian Tiackei
Dilemma iaised the stakes of the ciack tiade to such a degiee that, in
its wake, existing patteins of neighboihood violence weie aggiavated so
immensely that extieme violence became, in essence, the noim.
Tis pattein of intensication can be seen, foi example, in sociologist
William Sandeiss analysis of the diive-by shooting as a tactic in gang
waifaie.
6
He aigues that diive-bys aie fai supeiioi stiategies, which
contiaiy to common peiceptions that posit ievenge as theii only motiva-
tionaie iational tactics intended to piotect ones own teiiitoiy by pie-
emptively destabilizing ones enemy. Diive-bys aie mobile, hit-and-iun
foiays that, by theii veiy natuie, intioduce unpiedictable dangei into
the most mundane of situations, instilling in communities and individuals
the feai that deadly violence can happen anywheie, anytime.
6
Unpie-
dictable lethality is a destabilizing deteiient piecisely because it violates
domestic space, thiowing expectations of safe zones into chaos, becom-
ing devastatingly unneiving foi the victims. Most impoitant, howevei, is
Sandeiss suggestion that, while the diug business was not a majoi moti-
vation foi diive-bys in the eaily ,8os, by ,88, many of the gang-ielated
diive-by shootings... did appeai connected to the sale and distiibution
Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun ;,
of ciack cocaine.
6
While ciack did not cieate these kinds of destabiliz-
ing, invasive tactics, the necessity of violence as a iegulatoiy mechanism
is believed by many to have incieased theii pievalence, helping to cieate a
much moie ubiquitous sense that extieme violence in the seivice of iegu-
lating maiket instability was noimal. As a iesult of this maiket instability,
the lethal violence that became its necessaiy iegulatoiy foice had disas-
tious collateial eects on whole communities by escalating othei, non-
diug-ielated foims of violence, theieby noimalizing lethality as the nal
aibitei of disputes moie geneially.
Similaily sweeping changes to violence duiing the ciack eia aie also
thoioughly documented in anthiopologist Lisa Maheis ethnogiaphy of
women diug useis in Bushwick, Biooklyn, duiing the eaily ,,os.
66
Foi
Maheis subjects, ciack itselfwith its jagged, shaidlike appeaiance and
its eneigetic highbecame symbolically impoitant, standing as a iug-
ged symbol foi a iugged time. While heioin was peiceived as smoothei
in both appeaiance and feeling, ciack was viewed as a moie appiopiiate
diug foi a new, moie biutal ieality.
6;
And, impoitantly, this ieality was
chaiacteiized by a numbei of inteiielated qualitative changes that iadi-
cally alteied one of the piimaiy ways in which Maheis inteiviewees weie
able to make a living: stieet-level sex woik.
Complicating Philippe Bouigois claim that the ciack tiade was an
equal oppoitunity employei, Mahei aigues, instead, that ciack-eia
changes weie deeply gendeied, and negatively aected womens oppoi-
tunities in the undeigiound economy.
68
Because of widespiead beliefs
that women weie unable to display the kinds of extieme violence that
the unstable ciack tiade iequiied, womens options in the emeiging
ciack maiketplace weie seveiely cuitailed, iepioducing the same kinds
of naiiow oppoitunity stiuctuies they faced in the mainstieam. And, as
a consequence of these naiiowing oppoitunity stiuctuies, othei niches
of female undeigiound laboi weie also devalued. Just as the ciack tiade
ooded stieet-level diug maikets with novice dealeis, so too weie stieet-
level sex maikets ooded with novice sex woikeis, which devalued spe-
cic sex acts thiough incieased competition and a stiange piocess of
cioss-commodication. As an example, going iates foi oial sex weie coi-
ielated with the piice foi diugs. Since ciack was cheap, often aiound ve
dollais pei vial, and women useis piovided oial sex in oidei to buy it,
blowjobs weie also piiced down to ve dollais. Women sex woikeis who
piimaiily used heioin, howevei, weie able to chaige ten dollais, which
matched the going piice foi a bag of heioin.
6,
;; Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
In addition, male customeisinuenced, as weie many, by the media-
peipetuated myth that ciack use was tantamount to chemically-induced
sexual slaveiy
;o
assumed that all stieet-level sex woikeis weie enslaved
ciackheads willing to do anything to get moie.
;
Stieet-level piostitutes
weie now expected to do any numbei of acts that had pieviously been
consideied deviant by sex woikeis themselves, who peiceived such
non-noimative sexual iequests as a total compiomise of piinciple. Just
like Bouigois male diug-dealing counteipaits, Maheis female subjects
continued to maintain an oveiiiding sense of self-iespect and dignity
even in the face of coeicive humiliation.
;a
As a ielated consequence of devaluation, the potential foi violence
also incieased. Te physiological eects of cocaine on male sexual peifoi-
mance, foi example, compounded this potential since ciack-using dates
would often get fiustiated with theii inability to peifoim and then act
out violently.
;
In addition, these devaluating foices also began to ieduce
the iole of male pimps in stieet-level sex woik since theie was fai less
money to be made fiom such aiiangements. While seemingly a benet
foi female sex woikeis, this change also iemoved a basic deteiient pies-
ence on the stieets: the thieat of violent male ietaliation towaid violent
male customeis. Many women, theiefoie, developed infoimal pseudo-
pimping ielationships with men who, in tuin, demanded money, diugs,
and sex, but piovided little in the way of actual piotection. Moie often
than not, such ielationships made things woise.
;
With incieased competition among woikeis, less money foi moie
woik, gieatei expectations by dates foi non-noimative sex acts, incieased
possibilities of violence, and fewei people to watch ones back, sex woik
like diive-by shootingsbecame dependent on the eiiatic, unpiedictable
ciack tiade. While sex woik has always been iisky and stigmatized, the
ciack eia exaceibated its woist elements. Ciack ieoiganized both diug
and sex maikets, iepioducing gendeied stiuctuies of oppoitunity, but
infused them with fai moie violence and instability. And these collateial
eectsthis noimalization of maiket-based diug violenceaie exactly
what have made ciack such a poweiful element in Ameiicas ciiminologi-
cal stiuctuie of feeling. At bottom, ciack cocaine signies a piimaiy bieak
with what came befoie, and a new ieality that is peiceivedby diug deal-
eis, sex woikeis, and whole neighboihoodsas fundamentally alteiing
the oiganization of social life.
Te Sentencing Commission, ielying on numeious ieseaich iepoits,
has also suggested that these changes in violence can best be undeistood
as a conict between two dieient kinds of stieet gang foimations that
take shape in the ciack eia: cultuial and entiepieneuiial. Cultuial
gangs, accoiding to the commission, aie established piimaiily foi social
puiposes, such as piotecting ethnic and neighboihood aliations, with
diug distiibution a subsidiaiy puipose of the gang. . . . Entiepieneuiial
gangs, on the othei hand, aie established to fuithei the nancial objec-
tives of the oiganization and not the gangs.
;
In chaiting the chaiac-
tei of some of these changes in the late ,8os, foi example, sociologist
Felix Padilla aigued that Latino gang cultuie in Chicago was beginning
to change fiom cultuially based to entiepieneuiial and instiumental as
neighboihood gangs functioned as the tiaining giound foi teaching vital
diug-dealing business skills.
;6
Similaily, in looking at Los Angeles gangs
in the late ,8os, Skolnickwhile noting that violence has always been
cential to cultuial gangs acting in accoidance with oldei codes of violent
conductaigued that entiepieneuiial gangs employ violence to contiol
oi expand theii diug business and maikets. Tus, depending upon the
stability of the maiket, the entiepieneuiial gang may be moie oi less vio-
lent than the cultuial gang.
;;
While academic ieseaich has played a key iole in elucidating some of
the causal ielationships behind this tiansfoimation fiom cultuially based
violence to maiket-based violence, theie has also giown a quite laige sub-
genie of autobiogiaphies wiitten by foimei gang membeis in which such
changes aie desciibed in naiiative foim.
;8
Peihaps the most famous of
these foimei gang membeis is Monstei Kody, who was a stieet soldiei
in the Eight Tiay Gangsteis, a Los Angelesbased Ciip gang, duiing the
,8os. His autobiogiaphy vividly illustiates these kinds of tiansfoima-
tions. Aftei iecounting, in detail, his paiticipation in numeious lethal
episodes, Monstei, neai the end of the book, desciibes the changes he
found haid to contend with aftei being ieleased fiom Folsom Piison in
,88, at the height of the ciack eia, aftei seiving foui yeais. In his woids,
Tis new, highly explosive atmospheie was a bit fiightening.... [It was] a
moie advanced, hoiiifying foim of the ieality I had known. It was shock-
ing.
;,
It was, howevei, a fiiends explanation of these changes that is most
signicant: Its the dope, man, it has toin the hood up. . . . [N]othin is
stable. . . . Eveiything is fiagile, moie so than evei befoie, cause its all
about piot.
8o
And, in the following quotation, Monsteis fiiend fui-
thei undeiscoies the degiee to which the seaich foi piot in a iuthlessly
unstable maiketplace is undeistood to play a piimaiy iole in incieased
levels of lethal violence.
;o Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
Checkthisout,theieaiesomehomieswhogotagiipfiomslangin,
but they dont come aiound cause they think the homies who aint
gotnothingonnajackem.Andthehomieswhoaintgotnothinfeel
likethosewhodogotagiiphaveleftthembehind.Sotheiesalotof
backbiting,snitchin,andanimosityaioundheienow.
8r
In eect, thiough the intensication of violence via maiket-based iela-
tions, inteipeisonal tiust at the community level itself was coiioded.
Old ways of violence, although biutal to outsideis, aie thought to main-
tain neighboihood solidaiity, codes of honoi, and familial ielationships.
Instiumental violence, on the othei hand, is coiiosive. Undeiscoiing
these tiust-coiioding eects, the commission quotes anothei foimei
gang membei: Now you might see a neighboihood that is Blood and
Ciip togethei. But thats because they got something going on with diugs.
Tey got some kind of peace because of diugs.
8a
In a stiange tuin, then,
the abstiact foices of the maiketplace that led to the coiiosion of commu-
nity tiust simultaneously helped cieate fiagile alliances of peace among
foimei enemies, pioviding them with a new set of conceins all centeied
on one piimaiy activity: making money. Tus it is that ciacks intensica-
tion of bloodshed laid the foundation foi a new school violence, which is
the subject of chaptei .
Unmistakably, what the commission iepoits, the ieseaich on which it
ielies, the ethnogiaphic woik on ciack dealeis and sex woikeis, as well as
the autobiogiaphies of gang membeis all suggest is that changes in neigh-
boihood violence weie due neithei to the inheient dangeiousness of the
diug noi to the people dealing and using it but, iathei, to the inheiently
impuie, nonkingpin natuie of ciack, whose alieady fiagmented distii-
bution netwoiks became fuithei destabilized thiough excessively haish
punishment stiuctuies and task-foice-style policing. Ciack tiansfoimed,
thiough intensication, oldei gangs into networks, no longei goveined by
cultuially based codes, but by the abstiact, impeisonal, stiuctuial con-
ditions of piicing and supply and demand. Likewise, sex woikwhich
was one of the only viable options foi female useis who had been baiied
fiom the diug tiadealso became violently unstable and moie socially
isolating. Te ciack eia, that is, depiofessionalized all undeigiound
woikpiactices that, while cleaily illegal befoie, had been at least depen-
dent upon and stiuctuied aiound well-undeistood iules. In the Daiwin-
ian enviionment of the ciack eia, young men who didnt know the diug
game, and young women who didnt know the iules of the sex tiade weie
the peiiods piimaiy victims as well as its piimaiy oendeis, both expe-
iiencing and helping to cieate the social iuptuies of the time. Violence
came to ebb and ow accoiding to maiket conditions that had nothing
whatevei to do with neighboihood status, iespect, oi piotection. Oldei
patteins of neighboihood-based aliations weie supplanted by the
necessity of using violence to iegulate unpiedictable maikets that tiaded
in impuie puiities, and weie staed by an unending supply of low-level
dealeis who, despite theii low-level status, weie tieated as if they weie
kingpins of global ciiminal oiganizations. In such a paiadoxical situation,
the one cause of the violence can nevei be fully paised out. Signicantly,
howevei, the paiadoxical coie at the heait of ciacks punishment iationale
made it so elastic that any nding came to justify its continued existence.
New ndings about the low-level, ietail-based, hoiizontal natuie of the
ciack tiadewhich contiadicted the oiiginal Kingpin Stiategy undeily-
ing the mandatoiy minimumscame, stiangely, to be pioof that ciack
dealeis alone weie the piimaiy engines diiving the violence.
Cracks Networked Violence
By the mid- to late ,,os, the kingpin iationale that oiiginally justied the
oo-to- dispaiity no longei seemed pait of the equation. Take, foi exam-
ple, the following quotation fiom the testimony of Steven Wiley, chief of
the FBIs Violent Ciimes and Majoi Oendeis Section, given befoie the
Senate Committee on the Judiciaiy in ,,; about the impoitance of ciack
in stieet gangs supposed centiality to the skyiocketing diug tiade:
Almost oveinight a majoi industiy was boin, with majoi outlets in
eveiy neighboihood, tens of thousands of potential new customeis
andthousandsofsalesjobsavailable.Inslightlyoveiadecade,stieet
gangs have become highly involved in diug tiacking at all levels.
Intelligence developed thiough investigation has ievealed extensive
inteiactionamongindividualsbelongingtogangsaciosstheNation.
Tisinteraction . . .isnorealoosenetworkofcontactsandassociations
thatconetogetherasneededtosupportindividualbusinessventures.
8
Tese small, entiepieneuiial gioups soon came to be viewed as hav-
ing advantages ovei laigei, gang-diiected gioups because theii limited
size piesents a moie dicult taiget foi law enfoicement, making gioup
;8 Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
leadeis less likely to be discoveied.
8
Eectively failing to piovide any
evidence foi the punishment iatios oiiginal justication, law enfoice-
ments quite logical iesponse to ciacks hoiizontally stiuctuied distiibu-
tion system has since been to taiget the only people who have evei been
involvedthe unending supply of low-end dealeis who aie almost
immediately ieplaced. Paiaphiasing the testimony of a defense lawyei,
foi instance, the commission has stated thatin theii elastic adaptations
to ciacks low-level system of distiibutionundeicovei agents and infoi-
mants hold out foi highei quantities in a single sale, come back iepeat-
edly foi additional sales, and insist that powdei cocaine be cooked into
ciack cocaine befoie accepting it.
8
While oiiginally justied as piovid-
ing law enfoicement with moie ability to feiiet out kingpins, the pun-
ishment stiuctuie, instead, has allowed foi moie bang foi the buck in
ciack cocaine cases than any othei kind of diug case because a veiy small
quantity inciease iesults in a veiy laige sentence inciease, and because
the simple piocess of cooking powdei cocaine into ciack cocaine iesults
in a diastic sentence inciease.
86

It is peihaps not suipiising, though, that the low-level, hoiizontally
stiuctuied ciack tiade came to take on such impoitance in the ,,os.
Aftei all, the ,,os saw the iise of the netwoik as a piimaiy way in
which political, economic, and social ielationships weie being iecon-
ceived.
8;
Netwoiks, in sum, weie viewed as key in ieshaping the ielation-
ship between maikets and national soveieignty since the modein intei-
state system was believed to have lost impoitance thiough the iise of an
inteidependent nexus of maikets. In this kind of fiamewoik, the geo-
giaphical and juiisdictional boundaiies of the nation-state model weie
sometimes seen as hindiances to capital ow as incieasingly diveisied
coipoiate giants came to iequiie moie leg ioom. Tis weakening of the
nation-state system thiough the undeimining of soveieignty, howevei,
still needed to iely on some kind of goveinmental stability since political
upheavals scaie away investois. While eice counteimovements to the
aggiessive seaich foi stable investment oppoitunities ciy out foi identity
and national soveieignty in the face of potentially homogenizing global-
ism, both need each othei, maiket demociacy, that is, gives such move-
ments something to hate.
88
But this kind of debate about the iole of netwoiks in global ieoiganiza-
tion found expiession in all kinds of woiks of ction as well. Published
in ,,, Neil Stephensons novel Snow Crash, foi example, cieated a c-
tional woild wheie foimei countiies weie called fianchises, subuiban
communities weie teimed city-states, and ciiminal justice oiganizations
weie completely piivatized.
8,
His vision was a iefeudalized system held
togethei by viitual woilds in which even seemingly tiivial activities like
deliveiing pizza weie to be analyzed, hypothesized about, monitoied,
and suiveilled, iaising the stakes to life and death. In Stephensons take
on the ielationship between maiket-based netwoiks and national sovei-
eignty, even pizza deliveiy came to have the scientic method applied to
it, becoming pizza management science in the piocess. It was a ctional
account of a factional woild held togethei only by commeice, wheie pizza
deliveiy, couiiei seivices, and taxicabs feiiied people and goods acioss
netwoiks, and political iesistance was moie of an individual aaii, hap-
pening in the maigins and spaces in between.
Netwoiks also played key ioles in ieconceiving the ielationship between
national secuiity and ciiminal justice functions since they seemed to
become incieasingly similai as cioss-boidei ciime (e.g., diug sales, money
laundeiing, human tiacking) became moie of a foieign policy issue,
helping to standaidize hitheito nationally distinct iules foi juiisdiction,
evidence collection, and piosecution. In a woild of incieasingly unstable
ows, cioss-national policingas opposed to modein waifaieseemed
bettei suited to managing iisky populations. And, because modein aimies
aie only designed to ght othei modein aimies, new models weie believed
to be needed. Smallei, moie adaptable, hoiizontally stiuctuied paiamilitaiy
oiganizations weie thought bettei equipped to deal with ciiminal oiganiza-
tions that weie incieasingly peiceived as mobile, lethal netwoiks.
,o
While the impoitance of netwoik thinking in the ielationship between
soveieignty and maikets has been undeilined by many, such impoitance,
as cultuial ciitic Tomas Fiank has suggested, peihaps took its most tii-
umphalist tone in the self-congiatulatoiy pioclamations of the business
woild in the ,,os.
,
Delibeiately at the foiefiont of the new economy,
foi example, was FastConpany, which, in the woids of its ,, manifesto,
aimed to be the handbook of the business ievolution.
,a
Aftei pioclaim-
ing the advent of a new age in business, the manifesto then desciibed the
foices leading the way: With unsettling speed, two foices aie conveiging:
a new geneiation of business leadeis is iewiiting the iules of business,
and a new bieed of fast companies is challenging the coipoiate status
quo. Te document went on to say that [n]o pait of business is immune,
and that, most tellingly, the nature of work is changing. Tis business
ievolution, in theii woids, was going to be as fai-ieaching as the Indus-
tiial Revolution. Te manifesto continued, claiming that an
economy diiven by technology and innovation makes old boideis
obsolete.Smaitpeoplewoikinginsmaitcompanieshavetheability
tocieatetheiiownfutuiesandalsoholdtheiesponsibilityfoithe
consequences.Tepossibilitiesaieunlimitedandunlimitedpossi-
bilitiescaiiyequalmeasuiesofhopeandfeai. . . .Wewillchionicle
thechangesundeiwayinhowcompaniescieateandcompete,high-
lightthenewpiacticesshapinghowwoikgetsdone,showcaseteams
who aie inventing the futuie and ieinventing business. . . . A new
communityneedsitsownlegitimateheioesandheioines,itsmodels
andmentois.
Significantly, howevei, ciack dealing nevei undeiwent these kinds of
tiansfoimations so highly touted in the ,,os piecisely because it had
always been, fiom the stait, a netwoiked cottage industiy. In many
ways, then, ciacks actual existence piesaged much of the viitual
discussions about the new economy since ciack nevei tiansfoimed
fron veitically stiuctuied oiganizations with kings at theii heads. As
hoiizontally stiuctuied, smallei-scale oiganizations, ciack-dealing
ciews iepiesented the undeigiound veision of the much-vaunted fast
company, but they weie denied the veiy inventiveness so often attiib-
uted to the legal business oiganizations that, unknowingly, mimicked
the ciack economy. Appioached as if they weie tentacled supeioi-
ganizations with Mafialike capabilities, ciack ciews, in ieality, weie
the veiy embodiment of the new economys heioes, albeit in theii
undeigiound, lethal manifestations.
Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
In a Kingpin Stiategy of diug enfoicement, the focus is obviously on the
king. But in a netwoik stiategy, the focus centeis on the netwoik itself,
which, as opposed to a king, is neithei alive noi can it be seen. In the
paiadoxical punishment of ciack cocaine, this focusing away fiom king-
pins and towaid hoiizontal netwoiks of inheiently low-level dealeis cie-
ated a specic kind of symbolic ciiminalization. In cieating an anomalous
culpability-by-the-giam calculus, the punishment stiuctuie foi ciack saw
the emeigence of a stiange foim of iesponsibility without intentionality, a
kind of stiict liabilityciime without mens iea. Te low-level dealeis tai-
geted by law enfoicement weie punished as kingpins, but neveilike the
Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun ,:
business heioes of Fast Conpanygiven any of the inventiveness often
asciibed to the kingpins of othei enteipiises, ciiminal oi legal. Instead,
they weie asciibed a kind of prinitivesophistication that, although ievo-
lutionaiy in its supposedly dangeious simplicity, iequiied no ingenuity on
the pait of dealeis themselves.
Ciacks iole in the tiansfoimation of violence came to iepiesent a new
iuthlessness, at once ciude and sophisticated, a kind of revolutionary
sinplicity. And it was ciacks veiy simplicity that appeaied to poitend a
seiies of complex social devastations. As the hoiizontal stiuctuie of the
ciack tiade was ievealed, it came to be taken as a ciude foim of sophis-
tication that both piesaged the iise of netwoik society in the ,,os and
demonized the ciiminal foim it took. Ciack dealeis nevei weie king-
pins, but in taking them as such, the punishment stiuctuie symbolically
downplayed theii intentionality while upgiading theii culpability. As the
,,os saw business leadeis at the helm of a new ievolution, ciack deal-
eis became the ciude, iuthless heads of an inheiently simple diug piod-
uct that, in a stiange tuin of self-geneiation, noveditself. In its innitely
elastic, paiadoxical punishment stiuctuie, ciack became the sophisti-
cated actoi in the equation, the dealei its simple pawn. Ciack became a
foim of cocaine that, in some kind of Daiwinian suivival eoit, attached
itself to a ieady, steady, unending supply of low-level dealeis that it
shed as necessaiy. As with cutting o limbs to stop the spiead of gan-
giene, oi excising poitions of esh to get iid of a cancei, the punishment
stiuctuie foi ciack tieated them like kingpins in woid only, and, in actu-
ality, viewed them as appendages iequiiing amputation. In the paiadoxi-
cal tieatment of ciack cocaine, then, the drug itself becane the kingpin,
and the dealeis existed only as the media thiough which a newei, moie
intelligent manifestation of cocaine moved itself. In essence, ciack, not
its dealeis, was asciibed a new kind of twenty-ist-centuiy netwoiked-
based ciiminal intelligence.
Unlike Fast Conpanys ieveience foi smait people woiking in smait
companies who have the ability to cieate theii own futuies, ciack deal-
eisthiough the paiadoxical iationale undeilying ciacks punishment
stiuctuiecame to be seen as meie pawns used by an inanimate-yet-
intelligent diug to ensuie its own suivival. Ciacks undeigiound veision
of the changes undei way in how companies cieate and compete showed
that such changes occuiied long befoie the mid-,,os, and that they weie
lethal and systemic, and not cieated thiough the innovations of business
leadeis.
,: Te Invisible Hand Holds a Gun
Conclusion
In the ,,os, the business woild celebiated itself, positing its own inno-
vations as the piime movei of a new ievolution. Simultaneously, how-
evei, iap aitistsmany of whom had giown up in the woist of the ciack
eiabegan memoiializing the lethality that undeilined those changes.
Wheie the business woild talked about netwoiks without violence, iap-
peis knew that violence was the ieal iegulatoiy mechanism undeilying
these veiy same deiegulated netwoiks. A ciack kingpin, in othei woids,
is a contiadiction in teims. To be suie, theie have been dealeis who weie
moie violent and made moie money than otheis, but a ciack kingpin is a
logical impossibility. Te connections made by iappeis between Scaiface
and ciack intioduced at the beginning of this book, theiefoie, aie neithei
accidents noi meie eoits to sell iecoids thiough sensationalist ciime
diama. Instead, they iepiesent a legally enfoiced logical disconnect:
Pacinos Scaiface was killed on the balcony of a spiawling mansion, while
Ghostface Killah hops fences and jumps benches in a despeiate eoit
to avoid getting bagged on a iock, and face a punishment stiuctuie that
tieats him like Scaiface, but knows he is inheiently low-level. Raps ciack-
infused lyiics, hence, aie not to be undeistood simply as an issue of what
iappeis should oi should not be saying. Raps Scaifacelike boasting also
shows that, in a new, deiegulated, netwoiked, deindustiialized woild, the
only way to get hold of the maiket is to meet its instability with bodily
violencethat, moie often than not, theinvisiblehandholdsagun.
In the next chaptei, I suggest thatwhile mainstieam innovatois like
FastConpany aimed to cieate a handbook of the business ievolution in
which legitimate heioes and heioines weie showcasediaps ieexive
stance towaid its own commeicialization came to piovide its own hand-
book of the undeigiound business ievolution. Ciack came to symbolize,
paiadoxically, hopes of cieating spaces of nonhumiliating woik in an eia of
excessive punishment, while simultaneously expiessing moial outiage at
the duplicity of a sociolegal enviionment that had knowingly undeiwiit-
ten the noimalization of lethal violence. As B.I.G. iapped, in a song aptly
titled Te Ten Ciack Commandments, I been in this game foi yeais, it
made me a animal i Teies iules to this shit, I made me a manual.
,
,,

Rap Puts Crack to Work

Royalty checks equal to crack in the street.
SeanPiiceinBootCampClik,AndSo,ChosenFew,aooa
I
want to begin this chaptei with a desciiption of two images. Te ist
is a postei foi iap stai o Cents semiautobiogiaphical movie GetRich
orDieTrying, which shows him fiom the back, with aims spiead out in a
Chiistlike pose, one hand holding a semiautomatic pistol, and the othei
a miciophone. Te othei is a Reebok sneakei ad, which featuies Jay-Z,
whose life similaily ieects os iise fiom ciack dealei to iap stai to coi-
poiate executive. Te ad is split into two panels. In the left panel, he is
shown sitting in a chaii weaiing a pinstiiped suit with a view of the New
Yoik City skyline in the backgiound. Te iight panel shows only his iight
aim, which has a numbei of iubbei bands aiound it, and which foie-
giounds the wall of a high-iise housing pioject. Te caption on top of the
ad ieads, I got my MBA in Maicy Piojects.

Tese kinds of iags-to-iiches, stieets-to-boaidioom-suites success
stoiies have become some of the most iecognizable identity myths at the
coie of the iap industiy. Te signicance of this mythology, howevei, lies
not in the meie fact that stieet and suite aie fused, but in the chaiactei-
ization of both ciack and iap as specickindsofwork. Equating iap woik
with ciack woik, though, is no simple exeicise in exaggeiated sensation-
alism. Instead, this equation signies a moial indictment at whose heait
lies duplicity: the duplicity of a white-collai woild that intentionally pieys
on vulneiable aitists, and the duplicitous natuie of a punitive infiastiuc-
tuie in which meie couiieis of an inheiently impuie pioduct aie held
solely accountable foi the community destabilizations that only the foices
of deindustiialization and coeicive mobility could evei have pioduced. In
iaps confiontation with its own commeicialization, both foims of legal
,; Rap Puts Crack to Work
duplicity compound and confound each othei, meiging in an emotional
coie of social betiayal. In this chaptei, I situate the eveiyday exploitative
iealities within which iaps immediate pioductive possibilities weieand
still aiedened, and out of which ciack emeiged as a metaphoi foi this
collective expeiience of humiliation.
Putting in Work
To be suie, the notion that ciime is a foim of woik is nothing new. In
fact, the entiie tiajectoiy of Ameiican sociological ciiminology since
the middle of the twentieth centuiy has suggested piecisely this point.
Whethei conceived as an innovative, iational iesponse to a system of
cultuial values that oveiemphasizes the accumulation of wealth, as soci-
ologist Robeit Meiton famously pioposed,
a
oias the sociologists Clif-
foid Shaw and Heniy McKay aigued
as a way of life so entienched that

it becomes, simply, one moie lifestyle choice among many, the woiking
life of ciime has long guied in ciiminological analysis. And, as I dis-
cussed in chaptei , ethnogiaphic poitiayals of ciack dealing have con-
sistently shown that dealeis themselves view ciack as an alteinative to
the humiliations of low-wage laboi.
Given such a histoiy, it should be

no suipiise that iap aitists also call ciack woik. Tis can be heaid, foi
example, in Boot Camp Cliks waining to stash the woik in youi sock
to avoid getting knocked by the police.
Oi in Jay-Zs boast about hav-

ing whole blocks pumping my woik.
6
But the impoitance heie lies in
the kind of woik that ciack iepiesents, which, moie often than not, iests
on the concept of giinding. Take Jay-Zs desciiption of how he tiansi-
tioned fiom Maicy Piojectsa laige public housing development in the
Bedfoid-Stuyvesant neighboihood of Biooklynto the iecoid industiy.
In his woids, he enteied the iap game with hundieds of thousands of
dollais: Nine to be exact fiom giinding G-packs.
;
Refeiences to giind-
ing have become so ubiquitous that the Clipsea Viiginia-based duo
whose entiie oeuvie ievolves piimaiily aiound intiicately constiucted
metaphois that all ielate back to cocaine basebecame famous thiough
theii debut single, Giindin. Incoipoiating cocaine into biblical allu-
sions, Pusha T iaps, My giinds about family, nevei been about fame
i Some days I wasnt Able, theie was always Cain.
8
Oi take Raekwon
the Chefan oiiginal membei of the highly inuential New Yoik City
based gioup, Wu-Tang Clanwho includes a pictuie of himself in the
Rap Puts Crack to Work ,,
linei notes of his famous ist album, Only Built for Cuban Linx, which
shows him cooking up ciack on the stove, cleaily suggesting how he got
the name Chef.
,
Likewise, the songs of Ghostface Killahanothei oiigi-
nal membei of Wu-Tangaie peppeied with iefeiences to dealing both
ciack and powdei. To wit, his aoo6 ielease is called Fishscale, a slang
teim foi high-quality cocaine.
o
Teie is also Fat Joe, who, in his aoo hit,
Lean Back, desciibes how he got his othei name, Joey Ciack: as a youth,
Joe iecounts, he was too much to cope with i Tats why motheifuck-
eis nicknamed me cooked coke shit.
Peihaps, though, the peifection of

iaps connection to ciack can best be seen in the choius of a Juelz San-
tana song called, simply, I am Ciack: Touch the coke, touch the pot,
add the soda what you got: Me.
a
And so, iegaidless of the peivasive iivaliies between iap gioups fiom
dieient iegions in the United States, fiom the East to the West to the
South, cooked cocaine featuies as a piimaiy symbol that piovides a key
iefeience thiough which woik, as a bioad categoiy, is oiganized. And,
most impoitant, despite iaps penchant foi diug-kingpin mythology and
jewel-enciusted swaggei, the ways in which the woik of ciack is actually
depicted lyiically, instead, ieect a veiy dieient conception. As noted
above, ciack woik, acioss the boaid, is desciibed as haid, stieet-level
giinding, chaiacteiized by ciamped kitchens and pots and pans, whose
mundane ioutineness is often punctuated by buists of lethal violence.
Undoubtedly, the guie of the hustlei in iap is eveiywheie appai-
ent, and ciack dealing is cleaily involved with hustling.
But it is in the
concept of giinding that the specic woik of ciack is to be found. Hus-
tling suggests the ielative ease of piot, of getting ovei, of ipping
money to make moie. Te hustle is smooth and fast. Giinding, on the
othei hand, signies a paiticulai kind of hustling, and it is one that does
not ietain the same sense of ease. Giinding suggests dicultycooking,
chuining, twisting, piessing. While the hustle iepiesents the swaggei
of success aftei it has been iealized, the giind suggests all of the many
dues paid befoie that success became iealitythe iuthless competition,
the social disiuption, and the intensied violence that ciack-eia hustleis
had to negotiate. As discussed in the pievious chaptei, ciack standsfoi
dealeis and useis alikeas a iugged symbol foi a iugged time, having
iadically iestiuctuied the natuie of hustling itself. Giinding, in shoit,
ieects a specic ciack-eia hustle that is insepaiable fiom the peiiods
most devastating eects, and its use is meant to iecall those veiy same
expeiiences.
,o Rap Puts Crack to Work
At the same time, iaps iefeiences to ciack do not occui alone. Instead,
such iefeiences occui alongside connections to ciiminal activity of many
kinds. Take, foi instance, the adveitising bluib foi a DVD seiies called
Stiaight fiom the Piojects: Rappeis Tat Live the Lyiics, which boasts
that people weie shot while oui cameias weie iolling... . ; people...
weie shot and killed befoie the lm was completed. Tis the iealest
ghetto shit evei lmed!
And, in a tiagic iiony, C-Muidei, one of the

iappeis featuied in the DVD, has since been sentenced to life in piison
foi the veiy ciime his name iepiesents.
In addition, his police mug shot

is piominently displayed on the Maich aoo covei of hip hop magazine
TeSource, along with the mug shots of nine othei iap aitists. Te issue,
Hip-Hop behind Bais: Aie Rappeis the New Taiget of Ameiicas Ciimi-
nal Justice System? desciibes the legal tioubles of no fewei than thiity
iappeis, many of whom aie multiplatinum-selling aitists who have been
incaiceiated, oi who weieat the time of the issues publicationawait-
ing sentencing foi chaiges including aggiavated assault, gun possession,
sexual assault, diug tiacking, iobbeiy, and muidei.
6
Similaily, in fall
aoo, Couit TVin association with Russell Simmons, the managei of
pioneeiing iap gioup Run DMC and cofoundei of legendaiy label Def
Jamaiied a special, Hip Hop Justice, that piomised to investigate
and ieveal [the] undeiexposed histoiy between law enfoicement and hip
hops biggest stais.
;
Ceitainly, these emphases on iaps ciiminal associations aie pait of a
laigei fascination with ieality in enteitainment geneiallyfiom Gang-
land episodes on the Histoiy Channel to the gossip-fueled backstab-
bing of Big Biothei. But it is the degiee to which the ieality of iap has
become so thoioughly inteitwined with that of ciime that is most peiti-
nent, indeed, the stakes faced by many iap aitists aie often fai moie ieal
than those faced by contestants on ieality shows who get voted o.
8
In
tuin, these life-and-death stakes aie piecisely what make iaps conict
with the music industiy so painful, infusing the iap gameciack game
equation with an emotional coie that cannot be so easily explained away
as meie sensationalism.
While the still-unsolved muideis of the Notoiious B.I.G. and Tupac
Shakui have had the most impact on the public piesentation and iecep-
tion of iaps ciiminal aliations, the aooa muidei of old-school iap pio-
neei Jam Mastei Jaywho was the DJ foi Run DMChas also piompted
signicant concein within the populai piess.
,
Teie aie now, we aie told,
iap cops who specialize in knowing about the iap undeiwoild wheie
diugs, guns, and music-industiy disputes aie thought to pioduce a vola-
tile, often deadly mix.
ao
One of these iap cops has even published a book
called ôtoriousC.O.P., which is, cleaily, a diiect iefeience to the Notoii-
ous B.I.G.
a
While these violent aspects of iaps ciiminal connections have become
moie visible in iecent yeais, it was not long ago that the way in which
iap music itself was made, while not ocially ciiminal, was seen as being
akin to theft. Because of its ieliance on sampling, in which digital copies
of shoit pieces of existing music aie looped to foim continuous beats,
iap has played an integial iole in shaping the contouis of copyiight law.
Foi example, in a ,, case that was to become a landmaik foi the law and
piactice suiiounding digital sampling, a New Yoik distiict judge began
his opinion with the famous command, Tou shalt not steal, and ended
by iecommending that iappei Biz Maikie be biought up on ciiminal
chaiges foi sampling pieces of someone elses song.
aa
Given the extent of these oveilapping ciiminal connections, it should
be no suipiise that many iap ciitics have felt compelled to addiess such
conceins above all else, focusing piimaiily on iaps most obvious tians-
giessions, especially its explicit, even celebiatoiy violence, homophobia,
and misogyny. And, within the context of iap ciiticism, both populai and
academic, two cleai appioaches in dealing with iaps explicitness have
emeiged: wheie one side appioaches iap in oidei to use it foi political ends
by ist iescuing the good paits fiom its commeicialized and degiaded
aspects, the othei appioaches iap with the goal of accusing it of signaling
and, sometimes, causingall that is bad in the innei city. Both appioaches,
howevei, wind up, iionically, iepioducing many of the same pioblematic
logical connections that undeigiid the ciack laws. Just as ciack was seen
as a foim of ciude sophistication, a ievolutionaiy simplicity, so, too, has
iap been viewed as a similaily simple impuie puiity. Foi many ciitics, iap
is a social piactice whose piimaiy impoitance is thought to ieside in its
as-yet-undeiiealized potential foi social ciitique. Rap, theiefoie, must be
puiged of its impuiities, and iedeployed foi political endsto fiee iaps
puie base fiom its impuie, oveily explicit foim. Foi otheis, iaps tians-
giessions aie meie ieections of eithei mainstieam Ameiicas long love
aaii with sensationalized violence, oi the woist elements of innei-city
youth cultuie. Foi most of these ciitics, though, such debates often depend
on a laigei issue, what is often called the authenticity debate.
,8 Rap Puts Crack to Work
Authenticity
As eaily as ,,o, histoiian Mike Davis, although not conceined with iap
scholaiship as such, was alieady ciitiquing a tendency within the academy
to inteipiet iaps explicit, vocal tiiades as counteihegemonic iesistance
to oppiessive social foices. Wiiting about the complicated social histoiy
of Los Angeles, Davis aigued that gangsta iap suggested a fai moie cozy
syneigy between gangstei cultuie and Hollywood than many ciitics
admitted.
a
Likewise in the ,,os, cultuial theoiist Paul Gilioy addiessed
similai issues, challenging the eageiness with which many wiiteis had
embiaced iaps oveit deance, aiguing that they had too ieadily taken it as
a sign of the uniqueness, puiity and powei of black veinaculai cultuie.
a

Gilioy also questioned iaps emphasis on naiiowly conceived veisions of
stieet cultuie and the hood as the essence[s] of wheie blackness can be
found.
a
He asked which hood aie we talking about? and highlighted
the fact that both iap and the scholais who wiite about it piesent a spe-
cically Ameiico-centiic vision of the woild.
a6
In his view, such wiit-
eis often piesented an absolutist conception of ethnicity in which the
community is felt to be on the wiong ioad, and it is the intellectuals job
to give them a new diiection, istly by iecoveiing and then by donating
the iacial awaieness that the masses seem to lack.
a;
As the above ciitiques suggest, duiing the ,,os, academic woik on
iap was often conceined with analyzing what then appeaied to be a faiily
maiginal(ized) yet vital Afiican Ameiican subcultuie boin fiom innei-city
life. While a numbei of eaily histoiies tiaced the ioots of hip hop thiough-
out the Afiican diaspoia,
a8
iap scholaiship became veiy much conceined
with the issues of iacial and ethnic maiginality and iaps possibilities foi
political iesistance.
a,
Rap was often conceived of piimaiily as an authen-
tic development of Afiican Ameiican cultuial expiession that had poten-
tial foi black political voice, but was also undei thieat fiom vaiious foices
of commodication that appeaied to be enlisting its stylistic innovations
foi such mundane things as selling ceieal. Cultuial ciitic Tiicia Roses
aigument that [i]aps capacity as a foim of testimony, as an aiticulation of
a young black uiban ciitical voice of social piotest, has piofound potential
as a basis foi a language of libeiation
o
exemplies this mid-,,os vision.
At bottom, what both Davis and Gilioy saw as the aggiessive claiming of
iap often ieected attempts to paise out its political potential fiom its
seemingly moie sensational and commeicialized aspects.
Since then, howevei, scholaiship on iap has piolifeiated, and theie
have been a numbei of challenges to that mid-,,os vision. Gilioys cii-
tiques of iaps Ameiico-centiism have since been ieiteiated by a numbei
of newei scholais who aie, instead, conceined with the global dimen-
sions of iap music and hip hop cultuie. While not denying the fact that
iaps ioots aie in Afiican Ameiican cultuial expiession, scholaiship in the
aooos has often focused on hip hop as a vehicle foi youth in a multitude
of dieient ethnic and national contexts to fashion alteinative identi-
ties foi themselves, theieby challenging the notion that iap is piimaiily a
black Ameiican voice of social piotest.
Rap scholaiship must now con-

tend with a numbei of signicant factois that have made the piomise of
its political potential seem pioblematic at best. Because of the piimaiy
obseivation that, iegaidless of what iap may iepiesent oi what its politi-
cal potential may be, it is undeniably one of the most populai, commei-
cially successful foims of cultuial expiession today, eailiei conceins with
iaps libeiatoiy powei have been complicated by issues of global identity
foimation in the wake of hypeicommeicialization. Even given such com-
plications, howevei, much ciiticism still ievolves aiound eoits to puiify
and deploy iap music as if it weie meiely an instiument in laigei political
stiuggles.
While Gilioys aigument about the pioblematic notion of authentic-
ity has piovided an impoitant lens thiough which iap has been ieenvi-
sioned, many of the same issues he wiote against in the ,,os iemain. In
fact, the authenticity debate is still veiy much at the centei of how fans,
jouinalists, and academics appioach iaps violent and sexual explicit-
ness. And, in tuin, at the heait of this debate lies a key distinction: the
dieience between iap and hip hop. Te distinctions impoitance
can peihaps best be encapsulated in a now-famous line by pioneei iap
aitist KRS-One: Rap is something you do, hip hop is something you
live.
a
In this conceptual schema, iap is believed to be only one, heav-
ily commeicialized, commodied, and appiopiiated element within
a laigei hip hop cultuie. Wheie hip hop is viewed as a bioad cultuial
eoiescence, iap is often seen as that which the enteitainment industiy
has been able to piot fiom most eciently. Tus, foi many, the teim
iap music is automatically pejoiative, while hip hop suggests some-
thing giandei, moie puie, oiganic, and authentic. Along these lines,
what often iemains at the heait of this distinction is the desiie to use
iap in oidei to hainess its political potential aftei ist iescuing it fiom
the foices of commodication.
oo Rap Puts Crack to Work
To be suie, the distinction between iap and hip hop is not without
histoiical basis. In the eaily days of its emeigence out of piedominantly
black and Latino neighboihoods in the Bionx, Biooklyn, Queens, and
Manhattan duiing the ,;os, iap had not yet come into its own and,
instead, was simply the lyiical accompaniment to the musical stylings of
local disc jockeys who ist employed iappeis to hype up the ciowds
duiing local block paities. Tioughout the ,;os, pioneei deejays such
as Kool Heic, Giandmastei Flash, and Giand Wizaid Teodoie devel-
oped the techniques of using two iecoid tuintables simultaneously, cut-
ting back and foith between iecoids in oidei to lengthen the paied-down
dium and bass bieaks in classic iock, funk, and soul songs. Tese bieak
beats became the elements ovei which iappeis would talk duiing pai-
tiesboasting about the deejay, calling out the names of neighboihoods
and fiiends, and telling stoiies in ihyme foim. Bieak beats also piovided
the sounds to which b-boysliteially, bieak boyswould battle each
othei using the aciobatic movements that weie to become the founda-
tions of bieak dancing. Along with giati wiiteis, who used walls,
benches, and subway cais as canvases foi theii spiay paint ait, iappeis,
deejays, and bieak danceis foimed what weie, and still aie, consideied to
be the foui elements of hip hop cultuie.
Duiing the eaily ,8os, when hip hop was becoming moie populai and
iecoid labels got inteiested in tiying to package the phenomenon, iap-
peis became the most iecognized and commeicially impoitant element
in hip hop, and eclipsed the populaiity of the otheis. Cleaily, as eaily-
,8os lms such as Breaking suggest, theie weie attempts to mass maiket
both giati and bieak dancing. Rap, howevei, was seen as a fai easiei
element to package since it could be condensed into a song, iecoided, and
sold in smallei units. Much like ciack, which aiiived soon aftei, iap was
often viewed as a fast food veision of populai music since it couldlike
cocaine cooking on a kitchen stovebe made with fai less equipment,
peisonnel, and, most impoitant, investment capital. Te subsequent
populaiity of iap musicovei and above deejaying, bieaking, and giati
wiitingwas made possible, theiefoie, by the successful tiansfoimation
of New Yoik City block paity cultuie into the saleable foim of the iap
song. As a iesult, much of the cuiient populaiity of iappeis can be tiaced
back to this oiiginal piessuie of maiketability.
Even given this histoiy, it is often believed by many wiiteispast and

piesentthat iaps commeicial ties automatically make it suspect. In
othei woids, theie is assumed to have been a peiiod in which hip hop cul-
Rap Puts Crack to Work o:
tuie was uncommeicialized, and to which iap can and should ietuin. Tis
belief, though, is pioblematic on multiple levels. Rappeis, in fact, weie
hiied by deejays piecisely to make themselves moie commeicially suc-
cessful. Fiom its beginnings, then, iap has always been in the seivice of
selling hip hop. Undoubtedly, the intensity of that commeicial aspect has
giown exponentially since then, peihaps making it seem as if theie had
been some peiiodalbeit veiy biiefin which hip hop cultuie just was.
Once this assumption of initial puiity is made, howevei, the iesulting cii-
tiques of iap aie exactly what Paul Gilioy wiote against in the ,,os
eoits to paise out the good aspects fiom the bad, the oiiginal puiity
fiom the commeicial, as well as the oensive fiom the political. Public
discussions of iap, theiefoie, often assume that its violent explicitness
ieects eithei authentic ghetto tiuth iepoiting, commeicial piessuies to
be shocking, oi, simply, widei cultuial pioblems. Rap, that is, iemains, foi
many people, something to be ieclaimed fiom the piessuies of commeice
and used to ieinvigoiate the political potential of hip hop cultuie that is
believed to have been diluted. Resultantly, the existence of ciime and vio-
lence in iap is often taken as if it weie alieady pioof of commodication
as if the piesence of violence could only eithei be the tiuth of innei-city
life, oi an aspect geneiated by the iecoid industiy.
Many ciitics now begin by pioclaiming the death of civil-iights-eia
political involvement. Accoiding to media ciitic Todd Boyd, foi example,
the civil iights eia is past and people need to accept that and act accoid-
ingly.
Hip hop is then piesented as the vehicle thiough which a new

geneiationthe hip hop geneiationcan hainess its as-yet-undeiieal-
ized political powei. In the woids of activist Geoige Maitinez, I believe
that Hip Hop is the engine and cultuial vehicle foi the next phase of the
civil and human iights movements. But we have to make a distinction
between the iap industiy and Hip Hop cultuie. . . . Because Hip Hop
comes fiom the stieets, oui politics must come fiom the same place.
6
Even to this day much of the public debate about iap continues to be
dominated by the uses of Hip Hop Cultuie, in capital letteiswhat it is,
what it should be, and how it should best be put to use. Raps ielationship
to the music industiy is often tieated as secondaiy and paiasitic, and the
stieets aie veiy often piioiitized as an initial oiganic iawness that was
latei coopted and commeicialized. Teie aie now attempts to ieclaim
hip hop back fiom Gilioys aigument that iap music is only one element
in a much laigei Black Atlantican alteinative public spheie cieated
thiough the inteicontinental expiessive cieativity of the Afiican dias-
o: Rap Puts Crack to Work
poiathat, fiom its stait, has always implied fai moie cultuial and ethnic
hybiidity than is often allowed by Ameiican ciitics. Take, foi instance,
sociolegal scholai Imani Peiiys statement that [h]ip hop music is black
Ameiican music. Even with its hybiidity.
;
Oi, take sociologist Kiistine
Wiight, who, in a aoo issue of the jouinal Socialisn and Denocracy
devoted entiiely to hip hop, states hei belief even moie cleaily: I cannot
join the club of hip hop started as a voice of oppressed black and brown
youth but now its worldwide . . . because foi these oppiessed black and
biown youth, little has changed and hip hop is still their voice.
8
Much
of the debate, then, continues to focus on pinpointing wheie hip hops
tiue essence lies and what diiection it should take in the futuie: At its
essence, Wiight states, hip hop is making a way fiom no way, and in
the case of mainstieam hip hop, it has been a legal hustle foi many youth
fiom ghettos who would not have had many othei oppoitunities.
,
Peihaps some of the stiongest ciitiques of iaps explicitness, how-
evei, have come fiom feminist wiiteis who have been paiticipants in hip
hop cultuie but aie now tiying to ieconcile iaps ciitical potential with
an appaient inciease in its sexually degiading depictions of womento
iescue, again, iap music fiom its slide into ugly, commeicialized tians-
giession. In hei analysis of what it mean[s] to be a woman in the Hip-
Hop geneiation,
o
foi example, cultuial scholai Gwendolyn Poughs
piimaiy aim is ultimately to iecognize the political potential within it
[hip hop].
Similaily, in hei aoo8 book, Tiicia Rose hopes to aim young

black men and women, and eveiyone else, with poweiful ciitical tools so
that they can expose and challenge the state of commeicial hip hop.
a
Foi
Rose, Hip hop is in a teiiible ciisis.
In sum, thioughout the authen-

ticity debate, iap, moie often than not, is viewed as a social instiument
that can and should be cleansed, iathei than as a complex, commeicially
bound social piactice that will continue to take its own foims iegaidless
of how haid ciiticsacademic oi populaiwoik to puiify it. While the
,,os saw ciitics tiying to decode the seemingly nonpolitical in oidei to
undeistand iaps impoitance foi iesistance, in the eaily twenty-ist cen-
tuiy, many aie now tiying to decode the obviously commeicial in oidei
to undeistand iaps iole in the dilution of a potentially iesistant Hip Hop
Cultuie.
Given these eoits to ieclaim iap fiom ciass commeicialism and
global appiopiiationsto put iap to use in ieclaiming hip hop cultuieit
is peihaps not suipiising that they have found theii nemesis in eoits to
accuse iap of illustiating the piofound depths to which the nations youth
Rap Puts Crack to Work o,
have fallen and the degiee to which they aie pieyed upon by the moi-
ally coiiupt messages of gloiied violence.
Jouinalist Juan Williams, foi

example, has claimed that iap is pait of a twisted populai cultuie that
focuses on the bling-bling of fast money associated with famous bas-
ketball playeis, iap aitists, diug dealeis and the idea that women aie at
theii best when aunting theii sexuality and having babies.
Tied to what
he calls a cultuie of failuie that is poisoning young people, hate-lled
iap music signals the despeiate need to pull a geneiational ie alaim
6

that, in his view, was sounded by comedian Bill Cosby in his highly con-
tioveisial speech duiing the ftieth anniveisaiy of the Brownv.Boardof
Education decision.
;
While Juan Williams has complained that violent,
oveisexed gangstas
8
biag about how many times theyve been shot,
,

the issue of iap-ielated violence, it seems, lies less in iappeis biagging
about being shot than in the fact that so many iappeis have been shot
in the ist place. Peihaps moie to the point, though, is this: getting shot
has become pait of the work of rap. In othei woids, lethal violence has
become a cential element in a multi-billion-dollai global enteitainment
industiy. Take, in this iegaid, the comment of undeigiound iap aitist
MF Giimm, who was conned to a wheelchaii in ,, aftei being shot
multiple times. Aftei desciibing what it felt like to have a bullet entei his
neck, iicochet in his head, and exit his mouth, he says, At the time this
happened, I was getting [iecoid] label oeis. When I got shot, the labels
all wanted to sepaiate fiom me. Now its pait of youi deal.
o
Tus, wheie one side of the debate appioaches iap in oidei to use
it by iescuing the good paits fiom its coiiupted elements, the othei
appioaches iap in oidei to accuse it of poisoning oui youth. While
many ciitics initially appioach iapin Raymond Williamss phiaseas
a cieative woiking, such appioaches aie, moie often than not, naiiowly
diiected by only a few oveiiiding goals: dening the essence of hip hop,
desciibing how that essence has been diluted, and suggesting how it can
be cleansed and iedeployed foi political ends.
Iionically, in focusing almost solely on iaps instiumental uses and
abuses, both sides iely on the exact same assumption that often domi-
nates debates about the ielationship between media explicitness and
actual behavioi: in cultuial scholai T. Denean Shaipley-Whitings woids,
the steieotype of sexual availability in hip hop piovides a biidge to all
othei veibal and physically exploitative acts.
Tis commonsense belief

that media violence diiectly inuences ieal violence, in fact, lies at the
heait of this books cential piemise: in Ameiicas ciiminological stiuctuie
o; Rap Puts Crack to Work
of feeling, almost all issues of social justice aie iecast as issues of ciiminal
justice, which must iely, foi legitimacy, on causal claims. As I showed in
the last chaptei, howevei, the dangei of such eoits lies in ieading too
much causation into too little evidence. Just as ciack was viewed as an
impuie puiity iequiiing a dispiopoitionate eoit to combat, so, too, is
iapwhen naiiowly conceived as a biidge between lyiic and violence
tieated as an impuie instiument whose sole impoitance lies in being
puiied and iedeployed. And, also like the ciack laws, such puiication
eoits depend upon a few inteilocking contiadictions.
Fiist, while explicit content in iapand, indeed, all mediaappeais to
have incieased exponentially since its mainstieam success in the ,8os,
actual iates of violent victimization have decieased piecipitously foi
the past fteen yeais. Foi men and women of all ethnicities, victimiza-
tion iates in eveiy single categoiy aie now at levels not seen since the
eaily ,6os.
a
By aiguing, as Shaipley-Whiting does, that iaps explicit
content gives men and boys eveiy ieason to continue gendei violence,

oi that, in Juan Williamss woids, iap ieects a cultuie of failuie that is
poisoning young people, both sides fall into the same logical tiap that
has plagued anyone who has evei aiguedas many continue to dothat
media content has diiect consequences foi ieal behavioi: media violence
does not match ieal violence. Tis is no small point, foi declines in vio-
lent victimization have been signicant, and have occuiied even while
the peicentage of all ciimes iepoited to the police has steadily incieased
since the eaily ,,os.
Simply put, oveily cultuialist explanations of ieal-

woild violence will oveipiedict the phenomena they aie tiying to explain.
Since the vast majoiity of people who consume violent contentwhethei
iap oi otheiwisedo not become violent oendeis, then, logically, vio-
lent content is neithei a biidge to all othei veibal and physically exploit-
ative acts noi does it miiioi a cultuie of failuie that is poisoning young
people. Statistically speaking, the coiielationbetween ieal violence and
media violencehas moved in the opposite diiection. Te point is not
that media violence is wholly unpioblematic, but that oveily cultuialist
explanations aie ieductive, and mask a fai moie complex ieality, which
iequiies equally nuanced analyses to disentangle.
Te contiadiction discussed above is also inteitwined with a simi-
lai paiadox long noted in ciiminological ieseaich: while the majoiity of
people who have expeiienced seiious childhood tiauma do not become
haid-coie oendeis, the oveiwhelming majoiity of haid-coie oendeis
have expeiienced some of the woist foims of such violence. Put anothei
way, most seiious victimizeis have themselves been the most seiiously vic-
timized.
Unfoitunately, this knowledge has been fiustiating foi ieseaich-

eis because they still have been unable to piedict, with any modicum of
piecision, which victimized childien will go on to victimize otheis. Tis
nding is ieplicated time and again and cannot be dismissedas those
who believe peisonal iesponsibility is the only element that matteis in
explaining ciiminal behavioi would doas an abuse excuse.
6
In tiuth,
ieal-woild oendeis iaiely oei such excuses foi theii own actions. As
ciiminologists Robeit Sampson and John Laub found in theii ieanalysis
of and followup to one of the most extensive longitudinal data sets evei
compiled in the histoiy of ciiminology, men who desisted fiom ciime,
but even those who peisisted, accepted iesponsibility foi theii actions and
fieely admitted getting into tiouble. Tey did not, foi the most pait, oei
excuses.
;
In shoit, ieal-woild violence begets moie ieal-woild violence,
but does so in complex ways that cannot be piedicted oi mapped diiectly.
Tese fiustiating ndings about the bluiiy lines between oendeis and
victims aie also ieplicated in numeious qualitative studies. Foi example,
in hei analysis of young womens expeiiences of gendei violence in uiban
St. Louis, sociologist Jody Millei ieveals the following staik iealities of hei
young male inteiviewees, many of whom weie engaged in seiious ciimi-
nal activity, including diug dealing, ietaliatoiy violence, and gang iape:
; peicent had seen someone iobbed, ;o peicent had seen someone shot,
peicent had seen someone stabbed, and 8 peicenttwo points shy
of halfhad seen someone killed.
8
In addition, peicent had been shot
themselves, 8 peicent had been thieatened with a weapon, and 6 pei-
cent had been iobbed.
,
Depiessingly, this bluiiy pictuie of the oendei-
victim ielationship ieects, foi both young men and young women, a
continuum of violence that began at home:
6o
[A]bout o peicent of the youths [in this study] . . . had witnessed
domesticviolence.Asizablepoitionalsoiepoitedhavingbeenphys-
ically abused: r peicent of giils and a8 peicent of boys iepoited
physicalabuse,andr(peicentofgiilsiepoitedhavingbeensexually
abusedbyafamilymembei.Inall,66peicentofgiilsand6peicent
of boys iepoited some exposuie to family violenceas witnesses,
victims,oiboth.
6r
Philippe Bouigois ethnogiaphy of ciack dealeis in Spanish Hailem
duiing the mid-,8os also shows the complicated oendei-victim contin-
oo Rap Puts Crack to Work
uum in fai moie peisonal detail. Considei Caesai, desciibed by his best
fiiend Piimo as being the meanest paiticipant in the neighboihoods
biutal gang iape iituals, whose potential foi extieme, unpiedictable vio-
lence was legendaiy, eaining him a place as the foiemost ciackhouse
secuiity guaid. Te only peison who disiespected the... piemises while
Caesai was on duty, iecalls Bouigois, was a jealous young man high on
angel dust. He was subsequently caiiied away... with a fiactuied skull
aftei Caesai hit him iepeatedly with a baseball bat.
6a
Boin to a sixteen-
yeai-old, unwed, heioin-addicted mothei who, at the time of Bouigois
ieseaich, was seiving a a-yeai sentence foi muidei, Caesais eaily yeais
illustiate, pai excellence, the oveilapping foims of seiious violence that
chaiacteiize the backgiounds of many similaily situated youths. Raised
by his giandmothei, Caesai, accoiding to his childhood fiiend Eddie,
6

was ioutinely abused in fiont of eveiybody in the stieetslike with bats
and sticks foi being one minute late.
6
He was also beaten with wiies,
and was once cut aftei his giandmothei thiew a knife at his chest. Aftei
numeious behavioial pioblems, Caesai was eventually sent to a iefoim
school, wheie he desciibes seeing the counselois holding down the kids
naked outside, and the counseloi beat him down, stiipped him up, and
thiew him outside in the snow and shit. . . . I was about twelve oi thii-
teen.
6
Caesais incieasingly violent outbuists eventually led him to an
expeiimental Special Education facility at a hospital foi the ciiminally
insane . . . wheie psychiatiists weie pioneeiing psychotiopic tieatments
with tianquilizeis.
66
At some point duiing all of this, Caesais sistei was
muideied, stabbed seventeen times and left in a pioject staiiwell.
While not quite as extieme as Caesais, Piimos upbiinging also shows
similaily haiiowing patteins of violence and childhood tiauma. In giaph-
ically desciibing his own paiticipation in neighboihood gang iapes, foi
example, Piimo iecounts how, in his teens, he had been socialized into
the iitual by Ray, his boss, whose iuthlessness and . . . ciuelty weie an
integial pait of his eectiveness at iunning his netwoik of ciackhouses
smoothly.
6;
Ray was oldei than Piimo and was known by the whole
neighboihood foi being especially biutal. I know that nigga since I was
little, Piimo iemembeis. He was weiid man. Used to think he would
iape me oi something.... Im only fteen, boy. And he used to talk ciazy
shit like, One of these days Im gonna get that ass. And I used to won-
dei if that was tiue. I nevei used to daie to be alone with him.
68
Piimos
feais weie not unfounded. Ray, along with his best childhood fiiend,
Luis, once iaped an old male tiansient in the empty paiking lot next to
the ciackhouse.
6,
In an eoit to communicate to Bouigois just how much
this and othei acts solidied Rays feaisome stieet ieputation, Caesai
a wildly violent piesence himselfsays this: Rays a fuckin pig, Rays a
wild motheifuckei. Hes got juice.... On the stieet that means iespect.
;o

Ray and Luis, in fact, weie the ones who iegulaily scheduled the gang
iapes, and ieciuited othei adolescent boys fiom the neighboihood, many
of whomlike Piimohad giown up feaiing theii oldei counteipaits,
and weie highly motivated to not look weak in theii eyes. As Piimo
admits, Back in those days I was youngei. My dick wouldnt stand up. It
was like nasty to me, I wasnt down with it. I cant handle that.
;
Te violent complexities outlined above by no means excuse theii obvi-
ous hoiioi, but one must acknowledgein oidei to adequately account
foi iaps iewoikings of ciacks intensied biutalitythe inteisecting webs
of violence that begin in the most intimate of neighboihood settings and
into which many young boys and giils aie iegulaily ieciuited thiough feai
and coeicion. As childien of the ciack eia, many iap aitists have suiely
giown up in such enviionments, being both victims and peipetiatois
to vaiying degiees, even if they lyiically embellish theii own stieet cie-
dentials. A few, peihaps, may have been like Ray oi Caesai. Some, like
Piimo. Many moie, no doubt, have expeiienced numeious vaiiations of
these iealities. In shoit, iaps seemingly obvious tiansgiessions cannot
be so easily exceipted fiom theii embeddedness in violent continua and
ieduced to meie content choices, coiiuptions of a foimeily puie politi-
cal engagement, oi simplistic media-causes-violence connections that
aie tenuous in the extieme. As long as it is assumed that iaps cieative
iewoikings of ciack-eia intensications should only be in the seivice of
an essentializing hip hop identity politics, then iaps moie complicated
elective anities with specic sociolegal logics and ieal-woild violence
will continually be ieduced to meie instiuments. If appioached, how-
evei, as a complex, commeicially bound social piactice whose political
commentaiies, violent tiiades, and commeicial aspiiations coexist, as
they do, even within the same album, song, oi line, then investigations of
iaps social complexities can move beyond this impiisoning fiamewoik,
and begin chaiting, in detail, how these specic logics thiead theii way
thioughout iaps vaiious expiessive media.
;a
In the next sections, I out-
line one such logicthe development of iaps confiontation with its own
commeicializationin oidei to show how ciack ist developed into an
explicit language of exploitation thiough the mid-,,os New Yoik City
iap undeigiound.
o8 Rap Puts Crack to Work
Te NYC Rap Underground
Since iaps beginnings, New Yoik City has always been its spiiitual home.
Duiing the late ,8os, though, a numbei of iegional iap scenes emeiged
acioss the United States and challenged New Yoiks dominance as the
piimaiy centei of iap music pioduction, often and iepeatedly pioduc-
ing moie commeicially successful and socially contioveisial music.
;
Te
eects of being the spiiitual home of iap, while simultaneously being
a commeicial failuie, in many ways, put much of New Yoik iap on the
defensive. And, out of this defensiveness, theie developed a stiong sense
of being undeigiound by default.
;
By the ,,os, New Yoik iap had
adopted an explicitly undeigiound ethic, which ievolved aiound open-
mic nights at well-known clubs such as the Nuyoiican, fieestyle lyii-
cal battles at the movable Lyiicist Lounge paities, on-aii peifoimances
on the Stietch and Bobbito iadio show, the ciiculation of white label
iecoids (low-budget oi undei-the-iadai iecoids put out with little fan-
faie oi identifying infoimation) by a small handful of independent iecoid
labels and aitists, and quasi-legal mixtapes by local deejays that featuied
unieleased and exclusive mateiial fiom sought-aftei aitists. In New Yoik
iaps peivasive sense of being automatically undeigiound, then, making
iap came to be seen as haid woik. New Yoik iap in the ,,os was stiessed
and angiy, which became a signicant pait of its public piesentation.
Foi all of its talk of killing and violence, Los Angelesbased gangsta iap,
instead, was specically designed to sound easy and smooth. By contiast,
New Yoik iap made eveiy attempt to sound the way the actual woik of
iap was peiceived as being. As a consequence, this ubiquitous sense of
being undeigiound-by-default gave iise to a complicated lyiical ieex-
ivity in which the music industiy came to be viewed as not only oveily
complex, but intentionally duplicitous.
Much like othei cultuial foims, undeigiound iap in ,,os New Yoik
encompassed a set of conicting beliefs all anchoied by a cential tension
between aitistic iespect and commeicial success. And those who weie a
pait of the undeigiound held to a numbei of oveilapping positions. Foi
some, the undeigiound was taken veiy seiiously and signied cleai dif-
feiences fiom what weie consideied mainstieam values and piactices.
Foi them, the iap undeigiound was similai to the do-it-youiself ethics of
punk, haidcoie, and giungee.g., a commitment to independent, aitist-
iun iecoid labels and live peifoimances.
;
Foi otheis, the undeigiound
was not so oveitly political, but was conceived as something daik, sin-
istei, uiban, below law and oidei, even postapocalyptic.
;6
Tis giimiei
aspect of the undeigiound neithei embiaced noi dismissed oveit political
engagement, iathei, it actively encouiaged a iaw, diitystieetvision of
music making and ihyme wiiting. Te undeigiound was thought of as a
pioving giound wheie the possibilities of being beatenboth lyiically and
physicallyweie ieal, people took theii woids and music seiiously, and
often believed they weie caiiying on the tiue tiadition of iaps stieet oii-
gins. Ghostface Killahs waining, foi instance, on Raekwons ,, album,
OnlyBuiltforCubanLinx, exemplies this: I dont want niggas sounding
like me on no album. . . . Foi ieal, cause Ima appioach a nigga.
;;
Teie
weie still otheis who weie pait of the undeigiound only because they
could not be pait of the mainstieam. Foi them, the undeigiound was not
necessaiily a choice, but a stopping point fiom which, it was hoped, they
would move on to mainstieam success. Tis is illustiated, foi example,
in Redmans fiustiation with mainstieam aitists on his ,, song, Basi-
cally: Why is it eveiy time that a multiplatinum aitist always uses the
undeigiound to make a comeback? Is it faii to the haidcoie niggas that
iap?that dont give a fuck about the iadio?
;8
Most signicant, howevei,
was that all of New Yoik iap was undeigiound simply because so few New
Yoik City acts weie as successful as theii West Coast iivals. Te issue of
iespect at the heait of New Yoik iap in the ,,os, theiefoie, was aiticu-
lated as an explicit piioiitizing of lyiical masteiy ovei money. Tis is pei-
haps best expiessed in a now-famous line fiom O.C.s ,, undeigiound
classic, Times Up: Id iathei be bioke and have a whole lot of iespect.
;,
Te undeigiound, thus, encompassed a numbei of dieient, often con-
icting, impulses, desiies, diives, and visions. Despite such conict, lyii-
cal skill, ingenuity, oiiginality, and deliveiy weie highly piized qualities.
Lyiicism was the oveiiiding pieiequisite foi iespect, and lyiical content
was heavily sciutinized, judged, and compaied. Out of this milieu, which
had developed a peivasive sense of being undeigiound-by-default, theie
also emeiged an explicit, oveit chionicling of iaps iapid commeicializa-
tion within lyiical content, it was a consciousness of exploitation that was
vocalized in the veiy pioducts that weie themselves being exploited. Tis
explicitness is peihaps best captuied by Nas, whose ,, album is widely
consideied to be one of the most impoitant and inuential iap iecoids of
the peiiod: Somehow the iap game ieminds me of the ciack game.
8o
As I outlined biiey in the books intioduction, much of the lyiical con-
tent that emeiged fiom this scene focused explicitly on the music indus-
tiy, ciitiquing it foi being coiiupt, unjust, and ciiminal. Like Nas, many
iappeis began diawing paiallels between the iap game and the ciack
game, juxtaposing theii own exploits in stieet ciime with the machina-
tions of industiy executives in the suites. New Yoik iap in the ,,os, and
the undeigiound aesthetic that dened it, was piedicated, in laige pait,
on a ceitain ieexive stanceon being a commodity that talked back,
as much to itself and its own tiaditions as to its exploitation by industiy
executives. Tis ieexive stance was neithei hidden noi iionic, it was, in
eveiy way, an explicitly moial stiuggle.
But what was it specically about the industiy that diew such heated
iesponse? Why such angei? Aftei all, it was the industiy that, in many
ways, had helped iap giow beyond the connes of New Yoik City. As I
chait below, this angei giew fiom the histoiy of the music business itself,
which is now peiceived by a bioad iange of aitists as being intentionally
duplicitous. In iaps conict with its own commeicialization, foimeily
esoteiic legal aiiangementsthat, until then, had been undeistood only
by veiy fewweie openly and lyiically castigated.
Te Industry
Much of iaps angei at the music industiy ievolved aiound a numbei of
inteiielated issues, all of which can be encapsulated in two key impeia-
tives: Own youi masteis, and nevei give up youi publishing.
8
Tese
impeiatives iepiesent two piimaiy, and complicated, stieams of ievenue
in the industiy, both of which aie dependent upon a two-pionged sys-
tem of owneiship: the compositions undeilying all songs and the mas-
tei iecoidings of them.
8a
Fiist, music publishing is often seen as the eso-
teiic key to making money in the industiy, and, since music publishing
staited as the piinting of sheet music, it developedlike book publish-
ingaftei Gutenbeig invented the piinting piess in the oos. Because of
its giounding in the distiibution of piint, music publishing is also undei-
giided by copyiight law, the global intellectual piopeity infiastiuctuie
undeilying the owneiship of books.
8
Put simply, copyiight is the iight to make and distiibute copies of aitis-
tic woiks xed in any medium. Although countiies have dieient philo-
sophical notions behind theii iespective copyiight tiaditions, cuiiently
because of inteinational tieaties and tiade agieementsmost countiies
aie fai moie alike than they aie dieient in theii piactical tieatment of
Rap Puts Crack to Work ,:
copyiight policy. In the Fiench tiadition, foi instance, aitistic woiks aie
consideied extensions of the cieatois peisonality. Tese moial iights
droit noraleaie believed to inheie in each and eveiy cieation. In the
Ameiican tiadition, the moial iights of cieatois end wheie the iights of
the copyiight owneis begin.
All copyiight iegimes, howevei, make two impoitant distinctions.
Fiist, theie aie authois and theie aie owneis, and the two do not have
to be the same peison. It is the owneiship of authoiings that foims the
mateiial base of copyiight law.
8
Just as the owneiship of tangible assets
allows owneis to ieap piots fiom exchanging such possessions, so, too,
with the owneiship of intangible assets. Second, owneis only own the
expiessions of ideas, not the ideas themselves. Once an idea is xed
in a medium of expiession (e.g., papei, canvas, magnetic tape, and, now,
digital code), then that specic xation becomes copyiightable. In othei
woids, without a way to pievent otheis fiom making copies of a woik
I own, I cannot contiol its distiibution and subsequent consumption.
8

And, in fact, this seemingly cleai sepaiation between those who own and
those who authoi is often a key ashpoint in iaps conict with its own
commeicialization.
While populai opinion often ieects a belief that the inteiests of cie-
atois lie at its heait, eaily copyiight law actually developed ist as gov-
einment-gianted monopolies given to piinting companiespublish-
eisin oidei to pievent otheis fiom making copies of piinted woik. In
ietuin, goveinments weie able to geneiate additional ievenue, and, since
all woiks had to be iegisteied in the publisheis iecoids, they weie also
able to exeicise a ceitain amount of contiol ovei the content of what was
piinted, theieby censoiing, and often ciiminalizing, mateiial believed to
be dangeious politically and moially. In oidei to enfoice these aiiange-
ments, some publishing companies weie allowed to have theii own police
foices, and many people weie jailed foi blasphemous, seditious, and
obscene libel.
86
While the Biitish Statute of Anne in ;o ocially gave
these iights to authoisthe cieatois of the published woiksiathei
than to publisheis, authois often signed these iights away in oidei to
enjoy the widei distiibution that publisheis could piovide. And, as we
shall see, it is piecisely this element of signing awayand the unintended
consequences of doing sothat lies at the heait of iaps angei at the music
industiy.
8;
Eaily music publisheis, then, weie in the business of piinting and cii-
culating sheet music, and, until the late nineteenth centuiy, dealt only in
,: Rap Puts Crack to Work
the music of seiious composeis such as Beethoven and Mozait. But,
with the incieasing populai success of guies such as Johann Stiauss in
Vienna, Gilbeit and Sullivan in England, and Puccini in Italy, sheet music
iegulaily began to sell ovei a million copies pei composition oi song.
Duiing this time in the United States, Tin Pan Alleyan aiea in Man-
hattan named foi the sounds of aspiiing songwiiteis plinking out hope-
ful hits on pianosbecame home to laige music publishing houses.
88
Tin
Pan Alley, in many ways, maiks the beginnings of the music industiy as
it is both undeistood and piacticed today since most of its activities weie
focused on one piimaiy goal: cieating and publicizing the next hit song.
Songs weie wiitten, piomoted by being played live in piint music stoies,
bought, sold, and given fiee to famous vaudeville peifoimeis in the hopes
of fuithei populaiity. Tis one piimaiy goal was made possible by the sys-
tem of copyiight that gave the owneis of compositions the sole iight to
piot fiom them. And, moie often than not, it was the laigei publisheis
who beneted most, as they could aoid to buy the iights to songs enjoy-
ing local success in the hopes of even widei populaiity. It was not until the
,aos, howevei, that the music businessa system in which money fiom
copyiighted songs was geneiated fiom the sale of sheet musicbecame
the iecoid business, aftei Tomas Edisons ist sound iecoiding in the
8;os stimulated the giowth of mass-pioduced sounds. Te development
of talkie motion pictuies also expanded the pioduction, distiibution,
and consumption of music since it was an integial pait of the new foim.
Tese technological changes allowed foi the second kind of owneiship:
the mastei iecoidings of songs. While sheet music allowed foi the dis-
tiibution of undeilying compositions, mastei iecoidings allowed foi
the distiibution of those compositions as they weie iecoided by specic
aitists. Tus, the modein music industiy was boin.
While technological changes weie, quite liteially, instiumental in
expanding the music industiy as we now know it, the undeilying sys-
tem of collecting money fiom the ciiculation of owned songs iemained,
although not completely unchanged, the bediock of the business. Con-
sequently, music publishingand, in tuin, the heait of the music busi-
ness itselfis not technology dependent: copyiight owneis make money
iegaidless of how theii songs get to an audience. In the modein music
industiy, theiefoie, theie aie a numbei of dieient stieams of ievenue,
depending upon the vaiious entities pioximity to both the copyiights and
the mastei iecoidings of copyiighted songs. Teie aie, then, two key ioles
played by talent: those who wiite and those who peifoim, eithei live oi on
iecoid. In addition, theie aie two key ioles played by management: those
who publicize songs, and those who allow foi iecoidings to be made. Te
modein music industiy, thus, ievolves aiound a few key playeis (as well
as the lawyeis, manageis, and publicists who opeiate among them): song-
wiiteis, peifoiming aitists, publisheis, and iecoid companies.
8,
Songwiiteis wiite the songs, publisheis piomote those songs to pei-
foimeis in exchange foi a laige piece of the songwiiteis copyiights,
peifoimeis pay the copyiight owneis in exchange foi the iight to pei-
foim the songs, iecoid labels advance money to peifoimeis, now called
iecoiding aitists, and maiket and piomote the iecoidings of those copy-
iighted songs. And fiom these ielationships, two main stieams of iev-
enue aie cieated. Te sale of unitsmusic xed in physical foims such
as compact discsgeneiates what aie called mechanical ioyalties.
,o
All
mechanical ioyalties aie ist collected by iecoid labels who then pay both
the publishing company and the iecoiding aitist. Unless negotiated dif-
feiently, publisheis aie paid a statutoiy iate, deiived fiom the Consumei
Piice Index and announced by Congiess, foi each song used. Publisheis
then pay the songwiiteis, whose shaie is set in an agieement with the
publishei. Depending upon theii contiacts, iecoiding aitists aie usually
paid aiound peicent of the SLRPthe suggested list ietail piice of each
unit (pionounced sluip). Fiom this total, a numbei of deductions aie
made, including, among othei things, the amount of the aitists oiiginal
advance. Te aitists keep whatevei is left. Because iecoid label deduc-
tions aie so notoiiously dicult to undeistand, many aitists aie unawaie
of just how much theii ioyalties will be impacted by them. Many aitists,
in fact, see few if any mechanical ioyalties, many moie actually wind up
owing theii iecoid companies foi what aie called uniecouped expenses.
Peifoimance ioyalties, on the othei hand, aie paid only to copy-
iight holdeis and not to aitists. Peifoiming iights oiganizations such
as ASCAP, the Ameiican Society of Composeis, Aitists, and Peifoim-
eis, iequiie public venues to pay blanket license fees foi the use of theii
song catalogues. Tey also tiack the aiiplay of theii iegisteied songs.
Aftei deducting theii own opeiating expenses, peifoiming iights oiga-
nizations then pay publisheis and songwiiteis. Te aiiangements among
these playeis, howevei, aie handled individually, and aie enshiined in the
iecoiding contiact, the holy giail foi many young, hungiy aitists, and
the site of some of the woist foims of exploitation. Peihaps the most di-
cult element of these contiactual aiiangements is that theie aie no boilei
plate deals in the music industiy guaianteeing any of them. While the
,; Rap Puts Crack to Work
music business, like most businesses, is complex, it is the natuie of the
iecoiding contiact that makes the industiy seem so dieient fiom otheis.
Te ciux of this dieience lies in the length of the iecoiding contiact,
which is, most often, based on numbeis of albums, not yeais. Hence, a
six-album deal with a million dollai advance may sound nice, but, in
ieality, the stakes aie quite high.
,
Take the million-dollai advance. Recoid
companies will advance aitists a sum of money to covei the iecoiding
costs of the iecoid, which, among othei things, includes studio time, pio-
ducei salaiies, as well as any guest peifoimeis. Te advance is simply a
loan that the aitist must pay back befoie seeing any of the ioyalties genei-
ated by the albums sales. Now, take the six-album deal. In the woids of
one industiy self-help guiu, Of all the inequities in the iecoiding con-
tiact, the veiy woist, in my opinion, is the labels total lack of commit-
ment as to how long youi actual engagement will last.... Most contiacts
these days span a nebulous length of time that... keeps going until the
label says theyie no longei inteiested.
,a
In tiuth, a six-album deal may
mean the aitists entiie caieei. Fiist, most albums take months simply
to iecoid. Second, the aitist must then delivei the nished album to the
iecoid company. If, howevei, the label does not nd the album to be com-
meicially viable, it may send the aitist back to the studio to iecoid moie
songs. In addition, even if the label executives like the album, they then
must decide when to ielease it in oidei not to inteifeie with any cuiient
piojects. Many times, the ielease dateeven foi nished, commeicially
viable albumsmay be pushed back indenitely, until the pioduct is no
longei consideied a woithwhile commodity and is shelved. While many
businesses aie complex, the iecoid business is one of the few in which
its employees can be bound to theii employeis foi unspecied peiiods of
time with little iecouise othei than to buy back theii contiacts, which can
be piohibitively expensive.
Many contiacts also stipulate that the mastei iecoidings of the albums
songs will iemain in the labels possession even aftei an aitist leaves its
employ. Possession of the masteis, theiefoie, allows the label to continue
selling copies made fiom it in as many foims as possible. Foi most ait-
ists, then, giving up theii iights to the masteis signies a ielinquishing
of futuie piot, a loss of contiol ovei theii woik, as well as the emotional
pain of losing access to something they have spent yeais cieating. In
eect, aitists may be shelved while simultaneously being denied access
to the veiy cieations that lie unused on the shelf. If shelved, aitists can
neithei woik noi leave, but iemain in a state of suspended contraction.
Tis suspension is expeiienced as deeply painful piecisely because it
suspends the woiking lives of aitists, keeping what they have pioduced
undei lock while pieventing them fiom pioducing anything else. Foi this
ieason, unfaii contiacts in the music industiy hold the possibility of sus-
pending the woiking lives of aitists indenitely thiough one ill-foimed
decision.
Because of these peiceived inequities, since the late ,,os, lobbying
gioups such as the Recoiding Aitists Coalition have helped piomote a
public vision of the music industiy in which nave aitists aie used and
exploited by iecoid label executives. Foi example, speaiheaded piimai-
ily by iock and pop stais such as Don Henley, Couitney Love, and the
Dixie Chicks, what came to be called the aitists iights movement and
the new music activism by musicians, jouinalists, and industiy folk dui-
ing the eaily aooos made waves in the business, gaineiing suppoit fiom
a numbei of poweiful gioups such as the Ameiican Fedeiation of Laboi
Congiess of Industiial Oiganizations (AFL-CIO) and the Ameiican Fed-
eiation of Television and Radio Aitists (AFTRA), as well as fiom govein-
ment ocials and lawmakeis.
,
Teie have been goveinment-sponsoied
heaiings on iecoid-label accounting piactices and contiact lengths,
and aitists have become vocal about such issues in the populai media.
Tese activist aitists have iepeatedly iefeiied to the music industiy as a
plantation system akin to indentuied seivitude and slaveiy. As musi-
cian Steve Albini has wiitten in a famous piece called Te Pioblem with
Music:
WheneveiItalktoabandwhoaieabouttosignwithamajoilabel,
I always end up thinking of them in a paiticulai context. I imagine
a tiench, about foui feet wide and ve feet deep, maybe sixty yaids
long, lled with iunny, decaying shit. . . . I also imagine a faceless
industiy lackey at the othei end holding a fountain pen and a con-
tiactwaitingtobesigned.
,(
Faceless industiy lackeys holding contiacts peihaps best captuies the nega-
tive image that many now hold of the music industiy. Singei-songwiitei
Tom Waits, foi example, has claimed that the iecoid companies aie like
caitels, like countiies foi Gods sake.... Its a nightmaie to be tiapped in
one. Im on a good label now thats not pait of the plantation system. But all
the old iecoids I did foi Island [Recoids] have been swallowed up and spit
out in whatevei foim they choose.
,
Waits goes on to say that [t]hese coi-
poiations dont have feelings, and they dont see themselves as the stewaids
of the woik.... Most people aie so anxious to iecoid, theyll sign anything.
Its like going acioss the iivei on the back of an alligatoi.
,6
Echoing a similai
sentiment about the facelessness, deceitfulness, and geneial iuthlessness
of the coipoiate basis of the music industiy, Don Henley has claimed that
newei aitists dont want to iock the boat since many aie still staiiy-eyed
idealists and havent been aiound long enough to be mistieated, and that
othei aitists simply dont undeistand the issues oi aie too self-absoibed.
He goes on to claim that even the midlevel people who love music have
to maich in lockstep with coipoiate policy.
,;
Foi many aitists, established
and aspiiing, the workofnusic, then, ievolves aiound two key ashpoints:
conplexity and duplicity. Te duplicity lies in biinging nave aitists into a
situation of complexity in which they often have little knowledge, and then
tying them to one ill-foimed decision, possibly suspending theii pioductive
potential indenitely.
In fact, this notion of duplicity lies at the heait of legal scholai Susan
Shapiios famous iefoimulation of Edwin Sutheilands classic denition of
white-collai ciime: in Shapiios woids, Te violation and manipulation
of the noims of tiustof disclosuie, disinteiestedness, and iole compe-
tenceiepiesent the modus opeiandi of white-collai ciime.
,8
Sutheiland
made ciiminological histoiy in the ,os with his oiiginal denitiona
ciime committed by a peison of iespectability and high social status in
the couise of his occupation.
,,
In ieoiienting the denition away fiom
the status-based ciiteiion at its coie, Shapiio aimed to libeiate the
potentially poweiful concept fiom the impiisoning fiamewoik that
a status-based ciiteiion, in hei aigument, had imposed.
oo
Foi Shapiio,
a status-based denition ieects a moialistic focus on who should be
blamed foi white-collai ciime at the expense of explaining how such
ciimes actually opeiate. All white-collai ciime, in hei foimulation, shaies
one piimaiy element: duplicity. In Shapiios woids, white collai iobbeis
become condence men, women, and oiganizations and induce victims
to pait with theii money oi piopeity with lies, misiepiesentations and
deceptions iathei than with biute foice.
o
Tese white-collai iobbeis,
whom Shapiio calls agents, have a monopoly on infoimation that theii
victims, whom she calls piincipals, cannot veiify because they lack the
iequiied knowledge and expeitise. Relationships between white-collai
agents and theii piincipals, in othei woids, aie asynnetrical.
Tis asymmetiicality was also famously outlined by legal theoiist Maic
Galantei while analyzing the eects of people and oiganizations on legal
iules.
oa
Galantei classied legal actois into two ideal types: iepeat play-
eis, who aie mainly oiganizations that specialize in ceitain kinds of liti-
gation ovei time, and one-shotteis, who have only occasional iecouise
to the couits.
o
Ultimately, accoiding to Galantei, the iepeat playeis
because of gieatei iesouices and oiganizationaie ieally the haves of
the system, and its uniefoimed chaiactei is able to uphold the ideals of
faiiness and equality while, at the same time, accommodating inequality.
Foi Galantei, the only way one-shotteis can hope to iedistiibute the bal-
ance of legal powei is to oiganize and consolidate among themselves.
At bottom, the pain aiticulated by so many aitists ieects the out-
buists of iandom one-shotteis expeiiencing humiliation at the hands of
an asymmetiical business stiuctuie cieated and maintained by iepeat
playeis who iegulaily induce aitists to pait with theii money oi piop-
eity with lies, misiepiesentations and deceptions iathei than with biute
foice. Te pain felt by aitists, theiefoie, is so often aiticulated in emo-
tional language piecisely because theii musical cieations aie both com-
meicial pioducts and iepositoiies of emotional meaning, often iepie-
senting yeais of haid physical woik as well as intangible cieative laboi.
Recall Tom Waits, foi example, who stated that it was a nightmaie to be
tiapped in the plantationlike system of the music industiy. Such emo-
tionality suggests fai moie than a simple loss of piopeity, and, instead,
signies a nunber of overlapping betrayals that coalesce to suspend the
woiking life of aitists and pievent access to the pioducts of theii own
laboi.
In iaps ieexive stance towaid its own commeicialization, then, these
emotional outbuists have taken on collective piopeities with specic
guiding logics. In equating the iap game with the ciack game, iap aitists
have developed a language of exploitation that unites piomises of violent
ietaliationwhich I exploie in moie detail in chapteis and 6with a
moial ievulsion at the bieaking of implied tiust by the iepeat playeis of
the music industiy. In this way, the metaphoi of ciack in iaps confion-
tation with its own commeicialization has become a giammai of social
analysis that fundamentally conceins the possibility of fashioningby
foice if necessaiypioductive lives in the midst of social instability.
Many of iaps ietaliatoiy piomises, as we shall see, ievolve aiound eoits
to biing the iegulatoiy methods of one businessciack dealingto beai
on the asymmetiical natuie of anothei in oidei to iebalance the distiibu-
tion of powei, and negate the music industiys humiliating eects. Ciack,
hence, iepiesents a method of violentredress, as well as a system of busi-
,8 Rap Puts Crack to Work
nessregulation that eschews the legalistic methods of the Recoiding Ait-
ists Coalition, and, instead, shoots fiom and at the gut.
In iaps conict with its own commeicialization, ciack seives as a
biidge connecting a white-collai industiy piedicated on a violence of sus-
pension, and a stieet industiy whose woik is iegulated by the evei-pies-
ent thieat of lethality. Much of iaps violent content, theiefoie, iepiesents
neithei the simple cieations of violent oveisexed gangstas, the politi-
cal yeainings of a iesistant subcultuie, noi the meie ieections of social
conditions. Instead, in equating the iap game with the ciack game, iap
aitists have indicted theseeninginseparabilityofworkandviolencethe
humiliating, faceless violence of an industiy whose iuthless complexity
has a centuiies-long histoiy, and the iuthlessness of the stieet in which
violence itself has become a means of pioduction. And it is to the emo-
tional impact of that insepaiability that I tuin in the next chaptei, analyz-
ing the specic ways in which iap aitists have accounted foi the lethality
of the ciack eia.
,,

Tings Done Changed

Te Rise of New School Violence
I can see theres no place to run.
MastaAce,AWalkTiutheValley,Slaughtahouse,r,,a
I
n iecent yeais, a numbei of local goveinments acioss the United States
have tiied to outlaw what many have taken to be signs of moial decay
in the nations young: baggy pants. Te theoiy is that the style began
in piisonswheie, as a suicide-pievention measuie, inmates aie often
not allowed to have beltsand then spiead to the mainstieam thiough
the oveisized clothing styles made famous by numeious iap stais. While
some of the penalties in these new laws include nes, otheis include jail
time. Te ieasoning behind these attemptssome of which have passed,
while otheis have failedis often quite cleai: Hopefully, as one Loui-
siana iepiesentative pioeis, if we can pull up theii pants, we can lift
theii minds while weie at it.
Tis assumed ielationship between youth,

intelligence, and moial decline can also be seen in the following quo-
tation fiom a Floiida city commissionei: If you ask six of these kids,
What aie youi giades? foui will tell you theyie making Cs, Ds, and
Fs.
a
Oi, as one New Yoik state senatois campaign slogan ieads, Raise
youi pants, iaise youi image!
While aimed at saving such sagging youth

fiom the peiils implied by the state of theii tiouseis, these goals mask
a deepei feai: in the woids of one foimei New Yoik police captain, I
policed all ovei the city.... Te ist indicatoi of whethei a young pei-
son was in tiouble was the way they diessed.
Such eoits, howevei

pioblematic they may sound to some, aie based on a veiy old kind of
ieasoning about the connections between moiality and the young. In the
8o Tings Done Changed
pievious chapteis, I suggested that the seemingly simple iap gameciack
game equation belies a tiemendous amount of social complexity and
emotional pain, ieecting a moial outiage that develops fiom a multifac-
eted sense of social betiayal. All too often, howevei, these moial tians-
foimations aie inteipietedas the above examples suggestas all-oi-
nothing aaiis in which youth, especially, face a zeio-sum game: moiality
is eithei piesent oi absent, lost oi given. In this chaptei, I pioblematize
the notion that iaps ciack-infused lyiics iepiesent moial loss. Instead, by
chaiting the piofoundly moial debate at the heait of what many would
take as examples of the woist kinds of sensationalist supeipiedation, I
show how iap cieatively iewoiks one of the ciack eias most devastating
tiansfoimations: the iise of a new moial oidei in which maiket ielations
supplanted cultuially bound ones. Tis moial tiansfoimation has been
expeiienced as both powei and loss by the young people iaised in it and
ieects theii adaptations to the social disiuptions of coeicive mobility
and dispiopoitionate punishment.
Youth in Trouble
Indeed, the peiils faced by the youngand the peiils they then poitend
foi ushave long been a cential concein of modein industiial society.
Some of the moie piominent examples aie often found in populai cul-
tuie. Chailes Dickenss visions of Victoiian London in which oiphans and
iunaways vie foi sciaps in the stieets aie peihaps the most famous. But
moie iecent illustiations abound. In television, foi instance, the aoo6 sea-
son of HBOs TeWireciitically acclaimed foi its evenhanded, in-depth
chionicling of the diug wai in Baltimoie, Maiylandfollows thiee young
fiiends whose adolescent lives split into painful tiacks of violence, addic-
tion, and family collapse. Te season shows the helplessness even the
most motivated mentois often expeiience when facing the oveiwhelm-
ingly disiuptive foices at woik in such enviionments. In cinema, Fiancois
Tiuauts ,ooBlows iemains a classic poitiait of tioubled youth, and its
last scenein which the young piotagonist escapes an abusive juvenile
justice system only to come up against the vast expanse of an ocean
is a bleak iepiesentation of the no way out piedicament that youth so
often seem to face. Similaily haunting, and no less impiessive, Miia Naiis
Salaan Bonbay follows the diculties faced by youth on the stieets of
Bombay and in the Indian juvenile justice system. And, even moie iecent,
Tings Done Changed 8:
Central Station, Tsotsi, and City of God have all oeied Ameiican audi-
ences iaie glimpses, howevei mediated, into the inteinational visions of
youth in tiouble.
But in the United States, peihaps the most piominent example of feais
suiiounding the woilds that youth must cieate foi themselves is William
Goldings , novel, Lord of the Flies, which, although Biitish, has been
standaid ieading in many Ameiican high schools. In it, a gioup of young
boys, stianded on an island with no adults, wind up cieating a small soci-
ety of evei-incieasing, muideious biutality. To be suie, the examples above
aie not all cut fiom the same cloth. Some, cleaily, aie bleakei than oth-
eis. Some aie explicitly about ciime, while otheis aie not. But undeilying
them all is fundamental concein: that the woilds cieated by the youngas
well as the woilds they aie often foiced to inhabitaie at odds with adult
moiality, suggesting that adults will no longei have a place once moiality
is lost and iefashioned. Not only can youth cieate woilds foi themselves,
but, most distuibing foi many, the young might veiy well cieate woilds
and, with them, new moial oideisthat will be fai moie iuthless than
those cieated by adults, and might tuin out to be, to boiiow a phiase fiom
chaptei a, pitilessly savage. Te implicit logic of the feais suiiounding the
moial oideis cieated by the young, howevei, holds that we have the iight
moial code, and that it is always in dangei of being lost.
As legal histoiian Lawience Fiiedman has shown, the development of
the juvenile justice system in the United States duiing the 8oos was, in
many ways, based on feais of the youngei geneiations potential to lose
oi destioy the moial codes of its paients.
Eaily juvenile justice was based

on the explicitly pateinalistic common-law tiadition of parens patriae, in
which the state was to take ovei as paient if the welfaie of the child was
in dangei.
6
Tis feai of moial loss, as Fiiedman iecounts, can be seen in
the fact that, in the eaily yeais of the system, most youth weie biought to
the couits by theii paients, not by the police. In othei woids, some paients
used the couits, as a club ovei iebellious childien. It was a weapon in a cul-
tuie clasha clash of geneiations, especially between old woild paients, at
sea in Ameiica, confused about values.
;
While intended, in many iespects,
to piovide a safe haven away fiom the haishei punishments of the adult sys-
tem, eaily juvenile justice came to iely on a stiange piactice: it placed those
youth actually found guilty of a ciiminal oense with those youth who weie
not chaiged with a ciime, but weie simply pooi. In Fiiedmans woids, it
lumped bad and bad-o childien togethei.
8
Te system, then, was ani-
mated by causal beliefs conceining the evei-piesent potential foi ciime that
8: Tings Done Changed
youth in poveity iepiesented. And, peihaps not coincidentally, the giowth
of juvenile justice also coincided with eaily ciiminological theoiies that, as
ciiminologist Nicole Raftei has shown, weie united in a concein with the
ciiminals pooi intelligence.
,
Tis concein, she aigued, foimed the biidge
between ciiminal anthiopologywhich famously claimed that ciiminals
weie evolutionaiy thiowbacksand its successoi, defective delinquency
theoiy, which identied ciiminality with feeble-mindedness.
o
Ciime,
hence, lay coiled in waiting, and its evei-piesent potential could be iead in
the outwaid signs of skulls, body shapes, IQ scoies, and, most impoitant
foi this discussion, the actions and styles of the young.
Tis piactice of putting the guilty with the potentially guiltywhich
stemmed fiom the feai of moial loss as well as the uige to piotect youth
fiom that potentialled to the cieation of a system that was explicitly
designed to shield youth fiom the pains of adult punishment, but, paia-
doxically, came to expose them to fai gieatei punishment. Often called
net widening, this unintended consequence of cieating moie punish-
ment thiough eoits to cieate less eventually spuiied many to aoid
moie due piocess iights to those caught up in the juvenile justice piocess.
Essentially, the histoiy of juvenile justice showed that saving the chil-
dien ieally meant punishing them foi ciimes they had not yet committed
but one day might. It ieected a peivasive feai that a loss of contiol ovei
the youngs moial development would mean a total loss of moiality itself,
a situation that is indenitely, always on the hoiizon. It is a widespiead
feai that the next geneiation will be missing an essential component of
full humanity and peisonhood. Te potential, that is, seems diie, and
iequiies immediate and seiious measuies such as punishment to pievent.
Tis evei-piesent, almost-heie moial loss that has chaiacteiized the
tieatment of youthand that iequiies the equally stiong foice of pun-
ishment to counteiact italso chaiacteiizes the tieatment of ciack,
which, as I showed in chaptei a, was oiiginally peiceived as just such a
haibingei of moial and social decay. And this is piecisely what the paia-
dox of inpure purity suggesteda diug so simple that its dangei lay in
the fact of its appaient nondangei. Ciack, although less dangeious than
fieebase, and inheiently less puie than powdei, was thieatening pii-
maiily thiough potential and possibility. It is no coincidence, then, that
ciiminologist John DiIulios famous aiticle, Te Coming of the Supei-
Piedatois, appeaied in ,,, just aftei the peak of ciack-eia violence, and
standsand will stand peihaps foieveias the most apocalyptic account
of potentially dangeious, moially lost youth to date.
Tings Done Changed 8,

DiIulio had become conceined about a new bieed of iuthless youth on
the hoiizonevei-giowing numbeis of haidened, iemoiseless juveniles
who weie showing up in the systemand pionounced that Ameiicans
aie sitting atop a demogiaphic ciime bomb. He was conceined about
elementaiy school youngsteis who pack guns instead of lunches, kids
who have no iespect foi human life and no sense of the futuie. Desciib-
ing his own ieseaich in juvenile facilities, he claimed to encountei an
evei-piesent buzz of impulsive violence and was fiightened by young
people with vacant staies and smiles and iemoiseless eyes. DiIulio,
thus, peifected the connection between youth and moial decline, calling
his insights the theoiy of moial poveity: Moial poveity is the poveity
of being without loving, capable, iesponsible adults who teach you iight
fiom wiong.
a
Foi DiIulio, Moial poveity begets juvenile supei-pieda-
tois who live by the meanest code of the meanest stieets, which iein-
foices iathei than iestiains theii violent, haii-tiiggei mentality.
Given that iates of juvenile violencelike all violence iateshave
been steadily declining since the ,,os, this kind of ihetoiic might seem
at least outdated if not outiageous. Tis emphasis on moial poveity in
the making of supeipiedatois, howevei, is veiy much alive and well. Te
baggy pants laws with which this chaptei began aie simply its newest,
seemingly tiivialized manifestation. Indeed, this kind of ieasoning was
evident in comedian Bill Cosbys speech duiing the ftieth anniveisaiy of
the Brownv.BoardofEducation decision, in which he iailed against the
lowei economic and lowei middle economic people who weie not, in
his woids holding up theii end of the deal.
He exclaimed that people

with theii hat on backwaids, pants down aiound the ciack must be a
sign of something, and that, fundamentally, it signaled that people had
foigotten how to paient, with piofoundly negative iesults. Looking at
the incaiceiated, Cosby claimed, these aie not political ciiminals. Tese
aie people going aiound stealing Coca Cola. People getting shot in the
back of the head ovei a piece of pound cake!
And it was Cosbys supposed pulling of a geneiational ie alaim that
has inspiied jouinalist Juan Williams to place highest blame on bad pai-
enting, diug dealeis, hate-lled iap music and failing schools.
Williams
has aigued that alaiming diopout iates, shocking numbeis of childien
boin to single motheis and a fiightening acceptance of ciiminal behav-
ioi... has too many black people lling up the jails.
Foi both Cosby and

Williams, iap signies little moie than a self-destiuctive message being
beamed into young, vulneiable black biains.
6
8; Tings Done Changed
Tus, fiom Victoiian London to the favelas of Biazil, fiom academic
ciiminology to fiustiated jouinalists and enteitaineis, feais about the
evei-piesent potential foi moial decay maik public debate at eveiy tuin.
And, foi many, it is piecisely iaps focus on ciack that iepiesents moial
loss pai excellence. Tis moial tiansfoimation, I contend, can be seen
most poweifully in the Notoiious B.I.G.s song, Tings Done Changed,
which suggests that moiality is nevei an all-oi-nothing aaii, even in the
most muideious ciicumstances, and that the young people who adapted
to the social disiuptions of the ciack eia left theii own accounts of how
violently painful those adaptations have been.
;
Tings Done Changed
Te still unsolved muideis of the Notoiious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakui
iemain two of the most impoitant events in iaps histoiy. Teii muideis
piovide fundamental events aiound which cuiient aitists oiient theii
own caieeis, and iemain ciucial to the ways in which the iap industiy is
conceived of by both fans and insideis. In fact, the entiie industiy can be
consideied a postmuidei enviionment. Biggie and Tupac aie exemplaiy
guies as they iepiesent the possibility of success, they aie also caution-
aiy guies as they illustiate the seveie stakes that aie always at play in the
iap industiy. Teii conict, accoiding to jouinalist Kevin Powell, maiks
the point at which the iap industiy as a whole took this violent tuin that
hadnt been seen befoie.
8
While Tupacs muidei was deeply tiaumatic
foi many, it was not necessaiily a suipiise. Tupacs neai misses with death
had alieady become the stu of legend by the time he was killed. Aftei
being shot ve times, acquitted foi shooting two o-duty police oceis,
and sentenced to piison foi sexual abuse, Tupac achieved a level of stieet
ciedibility that fai outstiipped many iappeis lyiical embellishments. Foi
many, his own violent death seemed only a mattei of time. As the epitaph
above a famous muial aftei his death iead, live by the gun, die by the
gun.
But Biggies muidei, almost a yeai aftei Tupacs, and undei similai cii-
cumstances that aie still uniesolved, seemed to solidify this new violent
tuin in hip hop. Biggies album titles also suggested an eeiie piescience
conceining his own fate. Aftei all, his ,, debut album was called Ready
toDie. And it is Tings Done Changed, the ist song on ReadytoDie,
that anchois this chaptei, focusing, as it does, on one fundamental issue:
the emeigence of a new kind of ciack-eia, homicidal iuthlessness in the
innei city that, in many ways, seems to undeiline DiIulios desciiption
of juvenile supeipiedatois. Te song illustiates the association between
ciack and youth violence and is a key in desciibing the tiansfoimation
discussed in chaptei aof cultuially bound violence into a new, entiepie-
neuiial, and fai moie unstable foim.
Te ve-minute naiiative intioduction staits with the sounds of Big-
gies mothei giving biith, and follows his life as he goes thiough vaiious
stages of stieet-induced stiess. Te intioduction ends with a guaid say-
ing you niggeis always come back ovei the sounds of clanging piison
bais. Biggie iesponds contemptuously, ietoiting that hell nevei be seen
in piison again since hes got plans, big plans.
Biggie begins the song with a question, asking his listeneis to iecall a
time in the not-so-distant past in which neighboihood camaiadeiie, old
haii styles, and, most signicant, childiens games dominated the scene.
People back then woie waves and coin biaids, while kids pitched pen-
nies and played skelly. As he puts it, eveiybody was all fiiendly. Tis
old school fiiendliness is fuithei emphasized by his depiction of com-
munity cohesion in the next line, which iecounts lounging young men,
whowhile still being membeis of local ciewsspent much of theii
time just hanging out on the avenues. To be suie, Biggie suggests an
exaggeiated degiee of camaiadeiie, but his desciiptions of ielaxed fiiends
and childhood games seive to undeiscoie a sense of innocence that,
impoitantly, sets up what follows. In ,,, Biggie states bluntly, these
same ciews aie now getting smoked. Te next lines go on to delineate
how the ,,os maik a piofound tiansfoimation in the natuie of violence
itself. Emphasizing the speed, biutality, and seeming impatience of vio-
lence in this new age, Biggie wains that talking slick will get youi thioat
slit since tiue stieet hustleis dont play that shit. Te juxtaposition is
cleai: in this new eia, things happen fastei and aie moie biutal. Teie is
no mediation oi aigumentation, only violence. People no longei lounge
on the avenues, and the childien aie no longei pitching pennies on the
sidewalk. In the ciack eia, violence happens fast and is intended to be
nal. His iefeience to childhood games has an unmistakable point: peo-
ple dont play anymoie. Te antes have cleaily been upped, and things aie
dieient.
Inteiestingly, the next lines of Tings Done Changed seem to ieect
DiIulios supeipiedatois exactly, illustiating a ceitain glee in this new-
found lethality. In this new lethal age, instead of lounging on the avenues,
8o Tings Done Changed
Biggie and his fiiends would iathei hold guns foi fun, smoke weed in
building hallways, and play ciaps all day. Tey also wait foi old school
ciews to stait ghting so they can pieempt theii outdated attempts by
lighting them up with gunie. And, impoitantly, the ist veise ends in
a cleai waining: step away with those old school ways, things done
changed.
Biggie, thus, suggests that new ways of being violent in the ciack eia
fundamentally depend on a change fiom stghting to gunplay. Only stu-
pid motheifuckeis iely on hand-to-hand combat oi, even woise, kung
fu. To illustiate, Big iecounts a ght in which one of the men tiied to
sciap and wound up with holes in his back, suggesting the mans feai-
fulness in iunning away as well as the iuthlessness of his opponent who
shot him iegaidless. Biggies iefeiences to stghting and maitial aits
iecall oldei tiaditions of violence that no longei apply, as well as ghting
styles that involve discipline and tiaining iathei than wild gunning. Te
old ways, that is, aie too complex, in this new age, things need to be kept
simple and deadly. Te moie hectic and ieal things get, the moie simple
and lethal people need to be.
,
Simplicity and lethality go hand in hand,
and, in a battle between simplicity and complexity, the moie lethal wins.
Tings Done Changed, then, cleaily iesembles a ceitain supeipieda-
toi vision of neighboihood life in the wake of the ciack eia. It also sug-
gests the violent glee of a new geneiations iise to powei. Take, foi exam-
ple, the last line of the second veise in which Biggie asks the listenei to
considei oui paients, whoin contiast to oui childhoods when they
piotected usaie now fucking scaied of us. Tis appaient iise to powei,
though, is fundamentally piemised on the symbolic impoitance of one
piimaiy element in new ways of being violent: the gun.
Te Gun
Te symbolic impoitance of the gun has a long histoiy in Ameiica, espe-
cially in populai cultuie: the classic six-shot, single-action ievolveis of
the wild West, the compact snub-nosed ievolveis caiiied by haid-boiled
detectives in noir lms, Piohibition-eia tommy guns, as well as the M-6s
and M-6os shot one-handed by action stais in the ,8os. Guns aie also
both piaised and ieviled in public discouise, with some believing they aie
the piimaiy causes of Ameiicas high homicide iates, and otheis believing
gun owneiship is a fundamental fieedom guaianteeing self-defense. Te
piimacy of guns in Biggies account of violent tiansfoimations duiing the
ciack eia, then, can peihaps be iead as anothei example of iappeis being
oveily sensationalistic, diamatic, oi, as is often suggested, simply nihil-
istic. Ceitainly, just as the movie Scarface has piovided iappeis with a
ieady-made model of gangstei heioism, the gun piovides an easy way to
be gangsta. Such seemingly easy inteipietations, howevei, neglect the
piofound moial dimensions that accompany the guns iole in the iise of a
new geneiation.
And, in fact, these moial dimensions of the gun have been examined
by a numbei of wiiteis thioughout the yeais. Employing in-depth intei-
views with incaiceiated juvenile oendeis, foi example, political sci-
entist Beinaid Haicouit has analyzed the sensual, moial, and political
economic dimensions of guns and gun caiiying among the youths,
ao
and
aigues that, while they often have conicting, paiadoxical attiactions to
guns, the youths value them foi theii powei, foi theii ability to contiol
theii immediate enviionment.
a
Accoiding to one inteiviewee, You feel
poweiful when you have a gun. You get iespect.
aa
In the woids of anothei,
guns aie piimaiily impoitant foi people when they need to oveiiule
somebody. Tey need that powei ovei somebody.
a
A similai sentiment conceining the impoitance of guns in a new gen-
eiations iise to powei is also vividly ievealed in anthiopologist Allen Feld-
mans ethnogiaphy of a Noithein Iieland facing incieasing levels of violence
duiing the stait of its political Tioubles in the ,;os.
a
In it, he desciibes a
tiansition fiom an ideal of the haidmen, local stieet ghteis tied to dis-
tinct neighboihoods and oldei codes of violence, to that of the gunmen,
paiamilitaiy ghteis who iepiesent a change to violence as a mechanized
component of the gun.
a
He aigues that these dieiences signify two moial
oideis, and that the folk naiiatives suiiounding them encode a histoiical
change between dieient peiiods, foims, techniques, and intensities of
violent piactice.
a6
Te intioduction and iapid spiead of the gun is key to
this change. As one of his inteiviewees desciibes, When the guns came
out the haidmen disappeaied.... I used to love chasing all the haidmen....
Tey all caiiy fuckin guns now.... Te Tioubles changed the whole lot.
a;

Tis change fiom haidman to gunman, then, entailed a new eia of detei-
iitoiialized violence in which the gunman himself became meiely an
instiumentthe masked paiamilitaiy holding a weapon is a tool hold-
ing a tool.
a8
In this sense, the violent code of the haidman depended upon
violence as both individual and local expiession, while that of the gunman
depended upon violenceand the men who do itas instiument.
88 Tings Done Changed
Essentially, Biggie, Haicouit, and Feldman all point to the piofound
symbolic iole that guns often play in the iise of a new geneiation. Most
impoitant, howevei, the gun signals not only a new geneiations iise, but
one that is piedicated on a piedatoiy stance towaid the old ways. Te
pleasuie Biggie takes in lighting up unsuspecting fools who stait ght-
ing is little dieient fiom Feldmans inteiviewee who admits he used to
love chasing all the haidmen. Both ieect a stance of disiespect, iidicule,
and contempt towaid old foims of violence. Step away with youi old
school ways is a dismissive waining to the old guaid. Te gun, hence,
iepiesents the degiee to which things done changedthe old ways aie
bypassed, cast aside, and taunted. Signicantly, though, while Feldman
and Haicouit discuss the iole of the gun in geneial teims, iap aitists,
instead, emphasize the kind of gun used. While Feldmans inteiviewees
discuss guns, Biggie species actual gunsespecially Tec-,s and Mac-
osas do most iappeis when iecounting gun violence. Tus, the sym-
bolic impoitance of the gun in ciacks violent tiansfoimations does not
lie in the simple fact that a gun is used, iathei, the guns powei ielies on
a fundamental aesthetic of violence that foims aiound the specic tools,
and theii designs, that make such violence possible.
Take, foi instance, the infamous Tec-, and Mac-o mentioned above,
which aie both notoiiously unieliable and inaccuiate machine pistols with
twenty-plusiound magazines that distoit the classic look of a pistol into
an awkwaid, spiked menace. Te AK-;, which is anothei iap favoiite,
has a distinctive banana-shaped magazine, and is associated in Ameiican
memoiy with the tiauma of Vietnam and the Soviet thieat. Peihaps moie
than any othei gun, howevei, it is the Glock that comes to symbolize the
ciack eias tiansfoimation of violence most vividly. Developed in Austiia,
and adopted by many law enfoicement agencies aiound the woild in the
mid-,8os, the Glock was a tiuly ievolutionaiy pistol that, in the inteiest
of moie ecient combat, did away with two of the most iecognizable fea-
tuies of modein semiautomatic handgunsthe hammei and the safety.
Glocks aie hammeiless, with an inteinal iing pin that makes cocking
and decocking iiielevant. Tey also have no exteinal safety, only a tiig-
gei safety that is disengaged as the tiiggei is pulled. Instead of having to
ick the safety oi cock the hammei to shoot, Glock useis have to do only
one thing: pull the tiiggei. Glocks aie not Woild Wai IIeia ,s oi six-
shot ievolveis, with foiged steel and smooth contouis. Tey have boxy
plastic giips and distinctive blocklike slides. Biutish on the outside, theii
sophisticationi.e., the incieased ease with which they aie iedis hid-
den inside. And it is piecisely the Glocks ugly, lethal simplicity that has
become imbiicated into an aesthetic of new-eia violence moie bioadly. In
analyzing what he called the iise of paiamilitaiy cultuie in post-Vietnam
Ameiican, foi example, sociologist James William Gibson aigued that
it was the ugliness of new-eia weaponiythe pistol giips, ash hideis,
bayonet lugs (mounts), folding stocks, and metal paits with dull paikei-
ized nishes that didnt ieect light
a,
that gave them a lethal auia,
o

and, coiiespondingly, a seductive powei-death aesthetic.
And, as Gib-
son has shown, this aesthetic of ugly simplicity is eveiywheie appaient in
this latest chaptei in Ameiicas long love aaii with guns. Considei the
opening lines of a iecent book, LivingwithGlocksTeConpleteGuideto
theêwStandardinConbatHandguns:
IkeptmyistClockasecietfiommyclosestfiiends.Itwasanillicit
love aaii. . . . [I] felt compelled to conceal my peiveited but iiie-
sistible temptation to embiace the exotic lightweight polymei, the
mind-boggling ieliability, the simple ieassuiance undei stiess, and
thethoioughlyunconventionalbeautyofthisnewAustiiansiien. . . .
Iwas . . .livinginsinwithacompactlittle.(ocalibeiClocka.
a
Foi this authoi, Glocks aie fai moie than puie instiumentality. Desciibed
as illicit, peiveited, iiiesistible, exotic, Glocks piovide mind-boggling
ieliability and simple ieassuiance undei stiess, which maik them as
especially beautiful. Glocks, thus, announce a new aesthetic of violence that
aiises fiom the meigei of physical ugliness and a mind-boggling ability
to iemain functionally lethal undei piessuie. Ugliness and lethality blend
in this new eia of violence to cieate a thoioughly unconventional beauty.
A similai specicity suuses Haicouits inteiviews as well, and his sub-
jects aie quite awaie of the peiveise, functional beauty of new-eia weap-
oniy. As one seventeen-yeai-old gang membei desciibes, I had me two
baby nines. I fell in love with those. Tey look beautiful to me.
Anothei
youth iecounts a paiticulaily lethal episode, detailing in his desciiption
the numeious weapons of new-eia violence:
He pulled out one of those [AK-(;s] and he shot my homeboy and
killedhim.Shothiminthethioat. . . .Andthenthatswhenwecame
andthenIhadmy.(.ImeanIhadmynine,theClock,andIstaited
shootingatthem. . . .WeweieinaBlazei,weielike,ve.Ionlyhadmy
nine,myhomeboyhadtwo.(s,andmyotheihomeboyhada.;.
(
,o Tings Done Changed

Haicouits desciiption of one inteiviewees ielationship to guns also ieveals
a whole aisenal of new-eia weaponiy: His cousin gave him a Glock . semi-
automatic to sell. Tat cousin had about six othei guns, including a a-gauge
sawed-o shotgun, a Tech-,, a couple of ,mms, a .;, and a few otheis.

Signicantly, howevei, the way in which the cousin got the Tec-,one of
iaps favoiite symbols of new-eia violencepeifects the association with
ciack violence and new-eia weaponiy: [H]e tiaded ciack foi the Tech-,.
6
No longei piaised as gleaming, glinting, polished steel, new-eia weap-
oniy possesses a biutish, choppy ciudeness that exeits an attiaction
expeiienced as a peiveise desiie, the ip side of a classic love aaii. And
it is heie, in this peiveiseness, that a new kind of violence is peiceived,
and its dieience ielies piimaiily on a newfound lethal eciency. Ciack
violence, that is, is maiked by a change within the gun, liteially: in its i-
ing pins, hammeis, and elongated magazines. Tiough its lethally simple
design, the Glock, peihaps moie than any othei handgun, has become
a metaphoi foi the oveiiiding expeiience of ciacks violent changes: the
absence of safety.
Crack Makes Violence Automatic
Te fact that simplicity and lethality go hand in hand in Biggies desciip-
tion of ciack-eia violence does not mean he is making a simple con-
nection, like theii ieliance on the iconogiaphy of Scarface, iappeis ief-
eiences to specic kinds of guns make a diiect coiielation between, in
Feldmans woids, two moial oideis. Foi Feldman, the gunmen iepiesent
tools holding tools, but foi Biggieand foi the many iappeis who aitic-
ulate similaily peiveise desiiesthe symbolism of the gun suggests a
fai deepei association that occuiied in ciacks violent intensications:
iappeis give life to the tools of new-eia violence. Rappeis do not simply
like guns, they becone them by naming themselves aftei such weap-
onsTech N,ne, Mac-o, o Cal., Beietta ,, o Glocc. In that naming,
iappeis peifect, in essence, theii own union with new school violence. In
becoming violent instiuments, they do not simply fall in love with pei-
veise violence, they come to embody it. Take, foi example, Biggies claim:
My minds my nine, my pens my Mac-o.
;
Oi, an even cleaiei state-
ment is Nass song I Gave You Powei, which is wiitten in the ist peison
fiom the peispective of a living .o calibei pistol: My body is cold steel
foi ieal i I was made to kill, thats why they keep me concealed.
8
In theii
Tings Done Changed ,:
unication with ciack, iap, and the tools of new-eia violence, many iap
aitists symbolically addiess the couiiei-to-kingpin paiadox at the heait
of ciacks punishment iationale by saying, If I am to be punished as the
kingpin I am not, and blamed foi the moial decline I did not cieate, then
I will become piecisely that which I have been taken to be: I am ciack, I
am Mac-o. Like the inheiently low-level dealeis thiough which ciack
moved itself, iappeis fuse with the tools of ciack violence to become, sim-
ply, the means by which ugly, ievolutionaiy lethality expiesses itself. Te
fact that so many iappeis have indeed been killed by new-eia weaponiy
and that, in the woids of iap aitist MF Giimm, getting shot is now pait
of youi deal
,
attests to this ieality. Ciacks intensied violence, in othei
woids, has become deeply embedded in the woik of iap. In oidei to be
successful iap aitists, many work to enbodylaboi to becomethe liv-
ing counteipaits, the cultuial adaptations, the bieathing contiadictions of
oui paiadoxical and dispiopoitionate diug policies.
In chaptei a, I discussed the bioad consensus conceining the degiee
to which extieme violence became a necessaiy iegulatoiy mechanism in
unstable ciack maikets, iesulting in the intensication of non-diug-ielated
violence, and making such violence the noim. When paiied with my dis-
cussion of the symbolic impoitance of the gun in this chaptei, ciacks inten-
sication of violence becomes even moie signicant. Te violent tiansfoi-
mations wiought by the ciack eia aie not only changes fiom stghting
to gunplay, which, in Feldmans woids, maik violence as a mechanized
component of the gun, in addition, ciack violence maiks a change within
the gun: instead of mechanizing it, the ciack eia made violence autonatic.
Again, Monstei Kodys vivid poitiayals of these changes in his autobiog-
iaphy aie instiuctive in this iegaid. Aftei explaining that the dope has
changed eveiything, foi instance, Monsteis fiiend suggests that the auto-
matic natuie of new-eia violence can be encapsulated in the notion of the
fullie spiaythe lethal potential of fully automatic weapons.
[E]veiybody got fullies, so one iide usually is enough now to diop
seveialbodiesatonce. . . .[L]etmeexplainwhatfulliesdo . . .they
spray you. Remembei when you weie shot back in eighty-one, you
weie hit six times? Bio, Chino just got spiayed with a fullie and he
was hit seventeen times! Spiays aie peimanent. Tey aint no joke.
Wegotshitthatshootsseventy-vetimes.IheaidthattheSantanas
gotLAWSiockets.Telatestthingsoutheieaiefullies,bodyaimoi,
andpageis. . . .Tisshitisasiealassteel.
(o
,: Tings Done Changed
Te fullie spiay, that is, iepiesents the spiead and peimanenceboth in
mateiial bullets and tiust-coiioding violenceof ciack-eia iuthlessness.
Tis eia is maiked not only by a tiansition to the gun, but also by an
even moie piofound tiansition fron shooting to spraying and its associ-
ated notions of nality and peimanence. Te vision of the fullie spiay
announces a change in cultuie, violence, tactics, and weaponiy. Not
only aie fullies iepiesentative of the new age in ciack violence, but theii
actual designs embody this all-peivasive cultuie of teiioi. Te spiay
symbolizes the intensication, the noimalization, and the inescapable
spiead of new-eia violence. Such violence is spiayed into community
life at all levels thiough the encioachment of unstable, heavily punished,
maiket-based ielations. As Monsteis homeboy put it, these changes
aie as ieal as steel. Fullie spiays, in shoit, maik peimanence in two
main senses. Fiist is the nality of death. And second is that things done
changed, nevei to go to back to a time when local ciews ielaxed on the
avenues and young kids pitched pennies on the sidewalk. In this way,
iap aitistsand the ciack geneiation fiom which so many aie diawn
have come to peisonify ciacks expeiiential fabiic by taking it on them-
selves to become the equally paiadoxical counteipait to ciacks impuie
puiity: livinglethality.
Schooled in New School Violence
New-eia violence, to use teims heaid often in iap, iepiesents a change
fiom old school to new school violence. Tiue, school moie geneially
evokes a battlegiound between paients and childien that is not unique
to iaps iepiesentation of the ciack expeiience. School is a woild that the
young must, by law, inhabit, but, by stiength of theii own wills, often
make theii own, foi bettei and woise. Schools aie liminal spaces between
the home and the laboi maiket and aie simultaneously tasked with imbu-
ing not only piactical knowledge, but moial guidance as well. Even given
these bioad associations with school geneially, the iepiesentative powei
that it exeits in iap is consideiable. In one common usage, school iefeis
to a peiceived bieak in iap eias wheieby the new school implies a dis-
tinct depaituie fiom old school styles of iapping and music making.
Even moie telling, howevei, school is often used as a veibto school
people means to teach and guide as well as to bettei oi best them. Both
of these aspects of the woid aie impoitant heie, and play ciucial ioles not
Tings Done Changed ,,
only in iap slang, but in the symbolic iole of ciack in iaps ieexive stance
towaid its own commeicialization.
Considei o Cents education in new school violence as he leained
it fiom Giits and Buttei, two membeis of an eaily diug ciew of which
he was a pait. As he iecounts in his autobiogiaphy, I didnt iealize that
Giits and Buttei played by dieient iules.... [T]heie was no aiguing, no
thieatening, no facial gestuies. Foi them, eveiything was puie taiget.
In
due couise, o began to iealize that thats how it gets done. Tats when
I iealized that as long as you dont bioadcast youi beefs, you get away
cold with muidei.
a
Giits and Buttei showed him that it is bettei to talk
less and shoot moie, and o soon felt himself change as a iesult. I knew
something was changing in me.... Te piice of life was getting cheapei
and cheapei.... I iealized that the people that ieally matteied didnt say.
Te seiious guys knew bettei than to have any kind of conveisation oi
let anyone know they had any dieiences with someone.
If Giits and
Buttei had a pioblem, theyd just teai someones ass up. . . . [T]hey . . .
alteied my thought piocess. Shooting someone was now nothing to me.

o, thus, chionicles being schooled in new school violence. And, in an
even moie poweiful juxtaposition between old and new, o ielates the
ieaction of Buttei, one of his mentois in new school violence, to a night-
club secuiity guaid with whom o was about to ght.
Tesecuiityguaidwasoneofthoseoldeidudesfiombackintheday,
when a mean knuckle game was eveiything. . . . Te secuiity guaid
lookedoveimyshouldei.Hisfacewentblank,likehewasseeingthe
ghostofsomeoneheieallydidntlike.ItuinedaioundandsawBut-
teiiunningatme,gunist. . . .Butteiwasiunningbehindthesecu-
iityguaidwithhishandoutstietched,hisngeisqueezing. . . .With
each shot, the secuiity guaids body jeiked and changed diiection,
untilhewentdownonthestepsofajunioihighschool.TenButtei
ian ovei to the secuiity guaid and dumped the iest of the clip into
him. . . .Outofseventeenshots,sixteenhittheiimaik.
(
Te fact that the secuiity guaidone of those oldei dudes fiom back in
the day, when a mean knuckle game was eveiythingdied on the steps
of a junioi high school is piofoundly signicant, announcing both a lit-
eial and metaphoiical death of old school violence. Not only aie schools
themselves liminal spaces, but junioi high, especially, is a tiansitional
stage between elementaiy and high school in which the young aie neithei
,; Tings Done Changed
childien noi tiue teenageis. In addition, Buttei killed the iepiesenta-
tive of old school violence while he was eeing, detailing, foicefully, that
not only was the old school running fron the piedatoiy iuthlessness of
the new school, but he was killed anyway, shot iepeatedly in the back,
and nished o while he lay dying. Similaily, Buttei shot the man six-
teen times, which is simply impossible with a six shot ievolvei, signal-
ing, again, the symbolic powei of specic kinds of guns in the iise of new
school violence. Te iepiesentative of old school violence was also, in
fact, a secuiity guaid, indicating not just the changing of the guaid, but,
liteially, his passing. Recall, in this iespect, Biggies depiction of the pooi
fool who tiied to sciap and wound up with holes in his back. Recall,
also, Feldmans inteiviewee: I used to love chasing all the haidmen. . . .
Tey all caiiy fucking guns now. Teie is peihaps no cleaiei account
of this tiansfoimation in violence than os: old school violence is dead
and gone foievei, shot sixteen times and spiayed out of existence. Tings
done changed.
Loss
Te violence iepiesented in undeigiound-eia, New Yoik iap iecalls, in
lyiical foim, what the expeit consensus conceining the social impact of
ciack has specied in aigumentative foim: that a manifold intensica-
tion of violence duiing the ciack eia fundamentally alteied peiceptions,
undeistandings, and expectations of violence that continue to this day.
In addition, iaps veision often seems to coincide with bioadeibut sta-
tistically unfoundedfeais about incieasing juvenile violence, expiessed
most ominously in John DiIulios notion of supeipiedatois. In iaps vei-
sion, howevei, theie is a key dieience: it also expiesses a deep sense of
loss as a consequence of these changes.
Take, foi example, the coveis of Biggies and Nass ,, debut albums,
both of which display theii baby pictuies, suggesting the degiee to which
New Yoik Citys lyiical iesuigence was based upon coming-of-age naiia-
tives. Biggies album is peihaps the most pionounced example of the dis-
tuibing juxtaposition they piesent: the joy displayed by the smiling baby
boy on the covei is belied by both the title, ReadytoDie, and the opening
song, Tings Done Changed, which indicate the degiee to which these
coming-of-age piogiessions aie suused with the peiception, expeiience,
and acceptance of new school violence.
Biggies last veise in Tings Done Changed is most poignant in this
iegaid. What appeais duiing the ist two veises to champion a vision
of innei-city homicidal mania also mouins the losses that iesulted fiom
ciacks lethal wake. Biggie staits bluntly, stating that if it hadnt been foi
the iap game, hed still be lost in the ciack game, stuck on a dead end
ioute. But, Biggie continues, things have gotten even ciaziei since he
left the game, with evei youngei kids taking theii makeshift diug opeia-
tions on the ioad in oidei to get iich and blow up. Invaiiably, though,
within a few months, the bodies stait to show up. Tis violent ieality,
in essence, has intensied even moie. And, foi Biggie, the fact that kids
youngei than he aie dying aftei tiying to sell diugs out of town makes
him wanna giab the tools of new school violencethe ,mms, the Tec-
,s, the Mac-os, and the shottiesout of puie fiustiation. But, as Big-
gie ielates, even that fiustiation is itself fiustiated since hes continually
being called on to identify bodies. What happened, he demands, to the
neighboihood cookouts? Eveiywheie he looks, his fiiends aie being
took out. So, he says to the listenei, dont waste his time asking about
his ieasons foi being stiessed. Anyone who has to ask such questions in
the midst of such obvious bloodshed has not compiehended how things
done changed. In this fashion, the contiast between the baby boy and the
young man tiying to accept lethality as a way of life suggests a close con-
nection between loss and childhood. In many ways, then, this association
also ieveals that, at the heait of these changes lies a loss of childhood
that the necessity of new school violence as a iegulatoiy mechanism in
ciacks unstable maiketplace amounted to a loss of childhood foi those
iaised in it. Tis is no loss of moiality, howevei, iathei, Tings Done
Changed both celebiates and mouins the disiupted social stability that
once kept such devastating lethality at bay. Te song, thus, displays angei
and moial outiage at the inescapable natuie of ciack-eia lethality.
Conclusion: From Loss to Adaptation
In theii aiticulations of having been schooled in new school violence, nei-
thei Biggie, o Cent, noi Haicouits inteiviewees piesent themselves as
the cieatois of this new school violence. Instead, they convey an uigent
sense of having been swept into it by foices out of theii contiol. Tis
loss of contiol suggests that gunsand, moie impoitant, specic kinds
of gunsbecome cential oiganizing symbols of contiol foi those who
,o Tings Done Changed
peiceive an oveiwhelming loss of it. And, in becoming the tools of new
school violence, many iap aitists celebiate the iise of a new geneiation
out of ciacks devastations while mouining theii inevitable adaptations
to the losses that accompanied that iise. Paiadoxically, then, new school
violence is expeiienced as a crushingfreedon. Biggies fiustiation with the
dead bodies of kids youngei than he showing up aftei they tiied to sell
diugs out of town makes him want to ieach foi the veiy tools by which
the youth weie, veiy likely, killed in the ist place. Life, that is, moves
outside of theii contiol, and they have been ieciuited to sta a system in
which lethal violence is used as iegulation, and foi which they piovide a
nevei ending supply of new dealeis. In this way, the metaphoi of ciack
in the songs of New Yoiks lyiical iesuigence ieects an acute appiehen-
sion of the ioles youth play within a nevei-ending supply of violent laboi
in a maiket they did not cieate, and at the bottom of which they iemain,
even while they aie tieatedlegally and cultuiallyas if they weie the
kingpins of global ciiminal enteipiises believed to have caused such mas-
sive tiansfoimations. And, when iappeis begin to intentionally piomote
themselves as if they weie the kingpins they aie punished foi being, pub-
lic debate often condemns them, simplistically, as lacking moiality.
Ciack and old school violence, theiefoie, aie piesented as inheiently
contiadictoiy and incapable of coexisting. Wheie one dominates, the
othei is killed, shot in the back while iunning away. It is not that one is
moial and the othei is immoial. Noi does new school violence iepiesent
a moial oidei that a new geneiation of youth have, somehow, lost. In
seeming to gloiify ciacks violence, iappeis, instead, have piesented
detailed accountings of the piofound tiansfoimations that accompanied
ciacks maiket volatility, and the iise of a system that now iequiies vio-
lence in oidei to function. Tis supposed lack of moiality is shown up
foi what it is: not just a celebiation of gaining powei, but a cynical com-
piehension of the lethal changes that oldei geneiations have yet to fully
undeistand. Hence, the old school appioaches new school violence as
immoial, and its actois as supeipiedatois without conscience, while
the new school appioaches old school violence as if it weie a vestigial
wing, a pointless dance aiound the lethality at the coie of heavily pun-
ished maiket-based ielationships.
Old school violence, then, can only be seen foi what it is: a game t foi a
time when violent maikets had not yet oveiwhelmed neighboihood iela-
tionships. Tis is why Monstei Kody was at a complete loss when tiying
to undeistand such violent changes aftei only foui yeais in piison. Ciack,
thus, symbolizes the new geneiations insight into and expeiience of pio-
found change, the old schools iefusal to admit to these changes, as well
as the U.S. goveinments iiiational attempt to shoie up a peiceived loss of
moiality thiough punishment. What is often misundeistood in this pui-
suit, howevei, is that moiality is nevei absent, as if it weie an all-oi-noth-
ing aaii. Ciack calls foith not a lack of moiality, but a new moial oidei
that has emeiged iegaidless of anyones contiol in which low-level, giind-
ing young people aie tieated as if they weie diug kingpins, and punished
by a legislated sledgehammei that caies nothing foi theii actual individual
ciicumstances, asciibing weights to mental states and pietending that
simple possession is ieally complex distiibution. Ciack iecalls the loss of
childhood stability and camaiadeiie that is the piice paid by so many young
people foi the incuision of undeigiound maikets and the violence used to
iegulate them. Teii only powei comes fiom the fact that they know
old school violence is dead, and, so, they no longei play the game. Youth
in the ciack eia, simply put, adapted to the stiuctuial conditions they weie
given. Te cultuial woik that ciack has come to peifoim in Ameiicas ciim-
inological stiuctuie of feeling, then, aiticulates a multilayeied, conicted
sensibility about that coeiced adaptation. Cosbylike ciiticisms, no doubt,
will continue to piomote the notion that old school cultuiesimplistically
iefeiied to as paientingcan somehow be iesuiiected and tiansplanted
wholesale into a new woild of systemic violence that has alieady intensi-
ed it into obsolescence. As ciiminologist Elliott Cuiiie has aigued, these
kinds of moial-loss explanations aie not pioblematic in and of themselves,
iathei, the pioblem lies in theii denial that those [moial] conditions aie
themselves stiongly aected by laigei social and economic foices.
6
Feais of juvenile supeipiedatois suggest a collective insecuiity about
oui own iole in the pioblematic moial oideis we have helped cieate foi
young people thiough the taigeted sledgehammei of ciime policy. Tat
new school violence ielies on a widespiead, peiveise love aaii with biu-
tal simplicity in pait ieects oui own twenty-plus-yeai ieliance on a biu-
tally simple punitive calculus: ve giams equals ve yeais. In the wake
of this seveie logic, many iap aitists have aiticulated an equally simple
connection: simple possession and simple lethality go hand in hand. In
cieatively woiking out the complicated eects of the ciack eia, theiefoie,
many iap aitists have come to peisonify foims of living lethality mov-
ing units of inpurepurity in enviionments of crushingfreedon. Unfoitu-
nately, all too often, public iesponses to these connections focus on sim-
plistic policies iequiiing young people to pull up theii pants.
,,

Training and Humiliation

Teenagers turned trick, pimped by pedophile labels.
El-PinCompanyFlow,Blind,FuncrusherPlus,r,,;
I
n all of ,,os New Yoik iap, theie is peihaps no bettei example of its
emphasis on lyiicism than Nass song, One Love,
which came out the

same yeai as Tings Done Changed. Wiitten as a lettei to a fiiend in jail,
the song desciibes changes in the neighboihood since his fiiends incai-
ceiation, and iecounts, foi example, who had been shot, who was now
selling diugs, and who had been aiiested. In the last veise, though, Nas
tuins to the listenei, and details coming back home to the neighboihood
aftei taking a shoit tiip to get away fiom the piessuies of new school vio-
lence. Needing time alone, he takes a two day stay, leaving his ,mm
pistol in oidei to ielax his dome. When he ietuins, howevei, nobody is
outside except foi a twelve-yeai-old ciack dealei. Nas befiiends him, and
they hang out togethei on the youths diug tuif. Te boy addiesses him,
explaining that, since people ioutinely shoot fiom the pioject iooftops, he
weais a bullet pioof and holds a black tiey-deuce. Nas then takes the
oppoitunity to school the boy, and piovide the young stieet soldiei with a
way to ieign in the intensied, haid-to-contiol new school violence that,
by necessity, had become so thoioughly imbiicated into community life
that the boy had to weai a bullet-pioof vest. I had to school him, Nas
tells the listenei, explaining how he told the boy not to be fooled by those
who advocate foi blind ietaliation. He then goes on to undeiline the fact
that the spiay of new school violence can cause piofound loss when not
ieigned in, too easily tuining to bad luck as whole families get fucked
up. Nass last bit of advice to the youth, theiefoie, takes the foim of a
waining against the spiay of new school violence: since bad luck occuis
fai too often in the ciack eia, Nas tells him to take heed, and wait till
:oo Training and Humiliation
his taigets alone so the iight man bleeds. To be suie, Nass advice is no
beacon of nonviolence, it is still a lethal vision of community life. Indeed,
his last woids to the youth concein ways of killing someone. Fundamen-
tally, howevei, the song communicates an eoit to iestiain the spiay even
while lethality iemains a necessaiy iegulatoiy mechanism in the ciack
eia. Pioblematically, though, those who too ieadily dismiss depictions of
violence in iap misiecognize the fact of violence as a lack of moiality
as cold-heaited piedation. Rathei, what Tings Done Changed, One
Love, and many othei songs suggest is that the death of old school vio-
lence has been anything but easy foi those who have been foiced to take
pait in its killing, and who have been engaged, instead, in a veiy seiious
eoit to ieign in the wild lethality that the ciack eia engendeied. Tus,
Nass song communicates in lyiical foim what many ieseaicheis have
concluded in academic foim: that a signicant inuence on the steady
decline of lethal violence in the United States since the mid-,,os has
been the giowth of poweiful anti-ciack noims that weie catalyzed ist
and foiemost indigenouslythat is, fiom within the stieet diug scene
itself.
a
In eect, many ieseaicheis suggest that the piofound diculty of
living with the evei-piesence of lethality on a daily basis has helped to
make crack a diity woid and vilify those who use it.
All too often, howevei, debates about iap seem to tuin on an assump-
tion that the violence it depicts is somehow just an easy gimmick, and
that, moie than anything, such violence exemplies the seiiously detii-
mental eects of bad paienting. Youth, in these assumptions, play little
oi no iole in inuencing theii own lives foi the bettei. Recall Bill Cosby
and Juan Williams, foi instance, who have placed almost sole iesponsi-
bility foi the pioblems of the innei city on this notion of bad paienting.
But what is it about paienting that so consumes such ciitics? And how is
it assumed to opeiate in such a poweiful way in combating the ciiminal
pioclivities of young people?
In fact, since the lattei half of the twentieth centuiy, paienting has g-
uied piominently in academic explanations of ciime and ciiminality. And,
in many ways, iecent ciiticisms of iaps iole in the acceptance of ciiminal
behavioi by those who have been badly paiented can be seen as populist
veisions of contiol theoiy, oi, moie specically, self-contiol theoiy, the
most impoitant iepiesentative of this kind of explanation. In this chaptei,
I analyze the ways in which iaps ieexive stance towaid its own commei-
cialization has consistently ieected seiious eoits to iestiain new school
violence thiough tiaining iegimens that have been fundamentally self-
Training and Humiliation :o:
imposed. Raps expiessions of iestiaint do not iefute such explanations,
but do pioblematize the all-too-easy, ieductive notion that self-contiol is
an all-oi-nothing aaii, dependent wholly upon an ill-dened piemise of
punitive paienting.
Crime in Waiting
Published in ,,o, Michael R. Gottfiedson and Tiavis Hiischis General
Teory of Crine posits that paienting is the most impoitant element in
helping youth develop the self-contiol that, in theii aigument, is the sine
qua non of nonciiminal behavioi.
Gottfiedson and Hiischis theoiy ielies

on two piimaiy moves. Fiist, they ietuin to Jeiemy Benthams hedonis-
tic calculusall human conduct can be undeistood as the self-inteiested
puisuit of pleasuie oi the avoidance of pain
as the ist piemise in theii

denition of ciiminal behavioi. Second, they aigue that, contiaiy to the
views of the public, who aie misled about the ieal natuie of ciime, the
vast majoiity of ciiminal acts aie tiivial and mundane aaiis that iesult
in little loss and less gain.
6
Gottfiedson and Hiischi, theiefoie, make a
connection between ioutineness and ease, aiguing that most ciime, even
white-collai ciime, is simple, and iequiies baiely any skill. In theii woids,
Ciimes iesult fiom the puisuit of immediate, ceitain, easy benets.
;

Foi Gottfiedson and Hiischi, ciime is ieally an inheient piopeity of acts
themselves. Consequently, they have piovided a vision of ciime in which,
again, it lies coiled in waiting, an intiinsic element of fun, easy actions
that, stiangely, exist piioi to anybody actually doing them. In essence,
then, anyone who has not developed the piopei self-contiol will natuially
giavitate towaid such inheiently fun actions.
It is, howevei, theii discussion of the cause of impulsive behavioi that
is most impoitant foi my analysis. Accoiding to them, all of the chai-
acteiistics associated with low self-contiol tend to show themselves in
the absence of nuituiance, discipline, oi tiaining.
8
In othei woids, Te
majoi cause of low self-contiol thus appeais to be ineective child-
ieaiing, which, in oidei to be eective, iequiies thiee piimaiy eoits:
() monitoi the childs behavioi, (a) iecognize deviant behavioi when it
occuis, and () punish such behavioi.
,
Because of the evei-piesence of
ciime, which always exists in potential, the only thing that can pievent
its fulllment is the monitoiing and punishing of youth who giavitate
towaid such easy activities. If youthful indulgence in inheiently fun activ-
:o: Training and Humiliation
ities is monitoied and punished, the logic goes, young people will eventu-
ally develop an inteinal mechanism of self-contiol thiough which they
will come to iecognize such actions as the easy, shoit-teim fulllment of
theii own inteiests and, instead, opt to engage in activities that piovide
long-teim benet. Ciime, in shoit, is easy, and ciiminals aie impulsive.
At theii coie, the iecent populist veisions of contiol theoiysuch as
those espoused by Bill Cosby and Juan Williamsthat exist in ciiticisms
of the ielationship between bad paienting, ciime, and iap music iest
on a fundamentally simple piemise: no one is monitoiing, punishing,
oi tiaining the youth. Quite to the contiaiy, howevei, what iap, ethno-
giaphic liteiatuie on ciack dealing, and ieseaich on the ciime diop sug-
gest is that youth have been engaged in veiy seiious eoits to monitoi,
tiain, and iestiain thenselves. Tat these eoits have inuenced iates of
seiious violence in the United States is all the moie signicant as youth
have done so even in the midst of seveie family and community disiup-
tion caused by excessive punishment and despite the neai-constant pub-
lic condemnation of theii supposed lack of moiality. Nass song, hence,
iepiesents the fact that so many young people in the ciack eia took it on
themselves to become the old heads whom sociologist Elijah Andeison
aigued have become fai less impoitant since then.
o
Te loss aiticulated in Tings Done Changed and the schooling of
the young ciack dealei in Nass One Love both convey a seiious eoit
to iestiain new school violence. While cleaily not intentionally geaied
towaid loweiing ciime iates, Nass advice to the young stieet soldiei is an
expiession of this laigei, collective eoita counteiimpulseto take up
wheie old school codes weie foiced to leave o. Tese eoits to iestiain
new school violence, theiefoie, do not ieject self-contiol, foi they cleaily
emphasize its iole in community cohesion and stability. Tey do, how-
evei, seveiely pioblematize the consistently held belief, in both academic
and populai ciiticisms, that self-contiol is only something that can be
given to childien thiough paienting, and that at the heait of good pai-
enting is monitoiing and punishing. Unfoitunately, such obsessive ieli-
ance on punitive paienting as the only thing that can save youth fiom
the evei-piesence of ciimewhich lies coiled in peipetuity, tempting
impulsive people with easy giaticationignoies the ioles youth have
played in inuencing declines in ieal violence. And so, in ciacks lethal
logic of woik, self-contiol is undeistood in its most liteial senseselves
contiolling themselves. Youth, in fact, have been engaged in some of the
most dicult giatication-defeiiing woik of the late twentieth centuiy:
Training and Humiliation :o,
iebuilding a semblance of old school codes of honoi in oidei to iestiain
the spiay, and iegain some stability even in the face of coeicive mobility.
Training
Many iap aitists have expiessed a cleai view that the iuthless lethality
at the coie of ciack-eia violencewhich tiansfoimed fiom cultuially
based and expiessive to instiumental and coiiosivemust be mitigated
somehow. While this violence depended upon a move away fiom the
old school, theie is a peivasive sense iunning thioughout iaps expies-
sive media that the only way to mitigate iuthless lethality in the seivice of
business is to ietuin to the old school thiough tiaining. Because lethality
constantly thieatens to spill ovei, sometimes the only thing one can do is
tiain and iestiain ones own lethal potential, and make a ienewed space
foi the old school in the midst of social disiuption.
Recall, fiom the last chaptei, o Cents education in new school vio-
lence duiing which Giits and Buttei taught him to talk less and shoot
moie. Inteiestingly, howevei, o also desciibes engaging in paiallel eoits
to take those instiuments of new school violence and tiain in ways similai
to Nass instiuctions to the young ciack dealei. As o desciibes, I piac-
ticed shooting... neai my giandmotheis house. I shot at stationaiy tai-
getscans, old toys, basketballs, whatevei I could get my hands on.
In
addition, o also boxed, the most impoitant benet of which was the emo-
tional calmness duiing stieet violence that piactice and tiaining instilled
in him. Tats what boxing did foi me. It stopped me fiom getting angiy
when I fought.
a
o, that is, leained that much new school violence has no
technique, ielying, instead, on a iaw lethality, and that emotional contiol
is ciucial to success in the stieets. While the ciack eia intensied existing
foims of violence, diusing them thioughout community life, tiaining
the haid woik of selves contiolling themselvesholds the possibility of
naiiowing such violence back down. o, in his woids, became like a sci-
entist.... Befoie I boxed, I was moie likely to ght mad.... Te guys on
the stieets had no technique.
And, by meiging discipline with his stieet

ethos, he found success. Te calmei and moie condent I became, the
moie I fought. Te moie I fought, the less I got hit. Te less I got hit, the
moie people got stomped in the head. Te moie people got stomped in
the head, the calmei and moie condent I became.
Foi o, tiaining set

up an inteiesting loop: the wildness of the stieets may push one to nd
:o; Training and Humiliation
a way to iestiain such violence, but once staited, boxing also becomes
the tiaining giound foi the stieets. In addition, tiaining also helped him
undeistand that the diug game was not simply about the lethality of the
new school, iathei, Once I got it in my head that the [diug] game was
as much psychological as it was physical, things changed. I leained that
a laige pait of anything physical in this woild is how you think about it
mentally.
Te calming eects of violence tiaining suggested by o also iesonate

with iecent academic woik. In his ethnogiaphy of a Chicago boxing gym,
foi example, sociologist Loc Wacquant aigues that the gym is countei-
poised against ciack-ielated changes to community life.
6
He suggests
that the gym stands opposed to the stieet as oidei is to disoidei, and
desciibes a climate of peivasive feai, if not teiioi, that undeimines intei-
peisonal ielationships and distoits all the activities of daily life, aiguing
that the club is a sanctuaiy fiom this teiioi.
;
His infoimants also castigate
the neighboihood in meiciless teims, since most have expeiienced vio-
lent, piedatoiy ciime ist-hand. In this fashion, the gymespecially its
oidei, stability, and self-enclosed natuiehelps keep people o the stieet,
but also helps them once they aie outside. Just as o leained, Wacquants
subjects also iealized that, in giadually building up theii pain toleiance in
the gym, they leained not to ee in stieet confiontations. Te gym, thus,
iepiesents the contiolled violence of a stiictly policed and cleaily cii-
cumsciibed agonistic exchange
8
in which spaiiingthe seiious play
that develops a common ihythm at the heait of the gymis consideied
essential to the boxeis tiaining. Tiough the punishment of self, and the
eventual ieaching of ow, tiaining becomes its own iewaid, enabling
one to scoie a victoiy ovei oneself.
,
Monastic, iepetitive, monotonous,
and self-punishing, spaiiing iepiesents a iegulation of violence in the
iing.
ao

Put dieiently, the ciack eias tiansfoimation of violence into an
unseated, unattached netwoik tuined the seiious play of spaiiing
thiough which the old school violence of the haidman was leained and
peifected like a ciaftinto the deadly seiious. Recall, foi instance, the
juxtaposition between the old school play of childien and the wildness of
new school violence in Biggies song Tings Done Changed. Recall, also,
how Giits and Butteiin theii killing of the secuiity guaid on the steps
of a junioi high schoolshowed o that new school violence bypasses old
codes of seiious play and gets iight to the lethal point. Spaiiing, while
seiious, was the old school play of adult violence, ciack, hence, killed
spaiiing. When all confiontations become potentially lethal, they inhei-
ently caiiy moie weight and aie taken moie seiiously. People stopped
playing in the ciack eia because inteipeisonal conicts of all soits had
been tiansfoimed into potentially lethal episodes. Talking slick, in Big-
gies woids, might lead to getting youi thioat slit. As with the symbol of
the Glock pistol discussed in the pievious chaptei, in the ciack eia, theie
is no longei an exteinal safetyno contiol fiom the outside because the
outside is now goveined by abstiact maiket ielations that have no sense of
honoi. Like o, many of Wacquants subjects believe tiainingin monas-
tic, iepetitive, monotonous waysmakes foi a victoiy ovei the self, and,
thus, foi calmei stieet ghting. Inteinal contiol makes foi exteinal calm.
In this way, they become like islands unto themselves, able to iestiain the
spiay thiough self-imposed methods of social stabilization.
Te ascetic piactice of boxing makes the gym a sanctuaiy fiom stieet
teiioi, and, similaily, becoming an old school haidman is often the only
sanctuaiy fiom new school violence. Essentially, such tiaining helps to
iemake a place foi the old school in ways that now make senseat the
level of the self. Old school ways cannot simply be tiansplanted wholesale
into ielationships that have been thoioughly tiansfoimed by the ebb and
ow of maikets and the intensication of violence. Te ciazy and unpie-
dictable violence of the new school needs to be mitigated by peisonal
toughness. Violence tiaining ieinvigoiates this old school mentality, and,
iionically, diculty is a sanctuaiy fiom the unpiedictable. In shoit, tiain-
ing not only takes woik, it is woik.
Leaining technique is an attempt to ieseat unseated violenceto
ieattach its simple biutality to a code. Most impoitant, howevei, is that
ieigning in new school violence by ieintegiating old school codes is, fun-
damentally, haid, giinding woika iemaking of old school community
thiough the making of the self. Tiough the tiaining aiticulated in iaps
cieative iewoikings of the ciack eia, and as evidenced by the declines in
ieal violence asciibed to cultuial stigma, the metaphoi of ciack in iaps
ieexive stance towaid its own commeicialization has also come to sym-
bolize the possibility of iestiaining the veiy violence that the ciack eia
inauguiated. Ciacks expeiiential fabiic, then, includes patchwoiks of
seemingly incongiuent elementsthe teiioi of a Daiwinian lethality, a
new geneiations iise to powei, the giief expeiienced thiough the losses
of life that accompanied that iise, and the possibility of iestiaining ciacks
diused violence thiough self-contiol. Such aiticulations of self-contiol
sit in staik contiast to the vacant staies and decaying moiality that so
:oo Training and Humiliation
many pioponents of punitive paienting have attiibuted to both iap and
youth in enviionments of social disiuption. Instead, many iap aitists sug-
gest that, while the old heads may be gone, young people have stepped
in to ll that vacuum in oidei to iegain some semblance of community
cohesion.
Humiliation
It is piecisely this eoit to ieconnect the unpiedictable powei of new
school violence to daily woik, howevei, that foims the coie expeiience
of humiliation at the hands of the industiy. Tiaining sets up this expeii-
ence of humiliation because it is often successful foi those who engage
in it. Recall, in this iegaid, os development of calmness and condence.
If tiaining had not been successful foi him, then the humiliation he latei
expeiienced at the hands of the industiy would not have been so painful.
Considei how he desciibes his initial fiustiations with the music business,
diiectly iefeiencing Nass famous line, somehow the iap game ieminds
me of the ciack game, in the piocess. Accoiding to o, his ist iecoid
deal was only foi sixty-ve thousand dollais. Aftei lawyeis fees, I was
left with ve thousand dollais. I was like, Fucksometimes the iap game
does iemind me of the ciack game!
a
It is the next sentence, though, that
ieveals the pioblem at the heait of ciack symbolism in iap. But at least
in the ciack game, he says, you can lay on somebody. . . . Te music
industiy has a whole sepaiate set of iules that I had to adjust to.
aa
os
fiustiation highlights the dieiences between the stieets and the music
industiy and alludes to the methods of possible iediess in each. At least
in the stieets, o suggests, theie aie new school methods that, no mattei
how biutal, get things done. As I detailed in chaptei a, new eia violence
was essential to the functioning of undeigiound maikets, and its use can
be quite ecient and cleaily iational.
Tis diculty of tiansitioning to the industiy is peihaps most poi-
gnantly iecounted in Voletta Wallaces memoii of hei son, Biggie.
a

Inteiestingly, Voletta sets up a juxtaposition similai to the one in Big-
gies Tings Done Changed: wheie he set the stage foi a desciiption of
new school violence, Voletta sets the stage foi the piofoundly humiliat-
ing violence of the music business. She begins hei memoii by desciibing
hei childhood in a close-knit family in Jamaica, and hei latei emigiation
to the United States, a move about which she admits having daydieamed
foi yeais. She then discusses hei eaily yeais in Ameiica duiing which she
came up with a ve-yeai plan to become a teachei, went to night school in
oidei to get hei Geneial Equivalency Diploma, andieecting the safety
of discipline discussed aboveensconced heiself in a safe cocoon of haid
woik. Biggies biith was tiansfoimative in many ways as it inspiied hei
to focus on childhood education. She iemembeis doting on Biggie, and
that she unintentionally helped him get his nickname by feeding him too
well. It is hei emphasis on the impoitance of school, though, that becomes
especially peitinent, echoing the symbolic signicance of school discussed
in the pievious chaptei. In hei woids, Biggie was always a kind and gentle
boy, until high school: Tats when he changed. He went fiom a sweet
little boy who loved school to a iebellious youth who hated school. School
became the battlegiound wheie we had most of oui ghts.
a
Biggie was put in Catholic school and did well, but hated it and
diopped out at seventeen. He eventually stopped coming home alto-
gethei. In Volettas woids, the stieets kept calling. She thought he was
wasting a good mind, and that he was out of contiolall of a sudden hed
tuined into a disiuptive monstei.
a
Biggie, meanwhile, began establish-
ing a ieputation as a iappei in his neighboihood. She notes that, while he
was always piacticing in his ioom, she thought it was just noise: What
I did know was that my son could not sing. In my book, he had a lousy
voice.
a6
Aftei heaiing Biggies ist song on the iadio, though, she admits
feeling pioud. And, soon, Biggie begins talking to hei about the possi-
bility of making money as a iap aitist. Accoiding to Voletta, howevei,
things staited to go soui. It seemed to happen all of a sudden. Chiisto-
phei staited paying moie attention to that iap thing and spending moie
and moie time in the stieets.
a;
While things weie beginning to go soui, Voletta admits that Biggie was
focused and eneigized, and, in faiily shoit oidei, had a iecoid deal, a
managei, and some money. But befoie long, she saw that Biggie was get-
ting a dieient kind of schooling in the industiy, and one that he desciibed
as woise than a seiious diug game on the stieets.
a8
She iecalls telling hei
son not to tiust Sean Puy Combs, his managei and head of Bad Boy
Recoids. She thought that Biggie was being too loyal, and that he did not
have enough business knowledge, believing that Bad Boy [Recoids] was
conceined with its self-inteiests and not ouis.
a,
And, in tuin, hei iesei-
vations appeaied to be accuiate as Biggie found out that he was giossly
:o8 Training and Humiliation
undeipaid foi his publishing iights. In Volettas woids, My son was pait
of a high-stakes game and didnt know the iules.
o
Chiistophei, she says,
accepted the illusion of a fiiend and mentoi foi about sa,ooo. Tats the
amount Puy luied my son with. . . . It was enough money to make my
son believe that Puy was ieady to do anything foi him. It was enough to
buy blind love and loyalty.
Aftei Biggies muidei, Voletta lost hei love foi teaching and became
the full-time managei of his estate. And it was thiough this expeiience
that she came to be schooled heiself, coming to undeistand what hei son
had meant about the industiy being woise than the diug game. In hei
woids, I left school to go to anotheiMusic Business School.
TewoildthatChiistopheihadthiivedinthatIdpuiposelykeptat
adistanceIwasnowthiustinto.ShoitlyafteiChiistopheisdeath,I
gotaciashcouiseincontiacts,conicts,andioyaltyiip-os. . . .Te
istthingthatIleainedinMusicBusinessSchoolisthateveiyone
and I do mean eveiyoneis out foi himself. Eveiyone is looking to
takeadvantageofanyonehecan.Ifmoneyisinvolved,youcanand
willbeiapedandiobbedofituntilyouandthemoneyaienomoie.
a
Essentially, Volettas desciiption of being schooled in the ways of the
industiy ievolves aiound duplicity in the seivice of piedatoiy complexity.
Biggie, as she iecalled, had been eneigized by the possibility of cieat-
ing a life foi himself thiough the workofrap. And it was this new-found
eneigy that was pieyed upon. Biggies desiie to make himself thiough the
woik of iap was a vulneiability that allowed him to be luied into a bad
contiact by the illusion of a fiiend, which, eventually, suspended his
pioductive potential.
In desciibing hei expeiience of the industiy as akin to being iaped
and iobbed, Voletta makes no simple connection. Instead, she aiticulates
a specic kind of humiliation that is often expeiienced as worse than vio-
lent victimization. Take, foi example, o Cents account of how he was
iebuked by his iecoid label aftei getting shot nine times. I get shot, he
iemembeis. Im in the hospital days, aftei that I call back to Columbia
[Recoids]. Im like, whats up, Im ieady! And they dont have no answeis
foi me. Tats worse than getting shot. Like getting shot is, to me, aftei
Im patched up, Ima be aliight.
os and Volettas expeiiences aie not

unique, howevei. Indeed, similai episodes aie at the heait of iaps ieex-
ive tuin in the mid-,,os.
Raps Reexive Outbursts
In many ways, iaps ieexive stance towaid its own commeicialization
began with A Tiibe Called Quests album, TeLowEndTeory.
Fiustia-
tion with the industiy was summed up in one line that has since become
famous: Industiy iule numbei foui thousand and eighty i Recoid com-
pany people aie shady.
By vocalizing the shadiness of iecoid compa-

nies, Tiibe was setting a tiend: knowledge of the industiy and the way
it ieally woiks is a kind of capital that, if not gained, undeistood, and
heeded, can be ones downfall.
Foi Tiibe, the best way to deal with that fiustiation is to know the
dealto undeistand not only the big pictuie, but also the ne piint
of the iecoid deal itself. In a dieient song on the same album, aptly
titled Show Business, Q-Tip, one of Tiibes two main iappeis, cau-
tions the listenei about the snakes, the fakes, the lies, the highs that
abound in the industiy. Setting the stage foi the stiess and angei that
weie to become cential to New Yoik Citys lyiical iesuigence duiing the
mid-,,os, Tiibe suggests a numbei of piominent themes that emeiged
latei: fiustiation with a business peiceived as fundamentally coiiupt,
duplicity that is woise than physical violence, the necessity of knowing
the deal as a means of piotection and self-defense, and, peihaps most
signicant, the iole of the contiact in binding one, in peipetuity, to bad
deals. In othei woids, complexity, duplicity, and the suspension of a
pioductive life guie as cential in these accounts. Impoitantly, though,
these feelings of being deceived aie almost always accompanied by the
piomise of ievenge.
Tis theme of fiustiation continued into New Yoik Citys lyiical
iesuigence and could be heaid on numeious songs and iecoids. Take,
foi example, Laige Piofessoi, a highly iespected pioducei and iappei
whose caieei has spanned ovei twenty yeais, but whose iecoid label
tioubles have also been the stu of legend.
6
To the listenei, he desciibes
iiding the tiain, tiying to maintain i Getting loweied in the hole while
the iecoid man gain. Te injustice of the situation makes him wanna
sting somebody with the shottie i Cause I cant ielate to living less than
gieat.
;
Laige Piofessoi, that is, expiesses that veiy desiie to laboi, to
make something of himself thiough the woik of iap. Each day, howevei,
while he iides the subway, baiely able to maintainto keep his head
up in the face of adveisitythe iecoid man gains fiom his cieations,
::o Training and Humiliation
both causing and ignoiing a humiliation and fiustiation so deep that it
makes him want to shoot somebody with the shottie, the veiy tools of
new school violence.
Likewise, Jeiu, anothei well-iespected aitist who got his stait in the
,,os, aiticulates a similai notion. My company fucked up my piojects
momentum, he says to the listenei. I came to the table with snakes
while executives put guies on my plates.
8
Similaily, foi Company Flow,
an inuential undeigiound gioup in the ,,os, the souice of label vio-
lence is to be found in the backbone of the system itselfpapeiwoik and
contiacts. Foi El-P, the gioups main pioducei and one of its two iappeis,
his past expeiiences with the industiy have been so humiliating that he
piomises to die befoie he would evei go thiough anothei episode like it.
Nevei again, he wains, I let a iecoid label tiap me with papeiwoik
that leaves me empty i Gas me to dis me i I sweai to god youd have to kill
me.
,
Peihaps the most pionounced contempt and fiustiation, though,
came fiom GZA, a founding membei of Wu-Tang Clan, one of the most
inuential gioups of the eia, whose music meiged the wildness of new
school, ciack-eia violence with a deep iespect foi both mental and physi-
cal tiaining thiough chess and maitial aits. His contempt, while blatantly
disiespectful, also suggests the ways in which labels themselves enact
theii own kinds of violence.
Te ist line of GZAs veise on Wu-Tangs bieakthiough single, Pio-
tect Ya Neck, foi example, plays on the famous iap label, Cold Chillin,
equating it with piobably the most famous legend of duplicity in human
histoiythe biblical stoiy of Cain and Abel.
o
Aftei claiming that iecoid
labels be doing aitists in like Cain did Abel, GZA goes on to desciibe
the cuiient situation in which the industiy nds itself: Now they mon-
eys getting stuck to the gum undei the table. GZAs expeiience of pain,
theiefoie, is nevei fai fiom angiy contempt. His stance, like that of new
school violence towaid old school ghting, is one of iidicule. He mocks
a system of duplicity thatdespite its callous tacticsstill aint had
hits. Labels might tieat aitists like Cain tieated Abel, but they still lose
money. So whats the use? In the end, GZA suggests, it will all fall apait,
and deseivedly so. Tis sense of labels deseiving to lose money piecisely
because of theii duplicity is foicefully evoked in the next line, suggest-
ing that the industiys appiopiiation of iap foi duplicitous ends will be
its downfall: Tats what you get when you misuse what I invent i Youi
empiie falls and you lose eveiy cent. Put simply, these iuthless labels that
tieat people as Cain did Abel do not even know what they aie doing, what
Training and Humiliation :::
iap is, oi what to do about it, they aie both coiiupt and clueless, and, like
old school violence, will become, simply, obsolete.
GZAs contempt is also palpable in the ways he denigiates foolish aspi-
iants to music industiy fame, calling them non-visual niggas with tapes
and a poitiait, who all ood the same old venues and music seminais
staged by iecoid companies in eoits to oibit this industiy. Such people
aie nonvisual and unable to seethey lack both self-iespect and innova-
tion. Foi GZA, tapes and poitiaitswhich suggest things that aie soft
focused, weak, and touched uphave no place in ieal, iaw, stieet iap. He
belittles the methods of maiketing and piomotion cieated by and foi the
industiy.
While most of his contempt is saved foi labels and the fools who fol-
low them, he also attacks the moie sinistei aspects of the industiy in
Labels, a song that plays on the names of no fewei than thiity-nine dif-
feient iecoid labels.
Te songs intio, spoken by the gioups famous pio-

ducei, RZA, is one of the moie explicit statements of label violence up to
that point, suggesting, as RZA does, that the industiys actions aie cleaily
intentional.
a
Lot of people, they be getting misinfoimed, RZA begins,
thinking . . . that you could just get youiself a little deal, you gonna get
on, you gonna get iich. Impoitantly, RZA indicates that, by pieying on
that initial vulneiability, all these labels be tiying to luie us in like spideis
into the web. Te next line, howevei, captuies the essence of iaps ieex-
ive stance towaid its own commeicialization, as RZA sees it as his duty
to school those who do not yet undeistand. So sometimes people gotta
come out and speak up, and let people undeistand . . . if you dont iead
the label, you might get poisoned.
In addition, by using no fewei than thiity-nine labels as lyiics, GZA, in
fact, schoolstheindustry, a ieveisal of whats noimally done to aitists. In
the ist line of the song, foi example, he begins by making fun of Tommy
Boy, a well-known hip hop iecoid label, saying Tommy aint my mothei-
fucking Boy since it fakes moves against those it employs. GZA also
shows that labels aie not what they seem, often they aie owned by othei,
laigei labels while pietending to be independent, with theii eais to the
stieet: Cold Chillin motheifuckeis aie still Wainei Biotheis. Whatevei
theii incompetence and ineptitude, though, labels aie still, ist and foie-
most, desciibed as snakes. In iaps conict with its own commeicializa-
tion, labels are violent, theii lies aie damaging, and can be, to iepeat o
Cent, woise than getting shot. Te coie of the industiys violence, how-
evei, lies in its humiliating eects.
::: Training and Humiliation
Contractual Humiliation
Since sociologist Jack Katzs book Seductions of Crine, the concept of
humiliation has played an incieasingly impoitant iole in explanations of
ciiminal behavioi.
Katz was inteiested in ieplacing an emphasis on indi-

vidual and economic backgiounds that had, so fai, fiamed most expla-
nations of ciime, with an emphasis on the foiegiounds of the ciiminal
act itselfthe expeiiential dynamics by which people come to feel com-
pelled towaid muidei oi iobbeiy, foi instance. He pioposed a theoiy of
moial self-tianscendence, whose cential featuie was a family of moial
emotions, and aigued that the attiaction that pioves to be most fun-
damentally compelling is that of oveicoming a peisonal challenge to
moialnot mateiialexistence.
Many have since boiiowed fiom

Katzs woik, often depending upon a specic ieading of his aiguments.
Foi example, cultuial ciiminologyan impoitant and evei-giowing oii-
entation within the discipline, which has been desciibed as an emei-
gent aiiay of peispectives linked by sensitivities to image, meaning, and
iepiesentation in the study of ciime and ciime contiol
has adapted
Katzs notion of expeiiential foiegiounds to a concept of edgewoik:
a developing aiea of inteiest in ciiminology [that] exploies the sensual
motivations and expeiiential fiamewoiks foi illicit social action, and
investigates the associated moments of maiginality, iecupeiation, and
iesistance.
6
Foi many cultuial ciiminologists, then, edgewoiks focus on
moments of voluntaiy iisk taking holds the piomise of studying tians-
giessive piactices, and can oei a glimpse of alteinative nomadic ways
of being that emeige and become visible inside, but to some degiee out-
side, an actuaiial oidei.
;
Inteiestingly, howevei, in shifting emphases
fiom backgiounds to foiegiounds, Katz appeaied to aiticulate a vision
of sensual deteiminism wheieby the mundane woild is intensied, not
escaped. In his woids, A sense of being deteimined by the enviionment,
of being pushed away fiom one line of action and pulled towaid anothei,
is natuial to eveiyday, ioutine human expeiience.
8
Similaily, in analyz-
ing the moial emotion of iage that moves people to iighteous slaughtei
in oidei to avenge humiliation, Katz aigued that we should not eii by
tieating iage as an escape fiom humiliation.
,
Ciime, iisk, and edginess,
theiefoie, do not necessaiily cieate zones outside the social oidei, but,
instead, hot spaces iight in its belly. Moial tianscendence does not escape
oidei, it makes and iemakes it thiough ie and fuiy. Consequently, iaps
Training and Humiliation ::,
ieexive stance towaid its own commeicializationin which humiliation
and moial outiage guie as keydoes not ieect an attempt to get out,
but, iathei, to get in.
In discussing the iole of humiliation in iighteous slaughtei, foi exam-
ple, Katz aigued that, [w]hen the assailant suddenly diops his aii of indif-
feience, he embiaces his own humiliation.
o
And, impoitantly, in doing so,
He then makes public his undeistanding, not only that he was huit
bythevictim,butthathewasfalsely,foolishly,andcowaidlypretend-
ingnottocaie.Inthisdoubleiespect,theonce-coolbutnoweniaged
attackei acknowledges that he has alieady been norally dominated
justashemovestoseekphysicaldomination.Hebecomeshumiliated
atthesametimeandthioughthesameactioninwhichhebecomes
eniaged.
r
Katz goes on to contend that [h]umiliation may be expeiienced when
theie is a ievelation to you about the conduct of otheis. Tus, you may
become humiliated at the sudden ievelation of the misleading and
immoial acts by which otheis have long tieated you as a fool.
a
Humili-
ation, in shoit, lies in the peiception that otheis help is oeied in an
aggiessive, demeaning spiiit,
and is felt in the oveit intention by oth-

eis to degiade me.
Foi Katz, iage, humiliation, and the eoit to iediess degiadation occui
simultaneously. In becoming eniaged, ones humiliation is made public
at the same time that one moves to avenge it. Impoitantly, though, in
iaps ieexive stance towaid its own commeicialization, humiliation is
not simply made public, it is recordedfor,distributedto,andconsunedby
nillions. In theii moial outbuists, iappeis aie often admitting theii own
vulneiabilities on a vast public scale, betiaying a signicant amount of
pain even while they biag and boast about theii own success. Tese moial
outbuists, while seemingly iandom, take on fai moie signicance when
viewed as a whole, expiessing, collectively, humiliation, iage, and violent
iediess. Recall, foi instance, Laige Piofessoi, whose constant humiliation
at the hands of the iecoid man makes him want to sting somebody with
the shottie. Te actions of the industiy aie expeiienced as misleading
and immoial, and theii duplicity is felt as even moie degiading because it
intentionally pieys on vulneiability.
Rap aitists, even in theii most violent piomises of ievenge, do not call foi
an escape, but, instead, signal a moial attack on the ways in which the music
::; Training and Humiliation
industiy intentionally suspends aitists pioductive lives. Raps piomises of
violent ievenge aie, in Katzs woids, in defense of the Goodthe sacied
coie of iespectability.
Rappeis aie honoiing values typically labeled as

middle class oi bouigeois: the sanctity of the maiital union, iespect foi
piopeity iights, and the impoitance of being a iesponsible debtoi.
6
Rap
aitistslike anthiopologist Philippe Bouigois ciack-dealing subjectsaie
fiantically puisuing the Ameiican dieam, and theii angei cannot simply
be iead as eoits to escape the cuiient oidei, examples of meie ieection,
potential political iesistance, oi gimmicky sensationalism.
In expiessing theii moial outiage, vulneiability, and desiie foi ven-
geance, many iap aitists since the ,,os have aiticulated themes that have
long been deeply inteitwined with what ciiminologistsas I outlined
biiey in chaptei call white-collai ciime. Edwin Sutheilands clas-
sic statement of White-Collai Ciiminality in ,o was a wateished in
the discipline, ieoiienting, as it did, ciiminology away fiom its focus on
biological and intelligence-based theoiies of ciiminal behavioi.
;
Wiiting
just aftei the Depiession, Sutheilands concept of white-collai ciime was
piemised piimaiily on the massive consequences of duplicity and bioken
tiust on a laige scale. In his view, white-collai ciimes in business and the
piofessions consist piincipally of violation of delegated oi implied tiust,
and many of them can be ieduced to two categoiies: misiepiesentation
of asset values and duplicity in the manipulation of powei.
8
Sutheiland
was quite conceined with aiguing that [w]hite collai ciime is ieal ciime,
and that its social costs fai outweigh its nancial ones.
,
In his woids,
Te nancial loss fiom white-collai ciime, gieat as it is, is less impoitant
than the damage to social ielations. White-collai ciimes violate tiust and
theiefoie cieate distiust, which loweis social moiale and pioduces social
disoiganization on a laige scale.
6o
As ciiminologist David O. Fiiediichs
has aigued, Sutheilands peisonal sense of outiage at coipoiate ciiminal-
ity was cleaily a stiong motivating factoi in his woik.
6
And it is piecisely
this sense that duplicity in business loweis social moiale and pioduces
social disoiganization on a laige scale that continues to animate schol-
aiship to this day. It is the widespiead belief among both academics and
populai ciitics that the most damaging eect of business-ielated manipu-
lation is that, in ciiminologist Gil Geiss woids, it sets examples that tend
to eiode the moial base of the law since many coipoiations and theii
manageis aie often well-iespected leadeis.
6a
Put dieiently, When the
iules of the game by which the fiee enteipiise system opeiates... aie dis-
iegaided, the entiie system is endangeied.
6
To be suie, iap aitists since the ,,os have not contiibuted to scholai-
ship on white-collai ciime. As theii eoits to tiain and iestiain new school
violence, howevei, mix with the music industiys business-as-usual duplic-
ity, iappeis ieexive stance towaid theii own commeicialization signies
veiy ieal, seiious, and collective indictments of the noralbase of thework
of the industiy, eectively communicating that the young people who have
become eneigized, as Biggie had, by the piospect of iemaking themselves
thiough the woik of music simply should not be tieated with such disdain.
Recall, in this iegaid, the similai expeiiences of humiliation aiticulated by
iock-and-ioll aitists discussed in chaptei . Tom Waits, foi instance, said it
was a nightmaie to be tiapped in the coipoiate music system. Raps con-
ict with its own commeicialization, though, is dieient fiom these expies-
sions because it piomises violent iediess, andin the piocess of aiticulating
its humiliationadopts the predatorystance of new school violence towaid
this newly expeiienced foim of white-collai duplicity. In iap, expiessions of
pain, iage, ievenge, iidicule, and contempt go togethei. And, in conveying
such emotions, iap aitists evoke both Sutheilands peisonal sense of out-
iage at coipoiate ciiminality and Susan Shapiios iefoimulation of his oiigi-
nal status-based denition aiound the fundamental impoitance of duplicity.
While Katzs aiguments conceining the moial emotion of humiliation
piovide alteinative ways in which iap might be undeistood, the music
industiy eects an even gieatei foim of humiliation in the foim of the
contiact: while public iage exposes the fact of ones vulneiability, in the
contiactwhich suspends ones pioductive potential without pioviding
a physical means of iediessones humiliation becomes inescapable. In
chaptei , I suggested that iaps conict with its own commeicialization
aiticulated angei at, in Shapiios woids, the lies that abound in the oidi-
naiy woild of woik.
6
It is duplicitous, in othei woids, when white-collai
agents opeiate with the knowledge that theii piincipals do not undei-
stand the tiue consequences involved with the deal. In such situations,
the implied consent of the contiact becomes, simply, a pioxy foi inten-
tional obstiuction, if not outiight duplicity. Rappeis claims about the iap
game ieminding them of the ciack game, thus, stem not fiom eoits to
sound sensational but fiom the accumulated expeiiencespeisonal and
second-handof being duped, oi iepeatedly being lied to, foi example,
by ones diug supplieis, who claim pioduct is puie when it has actually
been adulteiated, oi who use iigged scales when distiibuting weight. Te
pioblem is that the iecoid contiact explicitly eschews the tiappings of
a diug deal and, instead, is piesented as its antithesissimilaily situ-
::o Training and Humiliation
ated individuals voluntaiily coming togethei to cieate mutually benecial
agieements. Rappeis do not aiticulate simple naivete, but emotional out-
iage at a diug deala complex business agieement fiaught with seiious
consequencesbeing diessed up as if it weie a faii game.
Te industiys violence, then, is expeiienced as woise than getting shot
because it suspends ones pioductive potential thiough contiact, postpon-
ing the possibility of noimalizing the modicum of stability that had been
achieved thiough victoiies ovei the self. Tiough the contiact, ones vul-
neiability is not simply shown up and made public, itispreserved, peihaps
indenitely. Contiactual language fossilizes ones humiliation by pieseiving
the double-cioss as well as the initial vulneiability that made it possible. Te
attempt to ieign in new school violence thiough the woik of iapmaking
iap into a nonhumiliating space of self-cieationis not only denied, but
suspended in contiact, and made untouchable by violent means alone. In
the industiy, ones humiliation exists in a fundamentally dieient iealm.
Note, in this iegaid, the actual language used by iappeis to expiess theii
humiliation. Luied and tiapped in webs of disiespect. Nevei again,
El-P wains, I sweai to god, youd have to kill me. Te violence of the indus-
tiy is woise than getting shot, as o iemaiks, piecisely because, aftei getting
physically patched up, one will be aliight. Te physical is iepaiiable, esh
and blood piovide boundaiies, they indicate when injuiies have healed. Te
violence of contiactual suspension gives no such advantage, and no sign of
healing. Rap aitists ielate expeiiences of being duped, jeiked, fucked, lied
to, suiiounded by snakes, and locked in contiactual webs that thieaten to
suspend theii pioductive potentials in peipetuity. It is the humiliation of
being made the fool and the violence of being locked in one bad decision.
While the lethality of the stieets lies in the nality of physical death, the
violence of the industiy iesults in a special foim of lethality: the death of a
pioductive life left to iot in peipetuity on the shelf in someones oce. Te
humiliation of the industiy is doubled by the contiact, and fuithei com-
pounded because it completely negates the eoits to ieseat new school vio-
lence thiough tiaining. [A]t least in the ciack game, o explains, you can
lay on somebody. In the contiactual game, howevei, the language that now
pieseives ones humiliation iequiies the help of piofessionals to decode,
which ieciuits otheis into the knowledge of ones vulneiability. Te humili-
ation of being duped must now be explained, pationizingly and expensively,
by otheis, like a joke that eveiyone but you seems to undeistand. Recall,
hence, RZAs sense of duty to come out and speak up, and let people undei-
stand... if you dont iead the label, you might get poisoned.
Conclusion
Foi many iap aitists, stabilizing new school violence thiough tiaining
comes into conict with a dieient kind of violencethat of the industiy.
While violence piactice may help mitigate the lawlessness of the stieet,
in oidei foi one to tiansition into the iap game, industiy tiaining itself
becomes essential. Tis knowledge, though, is usually haidei to get and,
most often, can only be gained by being taken advantage of ist. In addi-
tion, the tiaining that ieseated unpiedictable violence is found to be use-
less in tiansitioning to the industiy. And, the inability of violence tiaining
to tianslate to the white-collai woild is often felt as humiliation.
All of this pain amounts to a kind of exploitation foi which violence is
sometimes seen as the only iediess. It is not the simple fact of duplicity,
but that such duplicity becomes fai woise when iap aitists aie tiying to
make a moial switch fiom unpiedictable lethality to moie stable foims of
woik. In tiansitioning out of new school violence by iemaking a place foi
the old school, many iap aitists nd themselves in a new woild of white-
collai duplicity whose eects aie, in eveiy way, expeiienced as violent.
At bottom, thiough this expeiience of humiliation, new school violence
becomes seen as a necessaiy foim of iegulation to be biought back into
the music business. Such exploitation at the hands of the industiy pio-
vokes piomises of ievengeto nevei let it happen again and to make
things iight.
Te symbolism of ciack in iaps ieexive stance towaid its own com-
meicialization conceins the iemaking of a woild aiound a moial oidei in
which haid, giinding woik guies as key. Te violence that comes to be
associated with the iap industiyespecially in the guie of Suge Knight,
the subject of the next chapteioften ievolves aiound attempts to dis-
iupt humiliation fiom its contiactual state of fiozen animation, and to
ietuin the possibility of a pioductive life.
::,

Facing the Corporation

Pay us like you owe us.
Jay-Z,Izzo,TeBlueprint,aoor
O
n Septembei 6, ,,6, Tupac Shakui was shot foui times as he sat in
the passengei side of a cai while Suge Knightthe head of Tupacs
label, Death Row Recoidswas diiving both of them to a club in Las
Vegas aftei attending a Mike Tyson ght. Tupac died six days latei. His
passing was deeply felt by fans, fellow iap aitists, and the enteitainment
community. On Maich ,, ,,;, Biggie was also shot foui times in the
passengei side of a cai aftei leaving a paity in Los Angeles. He died that
night. His passing was similaily mouined by fans and colleagues. And, in
Septembei ,,;, Suge Knight was aiiested and impiisoned foi a paiole
violation stemming fiom his paiticipation in a stght in the lobby of a
Las Vegas hotel less than an houi befoie Tupac was killed. Since then,
Suge has been in and out of jail on numeious chaiges, and has led foi
bankiuptcy.
Te deaths of Biggie and Tupac iemain signicant, dening events foi
the iap industiy as a whole. But the stoiy of Death Row Recoidswhich
has been desciibed as having set the fiamewoik foi a whole new way of
doing business in the music business
is just as dening, pioviding, as

it did, a biidge between the two violences addiessed in this book: new
school violence and industiy exploitation. And it is the mythology that
has giown aiound the guie of Suge Knight that sits at the coie of this
inteisection. In fact, Suges mythology giew concomitantly with New
Yoik iaps ieexive tuin, both of which came to stand foi the ieal possibil-
ity of avenging the industiys humiliating eects. Both, that is, adopted
the piedatoiy stance of new school violence towaid the asymmetiical
natuie of the music business. Because of the East Coast veisus West Coast
::o Facing the Corporation
conict with which the muideis of Biggie and Tupac will always be asso-
ciated, howevei, Suge and undeigiound New Yoik iap aie often seen as
enemies. Te two, though, cannot be sepaiated, they both depended on
each othei. In shoit, the piomises of ievenge that accompanied the lyii-
cal iage analyzed in the last chaptei nd theii symbolic satisfaction in the
guie of Suge Knight. In ieality, Suge only dealt with a handful of aitists,
but his actions have come to iepiesent the possibility of iediessing the
humiliation that many otheis expiessed only lyiically. Suges mythology,
theiefoie, gives lyiical wainings physical weight, and ieveals the moial
battles at the centei of much industiy-ielated violence. His myth is not
just legal, as one jouinalist put it, but it nakesthelegalpersonal, iemind-
ing the suits in the suites that theie aie consequences to theii actions.
a
In this chaptei, I analyze the complicated mythology of Suge Knight as it
has evolved into a composite pictuie thiough multiple populai souices. In
both ciiticism and piaise, Suges stoiy is an impoitant ie-cieation myth foi
ciack-eia iappeis as it exemplies the possibility of successwithoutsubser-
vience, a possibility that continues to opeiate as a coie element in iappeis
own life stoiies even if Suge himself has ietieated fiom the spotlight.
Suge as Hero
Suge, like Biggie and Tupac, has come to be moie myth than man. And,
also like Biggie and Tupac, his mythology piovides the iap industiyand
the many aspiiing aitists and executives that stiive to succeed in it
with an exemplaiy and cautionaiy tale. As jouinalist Ethan Biown has
shown, the migiation of stieet hustleis into the music businesswhich
has become a dening featuie of the iap industiy as a wholeis almost
invaiiably believed to be peisonied most poweifully by Suge. In Biowns
woids, tales of bat-wielding thugs woiking ovei music industiy execs
took on mythical status within the hip-hop industiy. Budding hip-hop
impiesaiios studied Suges haidball tactics with gieat envy.
Suge did not

begin his caieei as a myth, howevei. Accoiding to many, in the eaily yeais
of Death Row Recoids, Suge was just a big kid, totally nobody.

Te
famous iappei Snoop Doggwho was an oiiginal aitist on Death Row
desciibed him as being quiet, humble, behind the scenes: he was invis-
ible, the invisible man.
Although Suge was to become a laigei-than-life chaiactei, he is most

often desciibed as having had an innocent, even idyllic childhood,
Facing the Corporation :::
and, as a iesult, is somewhat of a liminal guie in the iap industiy. Suge
Knights childhood was idyllic compaied to that of most youngsteis in his
Compton neighboihood. He had two gainfully employed paients.... [H]
e was an athlete.
6
As Dick Giiey, one of his foimei paitneis, said, Suge
wasnt a gangsta. Suge came fiom a family, his mothei and fathei aie still
togethei. He was a college football playei.
;
Consequently, the ist element
of Suges composite emphasizes his liminalitya child of the ghetto who,
neveitheless, was cushioned fiom some of its most destiuctive foices.
Because of his size and athletic ability, Suge was able to attend the Uni-
veisity of NevadaLas Vegas on a football scholaiship. By many accounts,
Suge was a nice guy duiing his time at UNLV. By his senioi yeai, howevei,
Suge is believed to have gone thiough signicant changes. On campus,
he was iegaided as a big, fiiendly guy who slapped backs, told jokes, and
indulged with iemaikable modeiation in diugs, sex, and alcohol.... Dui-
ing his senioi yeai, though, Suge became a moie iemote and mysteiious
chaiactei.
8
Suge began woiking as a bouncei and, eventually, as a body-
guaid foi singei Bobby Biown, a job he desciibed, inteiestingly, as a foim
of industiy schooling, and to which he attiibuted his eventual iise in the
music business. [B]eing a bodyguaid, Suge explained,
is piobably one of the best music industiy schools you can go to
becauseyouiegonnaleaineveiythingaboutthebusiness. . . .Iwas
outtheielookingandleainingandIseenthedieientpeoplecom-
plain,Iseenaitists,Iseenpeopletiyingtobeaitists,Iheaipeople
talkingaboutsongs,Imjustlistening,heaiingitall.
,
Suge soon became an industiy consultant, and, with his eaily aitists,
piacticed what would piove his gieatest skill as a businessman, exploit-
ing an aitists vulneiability.
o
Te second element in Suges myth, then,
builds on his liminality, and foieshadows the piimaiy iole he was to play
as a biidge between stieet violence and industiy exploitation. And Suges
ist mythmaking event in the development of this iole was his punking
of the populai white iappei Vanilla Ice.
As Suge made fuithei inioads into the business as an industiy consul-
tant, he staited managing an aitist named Maiio Johnson who had wiit-
ten a numbei of songs foi Vanilla Ice, as Johnson claims, on the kitchen
table at his [Vanilla Ices] house.
Accoiding to Johnson, howevei, while

he had gotten ciedit foi his woik, he nevei ieceived any money foi it,
whichaftei Vanilla Ices biggest hit, Ice, Ice Baby, began making
::: Facing the Corporation
moneybecame a seiious pioblem. Johnson claimed that Vanilla Ice
tiied to pay him o, but that Suge wasnt having it. Ice iecalls that, one
night, Suge came to see him in a iestauiant: And I was sitting theie, eat-
ing a nice meal, and all of a sudden these huge guysit looked like a foot-
ball teamshowed up.
a
Vanilla Ice claimed that latei, in his hotel ioom,
Suge demanded he pay Johnson a peicentage of the publishing iights,
and hung him ovei the balcony until he agieed. In Vanilla Ices woids,
You can look at it as I was an investoi in Death Row Recoids with no
ietuin on my money.
Vanilla Ice latei denied the stoiy, howevei, claim-

ing that theie was no bad blood between them, and that the balcony inci-
dent nevei happened. Despite legal iecoids showing that Suge had to sue
Vanilla Ices iecoid label, EMI, in oidei to ieceive any money, the stoiy
of the balcony incident stuck, solidifying Suges giowing ieputation in
the industiy. And, as woid of Suges ability to cut thiough industiy com-
plexities and take caie of his aitists spiead, he began to get othei clients
who needed similai help. Te most famous of them was Di. Die, who,
accoiding to a foimei paitnei, had the woist contiacts Id evei seen in
the histoiy of the iecoid business.
Dies stoiy, though, begins with his

attempt to leave the most famous and genie-dening gangsta iap gioup
of all time, Niggas With Attitude (N.W.A.).
Accoiding to legend, N.W.A. was oiiginally put togethei and nanced
by Eazy-E, a local ciack dealei fiom Compton who decided he wanted
to make iecoids. As Jeiiy Helleia well-known iock-and-ioll agent who
eventually became Eazys business paitneiput it, If Eazy made N.W.A.,
then iock made Eazy. Not iock n ioll, but iock cocaine.
Eazywho
nevei intended to be a iappei, but, instead, wanted to be a nanciei
6
met Die thiough Lonzo, a local music piomotei, who had oiiginally
intioduced him to Hellei. As Die would latei desciibe the Eazy-Hellei
paitneiship, Te white boy came in and kind of fucked it all up.
;
As
money staited coming in fiom dieient piojects, ielationships between
gioup membeis began to soui. Foi example, Eazys solo album, EazyDuz
It, was wiitten by fellow N.W.A. membei Ice Cube and pioduced by Die,
but the money geneiated fiom its sales, accoiding to many, was nevei
split up faiily. Eazy allegedly wanted to keep all the money fiom his solo
iecoid and shaie only the pioceeds geneiated fiom the N.W.A. pioject. In
addition, N.W.A. had no wiitten contiacts until Hellei came into the pic-
tuie and demanded that the gioup sign in oidei to ieceive theii checks.
In chaiacteiizing his own view about contiacts in the industiy, Hellei,
bluntly, says this: Locking an aitist into a iecoiding contiact might
Facing the Corporation ::,
iesemble some foim of medieval pationage, but thats the way things aie
done.
8
As the stoiy goes, Ice Cube was the only one who did not sign
the contiact and was soon telling band mates they weie being iobbed.
,

Eventually, Cube says, Eazy and Hellei told him to fuck o.
ao
Cubes
depaituie and the success of his subsequent solo caieei geneiated one
of the iap industiys biggest conicts. As Kevin Powell, a jouinalist who
has coveied iap since the ,,os, said, the on-iecoid aiguments between
NWA and Cube upped the ante foi all dis iecoids, intioducing seiious
thieats of violence into the industiy, which has become, in the opinions of
many, an integial element of the cuiient iap game.
a
Befoie long, the iemaining membeis of N.W.A. wanted out of the
gioup as well. In oidei to secuie his ielease fiom Eazy and Hellei, Die
sought out Suge, both of whom then decided to foim theii own label,
Death Row Recoids, in the piocess. Eazy did not want to let go of Die,
howevei, and had to be peisuaded to make some moves.
aa
As the stoiy
goes, Suge went to see Eazy and Hellei with fiiends and baseball bats
and convinced them that Die no longei woiked foi them. As Hellei
iecounts, Suge Knight walks into the studio thiough the contiol ioom
dooi, and he biings along muscle. A paii of them, big-shouldeied guys,
each caiiying a Louisville Sluggei, handling the maple bats as if they aie
toothpicks.
a
Essentially, Suges composite seives as a ie-cieation myth
of soits in which his liminal natuie was tiansfoimed into his gieatest
stiength. Neithei expeiiencing the woist of ghetto life noi bieaking into
the music business in the usual way, Suge meiged elements of both the
stieets and the suites to develop his own specic method of success. In
his woids, I feel I got a whole, whole lot of stieet ciedibility and stieet
smaits. And at the same time, I giaduated fiom college... I hit the books
and I put both of them togethei.
a
As I have tiied to show in pievious chapteis, iaps conict with its own
commeicialization has nevei been simply about business. And Suge,
who is a cential guie in this ieexive tuin, is symbolically poweiful not
only because he made money. Suge is signicant, instead, because he is a
moially chaiged guie who stands foi the iediess of an immoial system,
and his actions cannot be explained away as business stiategies executed
in the seivice of making money alone. Recall, foi example, that his caieei
in the industiy began, tellingly, at the inteisection of the coipoieal and
the coipoiate. Tat is, as a bodyguaid foi aitists, Suge was schooled in
the business of industiy exploitation thiough the piotection of bodily
capital. Wheie Biggie, Nas, and o Cent weie schooled in the ways of the
::; Facing the Corporation
industiy thiough peisonal humiliation, Suge nevei set out to be an aitist,
instead, he leained by just listening, heaiing it all. In othei woids, Suge
leained the coipoiate by piotecting the coipoieal, and, in piotecting esh
and blood commodities fiom possible coipoieal violence, he was able to
develop a key skill: using physical violence to extiicate people fiom the
violence of contiactual suspension.
In fact, Suge specialized piecisely in extiicating his clients not only
fiom bad business deals, but fiom deals that had become intolerably
huniliating, which had suspended his clients in a state of perpetual
huniliation into whichto boiiow a phiase fiom the last chapteithey
had been luied like spideis into the web and tiapped in contiact. Suge
had come to undeistandin his iole as bodyguaid, not as aitistthat the
violence of the industiy is not impenetiable. And he pioved it by bieak-
ing contiactual ties with baseball bats, and secuiing publishing points
by thieats of death, eectively negating the lies that aboundas Susan
Shapiio famously put itin the oidinaiy woild of woik.
a
Foi the geneiation of iap aitists iaised in the ciack eia, then, Suges
mythology shows that the often humiliating conditions cieated by an
industiy piedicated on asymmetiical ielationships aie not necessai-
ily binding. While o Cent and otheis suggest that violence tiaining can
calm stieet lethality, Suges stoiy highlights the degiee to which it can
also simplify suite complexity. While biinging discipline to the stieets is
calming, biinging the stieets to the industiy is simplifying, focusing, and
iuthlessly eective. New school violence cuts thiough violent complexity.
Sometimes the stieets need a little technique, the suites a little violence.
Suge, theiefoie, signals a ieveisal of powei thiough a fundamental dis-
iespect of business as usual. Just as the iise of new school violence was
based on a piedatoiy stance towaid the old school, Suges iise became
a symbolic iefeience foi the way the woik of iap has been conceived of
since the ciack eia, which takes a contemptuous position towaid music
industiy piactice. Sugelike GZA and Biggieaiticulates contempt foi
the old ways that he sees as useless.
Considei, in this iegaid, Suges discussion of the key pioblems he sees
in the industiy. Te oldei guys in the business, Suge says, only want to
sit you down and say, Look, ok Suge, you say youie a young entiepie-
neui, this is what weie going to do: Give me all the stu you gotgive me
youi tapes, give me youi masteis, give me youi gioupsand Im going
to go ovei theie and make you a deal. Suges iesponse, howevei, was to
say look, I aint no punk. You aint got to talk foi us. Weie going to go in
theie and speak foi ouiself. Instead of getting a dollai, we want ve. And
oui masteis, and oui owneiship.
a6
Suges mythology, thus, announces a
ciucial bieak with the industiys methods of humiliation, which ielied,
chiey, on the ignoiance and vulneiability of aitists who had yet to undei-
stand the two key impeiatives discussed in chaptei : keep owneiship of
youi mastei iecoidings, and nevei give up youi publishing iights. In the
piocess of punking the industry, Suge used a new school stance towaid
violence to biing the complexity of the industiy back down to eaith.
Criminal Violence as Productive
To be suie, Suges mythology is not the ist to imply that ciiminal vio-
lence is an ecient means of iesolving conicts in the business woild.
Take, foi instance, the classic scene in TeGodfather in which the boss of
a movie studio who has denied Don Coileones iequest to cast his godson
in a iole is given an oei he cant iefuse. Te studio boss only agiees to
the iequest aftei waking up beside the seveied head of his favoiite hoise
the next moining. While only ction, the scene suggests the degiee to
which the myths suiiounding the Maa have ielied on a peiceived will-
ingness to use extieme violence to solve otheiwise legal disputes. And,
as music jouinalist Fiedeiic Dannen has shown, a similai atmospheie
of menace also played a key iole in the new payola, a iecoid industiy
scandal duiing the late ,;os and eaily ,8os in which iecoid companies
weie all but foiced to hiie independent piomoteis who paid iadio sta-
tion manageis to play specic aitists.
a;
Simply put, the thieat of violence
is often depicted as being a pioductive foice in the legitimate economy.
Indeed, the notion that ciime and violence aie socially pioductive
foices has been aiticulated many times befoie. In chaptei , foi instance,
I discussed the degiee to which paiadox guies as an essential element in
many wiiteis undeistandings of the punitive tuin in Ameiican ciiminal
justice since the ,;os. And, it is often piecisely in these paiadoxical func-
tions that ciime and violence aie believed to be most pioductive. In Te
RichGetRicherandthePoorGetPrison, foi example, philosophei Jeiey
Reiman aigues that the ciiminal justice systems supposed failuies to
ieduce ciime actually function as successes, both peipetuating the myth
that we aie helpless in pieventing ciime, and masking what Reiman sees
as its tiue souice: economic dispaiity.
a8
In Reimans conception, the inhei-
ently coeicive iealities of wage laboi in a capitalist society aie masked by
::o Facing the Corporation
a ihetoiic of choice that contiibutes to the fundamentally damaging belief
that piedatoiy acts of inteipeisonal violence on the pait of the pooi aie
fai moie blamewoithy and thieatening to social stability and justice than
the piedatoiy acts of mass thieveiy and violence on the pait of the iich
and poweiful. While the ciiminal justice system is believed by many to
function in the seivice of ieducing ciime, in ieality, accoiding to Rei-
man, the system opeiates to pioject the image that ciime is a thieat fiom
below, peipetiated by a ciiminal class made up of the undeseiving pooi,
and is, theiefoie, quite pioductive.
Similaily, ciiminologist Nils Chiisties Crine Control as Industry
chaits the many ways in which ciime has become a laige-scale indus-
tiy employing coipoiations and thousands of woikeis, theieby compli-
cating common beliefs that the system is focused solely on pieventative
functions.
a,
Sociologist Howaid Beckei has also desciibed the degiee to
which the failuie of ciiminal justice opeiations actually aids in theii con-
tinuation: Fiist they [enfoicement oiganizations] say that by ieason of
theii eoits the pioblem they deal with is appioaching a solution. But, in
the same bieath, they say the pioblem is peihaps woise than evei (though
thiough no fault of theii own) and iequiies ienewed and incieased eoit
to keep it undei contiol.
o
While veiy often associated with Maixist,
ciitical, oi labeling peispectives in ciiminology, the paiadoxically pio-
ductive function of ciime, in fact, has been most explicitly aiticulated
by Duikheim. In his famous foimulation, not only has ciime existed in
all societies in all times and places, it has eveiywheie seived an essential
function in keeping societies fiom stagnating into moibidity. If not foi
the ciiminals ability to push against moial stiictuies, societies would no
longei piogiess.
And in positing that ciime is not a pathological element

of biology oi a thiowback to a savage evolutionaiy stage, but, instead, can
be undeistood as a noimal, iational, innovative iesponse to a bioken sys-
tem, sociologist Robeit Meiton similaily demonstiated that ciime could
be a pioductive foice in pioviding alteinative means of achieving the cul-
tuially piesciibed goal of wealth accumulation.
a
Likewise, the entiie tia-
dition of leaining theoiy in ciiminologyfiom the Chicago School to the
subcultuial theoiies that ievised themevokes a similai sense, as ciime
is undeistood to piovide entiie ways of life that allow foi both money and
iespect foi those who face few legitimate piospects.
Peihaps the notion that ciime is multiply pioductive, though, can

best be seen in Foucaults notion of the caiceial aichipelago in which,
he famously aigued, the disciplinaiy techniques of the penitentiaiy have
become so completely diused thioughout eveiy social institution that at
the veiy heait of modein punishment is the cieation and detailed delinea-
tion of the ciiminal, not his eiadication.
And in a similai veinalthough

piesented as an inveision of aspects of Foucaults aigumentanthiopolo-
gists Jean and John Comaio contend that ciime in postcolonial South
Afiica has come to be iepiesented . . . as a neans of production . . . foi
those alienated by new foims of exclusion.
Tey suggest that the ciiminal

obsessions of both iuleis and subjects have become even moie impoitant
to the functioning of the state in iecent yeais, and that populai melodiamas
of ciime aie founded on a dialectic of pioduction and ieductionon the
pioductive conjuiing of a woild satuiated with violence and moial ambigu-
ity, the thieat of which law enfoicement agents alone aie able to ieduce to
habitable oidei.
6
In shoit, they aigue that a metaphysics of disorderthe
hypeiieal conviction, iooted in eveiyday expeiience, that society hoveis on
the biink of dissolutioncomes to legitimize a physics of social oidei to be
accomplished thiough eective law enfoicement.
;
Tus, the peiception that ciime can be pioductive on multiple levels
peivades analyses of ciime at eveiy tuin. And it is heie, in the appai-
ent pioductivity of ciime, that the impoitance of Suge Knights villainy
lies. While a huge swell of educated opinionfiom conict to consensus
theoiyattiibutes paiadoxical functions to both ciiminal actions and the
systems iesponse, public debate, moie often than not, casts guies like
Suge as monstious abeiiations, iathei than iational actois iesponding to
bioken systems. Tis is akin to the bad apples theoiy so often invoked to
explain complex pioblems with systemic souices. Suge, howevei, signals
a key dieience in the pioductivity-of-violence aigument: the mythol-
ogy suiiounding Suge Knight is an indication of the degiee to which the
seemingly ecient, instiumental use of diiect stieet violence to simplify
the humiliating complexity of industiy manipulation fell back on itself.
Tis cautionaiy element is ciucial to Suges mythology, which pioblema-
tizes his status as heio, and begins, accoiding to multiple souices, shoitly
aftei the success of Di. Dies gioundbieaking solo album, TeChronic.
8
Suge as Villain
Aftei secuiing Dies ielease fiom Eazy, and in oidei to nance a studio foi
theii new iecoid label, Suge tuined to Michael Haiiy O Haiiis, a majoi
cocaine tiackei who giew up as a membei of the Bounty Huntei Bloods
::8 Facing the Corporation
gang in South Cential Los Angeles. Known as godfathei to his stieet
associates, Haiiy O also had numeious legitimate business ventuies, one
of which was a Bioadway play, Checknate, which staiied a young Denzel
Washington. In oidei to ght a numbei of seiious diug tiacking chaiges,
Haiiy O hiied David Kennei, a long-time Los Angeles ciiminal lawyei spe-
cializing in fedeial diug cases, and the two became close fiiends. Haiiy O
eventually oeied Kenneis seivices to Suge. As Haiiy O iecalls, Suge had
about ve oi six pending cases which David Kennei was able to contiol and
get iid of.... David Kennei was the guy who made Suge secuie.
,
Suge, in
tuin, was able to oei Kenneis skills to the aitists on Death Row. Togethei,
Haiiy O and Suge decided to cieate Godfathei Enteitainment, of which
Death Row Recoids was to be one entity. Haiiy O, howevei, wanted to stay
behind the scenes, with no ocial attachment. With Haiiy Os help, Suge
upgiaded theii studio and Die began woiking on TeChronic, which would
eventually become one of the most famous iap albums of all time, secuiing
Dies ieputation as one of iap musics most impoitant pioduceis.
Befoie nding success with it, though, Suge and Die had tiied to shop
Te Chronic at seveial iecoid labels in oidei secuie a distiibution deal.
Sony, foi instance, was inteiested, but declined, accoiding to some, out of
feai, believing that Suge had iobbed Eazy of his aitists. As one jouinalist
desciibed it, Pait of theii feai in dealing with iap bands is that some of
these gangstei iappeis might tuin out to be ieal gangsteis.
o
Death Row
eventually made a deal with Jimmy Iovine, head of Inteiscope Recoids,
and went tiiple platinum, selling ovei thiee million copies of Te
Chronic. Because of the success of both Te Chronic and Snoops debut
album, Doggystyle,
Death Row became the coie of Wainei Biotheis

Musics [Inteiscopes paient company] money-making machine.
a
Impoi-
tantly, howevei, it is the success of TeChronicthat maiks the beginnings
of Suges downfall, which, as a numbei of foimei associates iemembei, he
piecipitated by embiacing his giowing celebiity status.
Aftei a while, Suge staited to appeai on magazine coveis and became a
celebiity himself, in the eyes of many, he was getting lost in the fame. As
Haiiy O iecalls, Oiiginally I told him that he should nevei put himself
on the fiont of magazines. Always stay in the cut, always stay in the back-
giound. Tats how you have moie powei.
Suges lawyei, David Kennei,

also seemed to get caught up in the lifestyle, getting moie involved with
the music business, and, allegedly, tieating Haiiy Os cases as secondaiy.
Kennei and Suge eventually cieated theii own sepaiate company without
Haiiy Os knowledge.
Foi many of the aitists, howevei, woiking in Death Row became,
in theii woids, like woiking in a piison. Accoiding to one foimei
employee who also iecounted an episode in which Suge beat hei up, He
ian that company like it was his gang.
Death Row opeiated undei a

demeiit system that RBX, one of its foimei aitists, desciibed thus: Say
something wiong, you get smacked. If you come late, you get smacked.
If you do this, you get smacked.... To me it was like pimps and hoes.

And Snoop iecalled that, aftei a while, Suge was unappioachable.
6
In
addition, accoiding to a numbei of foimei aitists and employees, beat-
ings in the Death Row oces had become iegulai occuiiences, and peo-
ple auditioning foi iecoid deals would often be caught unawaies. Tey
would famously lock the doois on you,
;
the infamous dooi locking
wheie they take you in a ioom and touch you up and down.
8
Kennei,
by some accounts, would often watch, and people would sometimes vid-
eotape. Haiiy O iemembeis that [i]t was funny to him [Suge]. It made
him feel good to have that kind of powei oi to instill that type of feai.
,

Peihaps not suipiisingly, many of the aitists began to have seiious piob-
lems with this tuin. Both DOCanothei instiumental guie in gangsta
iaps eaily yeaisand RBX giew unhappy with the labels diiection.
o

Eventually, as Snoop put it, thiough the giace of god and thiough good
attoineys, they weie able to leave. Eveiybody else was foiced in a choke-
hold aftei that.
Tis daikei side of the inteisection of stieet and suite violence that
Death Row iepiesented came to its most visible foim in the muideis of
Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakui. Suges iise to success, and the methods
thiough which it was accomplished, put him in diiect competition with
Sean Puy Combs, the New Yoik Citybased label ownei who, some
claim, had modeled his own company, Bad Boy Recoids, on Death Row.
What had staited as a competition between music iivals took, in the
woids of jouinalist Kevin Powell, this violent tuin that hadnt happened
befoie.
a
Te ensuing conict between the two camps would involve
death thieats, and accusations of violence all aiound. While the tiag-
edies that followed appeaied to be unsuipiising iesults of that conict,
the actual events have not been iesolved and, despite numeious theoiies,
theie is no cleai evidence of ciiminal iesponsibility in any diiection.
Undoubtedly, his is a diamatic stoiy of business and money, but Suges
piimaiy signicance lies in his dual iole as both hero and villain. As a
iesult, his mythology does double duty in iaps confiontation with its
own commeicialization, pioviding a model to emulate as well as a path
:,o Facing the Corporation
to avoid. Wheie Suges use of stieet violence to negate the humiliating
eects of the industiy piovides iap aitists iaised in the ciack eia with a
heioic guie, Suges villainy also suggests that enjoyment of violence foi
its own sakeiathei than its instiumental usecan lead to ones down-
fall. By letting his own violence oveitake him, Suge, accoiding to his com-
posite pictuie, authoied his own demise. His eaily instiumental uige to
own the masteis and get his aitists theii due became a peisonal desiie foi
violence, which, in the woids of Haiiy O, was funny to him. Te monstei
image of Suge, hence, seives as a cautionaiy tale foi the ciack geneiation:
when the line between violence in the seivice of business and violence
foi its own sake bluis, the tiansfoimation of violence fiom its foimeily
ciicumsciibed natuie in the old school to the unattached, unpiedictable
netwoiks of the ciack eia can become the fetishization of violence foi its
own sake. As I discussed in chapteis a and , new school violence became
socially disiuptive because it ebbed and owed accoiding to impeisonal,
uncontiollable, abstiact foices, iathei than being anchoied by codes of
iespect and honoi. Suges mythology, theiefoie, shows that, when vio-
lence becomes an end in itself, it can lose its functionality, becoming
uniaveled and undisciplined. Violence foi its own sake, in othei woids,
no longei functions as an instiument in the iegulation of maikets.
Violence in the ciack eia was unseated fiom its cultuial mooiings in
the community, it became teiiifying because its only attachment was to
piot, bypassing tiaditional methods that once contiolled it. Suges latei
violence, then, illustiates that instiumental violence can double back and
teiioiize itself, becoming a closed system attached to the pioduction of
violence iathei than the pioduction of piot thiough the ecient use of
new school methods. Put simply, instiumental violence gone too fai is
inecient. Neithei cultuially attached noi diiven by piot, it becomes
counteipioductive. Te veiy simplicity that made Suges use of bodily
violence so eective in the shoit iun ultimately led to his own demise in
the long iun.
In sum, Suge Knight is a poweiful symbol in the iap industiy because
he exemplies two sides of the use of violence: when used in disciplined
buists, it piovides fieedom fiom humiliation and a suspended life, when
an end in itself, howevei, it can become a thoioughly unpioductive ele-
ment that signals the demise of ones pioductive potential. Consequently,
Suges mythology ieveals a key balancing act that many in the cuiient
iap industiy often must navigate: () be just violent enough to (a) stimu-
late a voyeuiistic public evei eagei foi tales of innei-city violence, and
Facing the Corporation :,:
(b) detei white-collai agents fiom the moie egiegious foims of decep-
tion and manipulation, but (a) not so violent that one is actually killed
oi jailedlike so many have beenas a iesult. Te ultimate lesson of
Suges villainous mythology, theiefoie, is to be found in one depiessing
fact: while Tupac and Biggie aie dead, Haiiy O is in piison, and Suge is
in bankiuptcy, Inteiscope Recoids was able to sell its shaie in Death Row
foi soo million. Tis is the case even though it was Death Rows violent
escapades that had made Inteiscope so much money in the ist place,
tuining it into the coie of Wainei Biotheis Musics money-making
machine. In addition, Inteiscope executives, accoiding to a numbei of
industiy insideis, weie well awaie of Death Rows violent activities since,
foi one thing, the two companies sat, liteially, acioss the hall fiom each
othei. As one wiitei put it, Inteiscope Recoids decided to tuin a blind
eye to the violence. . . . Many people connected to Inteiscope felt, since
Death Row was eaining the label millions of dollais, Inteiscope could not
aoid to iisk damaging the ielationship.
Inteiscopes ability to avoid any

guilt by association, actually, was due, in laige pait, to the specic stiuc-
tuie of coipoiate music, which can hide its own ties to violence behind
the many aitists who become, in essence, its visible face. While white-
collai violence is often hidden, physical violence is inheiently messy, vis-
ceial, and visible to all. In tuining to such violence as a means to cieate
spaces of nonhumiliating woik, many in the iap game, like Suge, hasten
theii own demise.
Facing the Corporation
If, as I tiied to show in the last chaptei, the industiys violence is pei-
ceived as woise than stieet violence because it suspends, in contiact
foim, ones humiliation in peipetuity, and, theieby, compounds it, then
avenging that humiliation would iequiie eiasuie of that suspension, and a
bieaking of the binds. Often, though, iediessing that humiliation is made
all the moie dicult because of the coipoiate natuie of the music busi-
ness, whichbecause of the coipoiations stiuctuiemakes it dicult
to locate souices of blame, allowing foi a diusion of iesponsibility. Tis
stiuctuie, as legal scholai Joel Bakan has shown, includes at least thiee
inteiielated elements: () the sepaiation of owneiship fiom management,
(a) coipoiate peisonhood, wheieby coipoiations aie piotected by the
Fouiteenth Amendments iights to due piocess, and () the coipoiations
:,: Facing the Corporation
mandate to inciease shaieholdei wealth at all costs.
Indeed, collec-
tively, these elements aie often desciibed by those it aects as faceless-
ness. Recall fiom chaptei , foi example, musician Steve Albinis vision of
the coipoiate music making piocess in which a faceless industiy lackey
stands at one end of a tiench lled with iunny, decaying shit, waiting foi
a band to swim acioss and sign a iecoiding contiact. Recall, also, singei
Tom Waitss notion that coipoiations dont have feelings, suggesting
that facelessness and lack of compassion go hand in hand.
In fact, many iecent ciitics contend that facelessnessin both coipo-
iate and inteinational goveinancelies at the veiy heait of social justice
today. In the ist pages of GlobalizationandItsDiscontents, foi instance,
economist Joseph Stiglitz desciibes the degiee to which peiceptions of
facelessness have iisen to global piominence: Inteinational buieau-
ciatsthe faceless symbols of the woild economic oideiaie undei
attack eveiywheie. Foimeily uneventful meetings of obscuie technociats
discussing mundane subjects such as concessional loans and tiade quotas
have now become the scene of iaging stieet battles and huge demonstia-
tions.
Similaily, in an analysis of community tiauma in the afteimath of

technological disasteis, sociologist Kai Eiikson tiaces how peiceptions of
facelessness exaceibate such expeiiences foi the victims.
6
He aigues that
technological catastiophes aie expeiienced quite dieiently fiom natuial
disasteis, and piovoke outiage iathei than iesignation piecisely because
[t]hey geneiate a feeling that the thing ought not to have happened, that
someone is at fault.
;
Unfoitunately foi the victims, Eiikson explains, the
company diaws into its own inteiioi spaces and posts lawyeis aiound its
boideis like a iing of pickets.
8
He goes on say that [t]hose who manage
coipoiations then talk about the people who have been huit as if they
weie things, bloodless and inoiganic.
,
Tose huit, howevei, iaiely foi-
get... that coipoiate decisions aie made by human beings and that coipo-
iate policies ieect the views of human beings. And it can be piofoundly
painful when the people in chaige of a company . . . deny iesponsibility,
oei no apology, expiess no iegiets, and ciouch out of sight behind that
wall of lawyeis and legalisms.
6o
Tese widespiead beliefs about the duplicity and deceitfulness of face-
less companies aie peisonied in Bakans book and documentaiy lm,
Te Corporation. In both, he aigues that, if ieal human beings had pei-
foimed many of the same actions in which coipoiations iegulaily and
legally engage, they would be dened as sociopaths without compassion,
feelings, oi iegaid foi human life. Essentially, what many of these iecent
Facing the Corporation :,,
ciiticisms of coipoiate facelessness ieveal is the fundamentally paiadoxi-
cal natuie of coipoiate iesponsibility: the modein coipoiation is an oiga-
nization that, by law, is given ctitious peisonhood, yet its stiuctuie of
diused, public owneiship simultaneously allows it to iemain faceless.
Te coipoiation is a peison without a face, and a body that has no body to
attack, allowing the ieal human actois who iun it to ciouch out of sight
behind that wall of lawyeis and legalisms. And, as so many ciitics sug-
gest, it is exactly this inability to hold ieal people accountable that makes
coipoiate humiliation so painful.
In addition, these pioblems of accountability become even moie dif-
fused when these faceless peisons take owneishipas they have come
to do on a giand scaleof intellectual and cultuial piopeities. Legal
scholai Rosemaiy Coombe, foi example, has aigued that the conception
of authoiship undeigiiding intellectual piopeity law denies the social
conditions and cultuial inuences that shape the authois expiessive cie-
ativity, theieby investing him oi hei with a powei that may boidei on
censoiship in the name of piopeity.
6
She aigues that, [w]hethei the law
iecognizes an oiiginal woik undeistood to embody the peisonality of a
unique cieatoi, as it does when aiming copyiight, oi acknowledges a
signiei and its meanings to be cieations of a singulai and unique souice
of oiigin, as it does in piotecting tiademaiks, the powei of the authoi is
ieinfoiced.
6a
Consequently, Both fiamewoiks depend foi theii intelligi-
bility upon the asseition of a unitaiy point of identity, what Coombe calls
a metaphysics of authoiial piesence, which, pioblematically, denies the
investment of otheis in the cieative piocess.
6
In a stiange tuin, then, when coipoiations take possession of cultuial
piopeities, theie occuis a paiadoxical meigei of facelessness and authoiial
piesence in which individual souices of oiiginwhich deny the invest-
ment of otheis in the cieative piocessaie giafted onto ctitious peisons
who aie piotected by walls of lawyeis and legalisms. While ieaping the
benets that acciue thiough individual owneiship, faceless coipoiations
aie dicult to hold accountablesymbolically and mateiiallyfoi the cie-
ations they own. And thiough this veiy facelessness, coipoiations aie bet-
tei able to spiead the accountability that, histoiically, has undeigiided intel-
lectual piopeity laws individual point of oiigin. Foi example, wheie eaily
copyiight lawwhich I discussed in chaptei held individual authois
accountable foi cieating obscene, blasphemous, and seditious woiks, in
the twenty-ist centuiy this same legal stiuctuie now allows coipoiate
peisons to disown iesponsibility foi the violent eects the cieations they
:,; Facing the Corporation
own may have caused. Coipoiations can lay claim to the cultuial pioducts
they do not cieate, pieventing otheis fiom tiespassing on those cieations,
while simultaneously denying theii own embeddedness in the ieal esh and
blood communities that piovide theii laboi.
In othei woids, much of the pain expeiienced by people aected by
facelessness ievolves aiound the coipoiations ability to own without
having to own up. And, most impoitant, when analyzed in the context
of ciacks paiadoxical punishment, coipoiate facelessness stands in a
stiange ielationship to iaps ieexive stance towaid its own commeicial-
ization: while ciack dealeis weie asciibed a foim of culpability without
intentionality, faceless coipoiations have been asciibed a foim of inten-
tionalitythe cieativity and owneiship claims of individualswithout
a commensuiate level of culpability. In the iap industiy, the iationale
undeilying ciacks punishment (which takes couiieis as if they weie king-
pins) conveiges with the accountability stiuctuie of authoiship (by which
the music industiy benets) to cieate a system in which iappeis aie taken
as the sole points of oiigin geneiating theii ciiminal cieations, while the
coipoiate bodies that undeiwiite and piot fiom them continue to dif-
fuse theii own iesponsibility and iemain faceless. Since ciack dealeis aie
mistakenly seen as the sole authoisand, hence, owneisof new
school violence, iappeis aie viewed as the mouthpieces foi the moial
decay that ciack dealeis aie believed to have cieated. And it is piecisely in
this stiange inveision that the signicance of Suge Knight is to be found,
a signicance that also denes the balancing act that so many in the iap
industiy must now constantly navigate.
Take, foi example, West Coast iap pioneei Ice-Ts desciiption of the
iap industiy: Most iap ciews aie made up of fty peicent businessmen
and fty peicent thugs. Fifty peicent of youi ciew is made up of home-
boys that just came home fiom jail.
6
As a iesult, Ice-T asks, What can
he do, what can he actually do but say yo, Joe Blow was dissin you and I
knocked him out in the club? In his woids, Tat thug element is always
ieady to ieach out and touch anybody, whethei its a cameiaman, whethei
its an inteiviewei, whethei its somebody on the iadio. Accoiding to Ice-
T, many paiticipants in the iap industiy do not have any othei way of
showing the iappei that they they man othei than busting somebody in
they head. And thats wheie they get theii stiipes. In shoit, Tat thug
element is always available piecisely because the pioductivity of ciime
has become so thoioughly integiated into the woik of iap. Te thug ele-
ment is fai moie than gimmick, it is, instead, aneansofproduction foi
those who aie useful only as long as they can put themselves in the middle
of violent situations that they can then handle. Tey aie, that is, necessaiy
only as long as they aie violently pioductive.
Take, also, a quote fiom o Cent, which ieveals a similai element at
woik. As he explains, Any nigga that you got with you that ioll with you
thats supposed to be a ieal nigga, if hes youi suppoit, if hes the nigga
the stieets look to and say dont fuck with them because of this nigga,
he needs an alteication to take place foi him to be theie, foi him to be
necessaiy.
6
Accoiding to o, He needs you to have pioblems foi him
to be necessaiy, and then you need to give him something foi handling it
foi you. So all he wants is situations that can come and he can deal with
foi you. It is, howevei, os next line that ieveals the key to the balancing
act that is often seen as a necessity in the iap industiy: But when the shit
ieally hit the fan, he aint going to want to be pait of that neithei.... At
the end of the day, what the money mean? Nice oweis at youi wake?
Essentially, in having to negotiate the pioductive iole of violence
which holds the piomise of iediessing humiliation as well as the poten-
tial foi piecipitating ones downfallpaiticipants in the iap industiy face
double-edged swoids. New school violence is only pioductive as long as
it can be kept in line. But foi those whose pioductive lives have become
completely united with theii ciiminal potentials, that violence con-
stantly thieatens to spill ovei and become unpioductive. Te tiaining and
iestiaining of new school violenceas Nass song One Love expiesses
has become, theiefoie, an indispensable pait of the woik of iap, and it
is Suges dual mythology that communicates this necessity. Considei the
following quotation fiom famous iap managei Russell Simmons:
Whenyouistcomeoutofthehood . . .andyouweieadiugdealei,
youi fiiends weie diug dealeis, and youi fiiends is thugs, and you
weie just a poet that hung out with thugsyou might have been a
thugtooandyougotaiecoid.Peopleaioundyouaieveiypiotec-
tive,theyieveiyviolent,theydontieallybelievetheyhaveanything
tolivefoi,andyouaiethecenteipieceoftheiilives,andyouietiying
totiainthemasyouleained.Itstough.
66
So it is that the successful iappei is one who has masteied both woilds
one who has come to successfully embody this meigei of stieet violence
and industiy piedation and who can negotiate and iestiain the new school
violence that constantly thieatens to spill ovei and piecipitate the demise
:,o Facing the Corporation
of ones pioductive life. Tis conveigence is nevei fully ieconciled, how-
evei, and isto iecall a phiase fiom chaptei a crushingfreedon.
Indeed, the fulllment of this consolidation can be seen in Jay-Zs plainly
titled song, Rap Game i Ciack Game,
6;
which biings us back, full ciicle, to
the equation with which this book began: somehow the iap game ieminds
me of the ciack game. Signicantly, the song begins, We tieat this iap
shit just like handling weight, indicating that the iap-ciack connection is
no longei a ciitique, oi a ciitical ash point, it is now an explicit advan-
tage, awaytodoitourselves. In addition, Jays use of we instead of they
to desciibe the ielationship between the iap game and the ciack game is
impoitant, as it symbolically meiges the aitists who stiive to iestiain the
new school violence of the ciack eia with the iecoid labels who lie, cheat,
and seduce nave iappeis into webs of bioken piomises undeiwiitten and
ieinfoiced by the humiliating suspension of a pioductive life. Te song
signals a ciucial shift in the way that ielationship had been iapped about
befoie. Te ciack game is now the stiuctuial logic, the piime movei, the
giammai of business. Te woik of ciack is no longei ieminiscent of the
woik of iap, it is the woik of iap. Jay does not aiticulate a duty to speak
out, iathei, he is making it cleai how we, not just those sleazy executives,
tieat the industiy. Jay-Z peifects the union of ciack woik and iap woik,
claiming about his songs, I got that uncut iaw to make a ends body jeik.
And, like the ciack tiade, the ends addiction is oui piot. Because we aie
ieal, stieet hustleis, we can do what the executives do, but bettei. We
have become just as exploitative as the labels, the dieience is that we now
ievel in, iathei than hide fiom, that exploitation. We embiace it. If used
coiiectly, angei and fiustiation become anothei school of haid knocks,
allowing one to leain about the businessthe ins, the outs, as well as the
ways to exploit otheis. In this iespect, ghting the beast tuins you into one.
To quote, again, Biggies ist line in Te Ten Ciack Commandments: I
been in this game foi yeais, it made me a animal i Teies iules to this shit,
I made me a manual.
In sum, Suges mythology symbolizes the possibility of combating the
industiys humiliating violence by cutting thiough the suspension of a
pioductive life with the haid violence of the new school. Just as old school
patteins of violence weie disiupted by the lethal iegulation of volatile
ciack maikets, so, too, can old school industiy piactices be alteied by
new school methods. Suge demonstiated that contiactual humiliation
can be neutialized. He also showed that, if left unchecked and undisci-
plined, those veiy same means of iediess can lead to ones downfall.
Conclusion
Paiadoxically, while ciack dealeis nevei have been kingpins, in taking
them as such, the punishment stiuctuie foi ciack downplays theii inten-
tionality while upgiading theii culpability. And, similaily, while face-
less coipoiations aie nevei the sole points of oiigin of cieative woiks,
the legal ction that tieats them as such upgiades theii authoiial pies-
ence while downplaying theii culpability in peipetuating humiliation
and compiomising the moial base of law. Although swept up by ciack-
ielated tiansfoimations out of theii contiol, and taken as iepiesentatives
of a new eia of violence they denounce as well as celebiate, iap aitists
aie now in a position to be the faces of otheiwise faceless coipoiations,
and to be taken as wholly iesponsible foi theii own immoial cultuial
piopeities.
Sometimes taken as haibingeis of moial decay, oi supeipiedatois
without conscience, iap aitists aie often despeiately tiying to make
spaces of nonhumiliating woik in woilds of lethal, maiket-diiven violence
that they did not cieate, but now must sta, balancing theii own ciiminal
potential with the possibility of death, and standing as the faces of theii
own ciiminal biands, positioned to take the fall when the balancing act
swings too wildly. Te piofound misiecognition that changed couiieis to
kingpins has also come to misiecognize industiy-ielated violence in iap
as only the incuision of codes of the stieet into an otheiwise nonvio-
lent piactice.
While iecoid labels that model themselves on diug gangs sometimes
mimic coipoiate stiuctuies because theii diusion of iesponsibility pio-
tects the top playeis, theie is one fundamental featuie that ieal stieet
oiganizations all shaie: moial and mateiial wiongs aie avenged physically.
While lowei-level soldieis expeiience the woist of it all, leadeis must
also iemain vigilant because teimination is taken liteially and does not
include golden paiachutes.
Violent iediess seems to ielevel the playing eld by making con-
sequences ieal. And, foi a while, it does. Yet, as the mythology of Suge
Knight illustiates, the veiy thing that, at ist, seems to equalize asym-
metiical ielationships, iesults, paiadoxically, in the vastly unequal out-
comes of physical death and nancial iuin. Te metaphoi of ciack in iaps
conict with its own commeicialization, thus, iecalls an eia in which
esh and blood people became necessaiy souices of exible, violent laboi
:,8 Facing the Corporation
in maiket conditions they did not cieate, butthiough the twin foices
of dispiopoitionate punishment and coeicive mobilityweie piopelled
into stang. New school violence is multiply pioductive: in the stieets,
it eects both powei and loss, in the suites, it iediesses contiactual
humiliation, and, foi the collective expeiience of ciime and punishment
in twenty-ist-centuiy Ameiica, it continues to piovide easy, visceial
pioof that ciime is stilldespite ovei a decade of declining violence
iatesa pioblem iequiiing punitive toughness to combat.
:,,
Conclusion
Livin in the world no dierent from a cell.
InspectahDeckinWu-Tang,C.R.E.A.M.,EntertheWu-Tang
(,oChanbers),r,,
O
n Febiuaiy a, aoo8, an aiticle in the êwYorkTines aleited audi-
ences to a new diug scouige in Aigentina that has an eeiie iesem-
blance to the histoiy of ciack cocaine in the United States.
Te aiticle
chaits the iiiepiessible spiead of paco, a highly addictive, smokable
cocaine iesidue that has destioyed thousands of lives in Aigentina and
caused a cycle of diug-induced stieet violence nevei seen befoie. In
the eaily aooos, the aiticle iepoits, ciude yellowish ciystals began to
show up in impoveiished neighboihoods acioss the countiy. Te naicot-
ics oceis who aie quoted thioughout the aiticle claim that much of the
spiead is due to the laige, poious boidei Aigentina shaies with Bolivia,
which [f ]ewei than aoo fedeial police oceis patiol, theieby leaving
tiackeis fiee iein. Most inteiesting, though, is the connection made
between pacos highly addictive natuie and the way in which it is made.
Accoiding to the aiticle, Paco is even moie toxic than ciack because it
is made mostly of solvents and chemicals like keiosene, with just a dab
of cocaine. Tis highly addictive toxicity, the aiticle ielates, has diiven
young addicts into diug-induced hysteiias, and has galvanized local
communities aiound eoits to stop the plague. Recalling the ways in
which the ciack eia tiansfoimed violence fiom a cultuially based, honoi-
bound foim to an unpiedictable, entiepieneuiial foice, one local woman
explains, Befoie theie weie codes.... Now theie aie no codes. We need
to stand up and stick it to two oi thiee dealeis.
With a few minoi alteiations, this aiticle could be an exact copy of
those wiitten at the height of the ciack panic. To those of us who have
:;o Conclusion
lived thiough that panic, the aiticlewhich ielies piimaiily on quota-
tions fiom naicotics oceissounds like the not-so-distant diumbeat
of anothei vaiiation on a diug wai. As with ciack, the dangei of paco
seems to iely on a similaily paiadoxical foim of ieasoning. Pacos sup-
posedly addictive dangei lies in the fact that it is evennore impuie than
ciack. Accoiding to the aiticle, paco is piimaiily composed of chemicals,
with just a dab of cocaine. Yet, as in Ameiicas iesponse to ciack, paco
is piesented as a social pioblem that can and should be punished away.
Te suggestion, howevei, that the ciiminal justice system could evei do
anything of substance about a scouige of ciystallized keiosene being
smoked by impoveiished youth is piofoundly pioblematic. And, in fact,
it is a young paco useis own explanation of his addiction that thiows the
iiiationality of such an appioach into full ielief. In his woids, it was the
despeiation and depiession of Aigentinas seveie economic ciisis
and the piessuie that it causes in a peisonthat led him to addictively
inhale a cocaine-infused chemical cocktail.
If this book communicates only one laigei notion about the cultuial
lives of ciime and punishment, I hope it is this: no mattei who calls foi
its use, modein punishment, in the woids of ciiminologist Todd Cleai,
is, without question, a blunt instiument. It does not oei a panoiama of
nely calibiated expeiiences designed to suigically counteiact the foices
of evil.
a
While ciiminal justice has an impoitant pait to play in social jus-
tice geneially, this iole is oveistated by thosewhethei on the Right oi
on the Leftwho advocate foi incieased punitiveness, iegaidless of how
obvious oi just theii ultimate cause may seem. In tiuth, the biutally com-
plex natuie of ieal-woild sueiing can only be addiessed by the ciimi-
nal justice system the one way it has evei addiessed anythingthiough
ieductive eoits to sepaiate the guilty fiom the innocent, the piedatois
fiom the victims. Social complexity is incompiehensible to ciiminal jus-
tice, which is stiuctuied against it. Puie victims and puie oendeis iaiely
exist in the ieal woild, and, instead, ieect aiticial, naiiow abstiac-
tions that must t into the only dichotomy that is evei allowed: iight and
wiong. Tis iuthlessly unieal logic is ill suited foi healing the multifac-
eted eects of ieal-woild tiauma, which iequiie healing and help beyond
the angei stage of state ietaliation. None of this is the fault of eithei ciimi-
nal justice agents oi theii agencies, howevei. Indeed, the system has done
piecisely what weve asked it to doput people away. And it continues to
do so quite well.
Conclusion :;:
Considei, foi example, how felony cases go fiom aiiest to piosecution
to punishment. Nationally, oui cleaiance iatesa case is cleaied when an
aiiest is made by police and tuined ovei foi piosecution
aie a; peicent
foi iobbeiy cases, o peicent foi iape, peicent foi aggiavated assault,
and 6 peicent foi muidei, which always has the highest iate because
theie is usually a dead body and often many witnesses (piopeity cases
have cleaiance iates in the teens).
With those aiiests, piosecutois must

then decide whethei to le foimal chaiges and pioceed with piosecu-
tion. Even with slight vaiiations acioss juiisdictions, pietty much acioss
the boaid, piosecutois le chaiges aiound o peicent of the time.
While
theie aie numeious ieasons foi diopping cases, piosecutois do so pii-
maiily because of victim noncoopeiation oi lack of evidence. Once o-
cial chaiges aie led, howevei, iates foi convictioni.e., the peicentage of
cases biought foi piosecution that lead to a judgment of guiltaie ovei-
whelmingly high, aiound ;o peicent foi all felonies.
6
A full , peicent of
those convictions nevei go to tiial, and aie obtained thiough guilty pleas
(i.e., defendants admit guilt and waive theii iight to a tiial).
;
Of those con-
victed, neaily ;o peicent aie sentenced to jail oi piison.
8
Despite convic-
tion and incaiceiation iates in the seventy-plus peicentile, the ciiminal
justice system is continually poitiayed as soft on this oi that ciime by
advocates acioss the political spectium, with seiiously damagingand
often unintendediesults.
Many black leadeis, foi example, initially suppoited tough-on-ciime
positions against ciack cocaine in the ,8os on exactly the same giounds
as those who now advocate foi hate ciime statutes: equal piotection
befoie the law. Black communities felt the biunt of ciack-ielated destiuc-
tiveness, and called on the state to inteivene. Of couise, the conditions of
this epidemic weie only cieated in the ist place by the stiuctuial dislo-
cations of deindustiialization that made diug entiepieneuis fiom Latin
Ameiica some of the only ie-employeis in the innei city.
,
Aftei a few
yeais, though, when it was found that ovei ,o peicent of those sentenced
undei the laws weie black, these same leadeis then iightly condemned
the laws, calling foi theii iepeal. Tey have called foi theii iepeal eveiy
yeai since. In shoit, many of those who once suppoited seemingly iigh-
teous punitive policies have since become theii most vocal ciitics pie-
cisely because the onus has fallen oveiwhelmingly on pooi communities
of coloi, the veiy gioups oiiginally intended, by some activists, to be pio-
tected in the ist place.
:;: Conclusion
Calls foi incieased punitiveness aiise alongside heightened social inse-
cuiity and almost always have iacialized eects, leading to declines in
social spending on those who aie ciiminalized and incieases in piivatiza-
tion, so that pleas foi seiious stiuctuial equalitythe coie of any ciitical
positionbecome evei moie naiiowly channeled into the few available
state-funded piojects: the punitive appaiatus. Claimants to state help
must then iefoimulate theii entiie lives aiound theoiies of victimiza-
tion, which places them in positions of incieasing dependence on state-
sanctioned denitions of theii lives and ielationships. Tis incieased state
suiveillance does notcannot, by natuieaccept the complex, often
contiadictoiy emotions, beliefs, and expeiiences that many ieal people
biing along with them. Tese messy iealities aie then compounded even
fuithei when state agents and community membeis inteiact in the heat
of ieal-life confiontations. While calling on the state foi help in domestic
violence cases, foi instance, many pooi women of coloipaitly because
of mandatoiy aiiest policies oiiginally intended to piotect women fiom
theii batteieishave found themselves aiiested foi complicity in child
maltieatment, oi foi possessing whatevei illegal paiapheinalia might be
stiewn about theii homes since many of them depend, at least in pait,
on the undeigiound economy foi suivival.
o
In addition, stiingent pub-
lic housing iequiiements can lead to the eviction of entiie families foi
the possession of minuscule diug amounts. In fact, young women in gen-
eial have faied pooily in oui punitive climate. Foi example, even though
young womens actual ciiminal behavioi has been faiily stable foi the past
decade, duiing this same peiiod giils aiiests foi simple assault contin-
ued to climb, incieasing by 8.;, while boys aiiests foi the same oense
declined by ..
Tese aiiests often occui because of aiguments with

theii paients... oi foi othei assaults foi ghting in school because of new
zeio-toleiance policies enacted aftei the Columbine shootings.
a
Even
moie tioubling, giils commitments to facilities incieased by an alaiming
88 between ,, and aoo, while boys commitments incieased by only
a.
Such statistics aie painful iemindeis that tough-on-ciime posi-

tions on anything, anywheie, iaiely opeiate in the inteiest of those they
puipoit to help. In the case of many young women, this punitive ieality
has meant substituting the violence of the patiiaichal family with that of
the patiiaichal state.
It is, theiefoie, a seveie mistakeone that many left-of-centei advo-
cates often maketo explain away Ameiicas expeiiment of mass incai-
ceiation as if it weie only the iesult of a conseivative, Reagan-eia back-
Conclusion :;,
lash. A moie than oo peicent inciease in impiisoned populations cannot
be accomplished in a demociatic stateeven one iiven with piofound
stiuctuial inequalitywithout a bioad-based consensus. As ciiminolo-
gist Elliott Cuiiie wiote ovei ten yeais ago, this ieality ieects a stunning
degiee of collective denial.
Te pioblem lies neithei with the left-of-

centei noi the iight-of-centei, but with the centei itself, what sociologist
David Gailand has called the dog that did not baik: the piofessional
middle classes, an otheiwise poweiful and aiticulate gioup, who have
done little to oppose the diift towaids punitive policies.
Put simply, to
oveicome mass incaiceiation iequiies that we incaiceiate fewei peo-
ple,
6
which can only happen, in ciiminologist Michael Toniys woids,
aftei weie ist able to admit what happened... and then set about the
task of leaining to iestiain oui collective emotions
;
and ieduce oui ieli-
ance on punitive policies to assuage eveiy conceivable social anxiety.
Take, as a compaiison, Scandinavia, which has displayed a consistent
philosophical unwillingness to incaiceiate signicant piopoitions of its
population foi anything. Finland, foi instance, has no one on death iow
(which is obvious, since, like most of the developed woild, it does not
have the death penalty), and fewei than one hundied people seiving life
sentences, the majoiity of whom will only wind up spending twelve to
fteen yeais behind bais.
8
Ovei ,o peicent of sentences in Finland aie
monetaiy nes, calculated accoiding to the oendeis income.
,
Less
than o peicent of those sentenced in Finland aie given piison teims,
and the median sentence foi all oenses is below foui months.
ao
Aveiage
sentences foi iobbeiywhich, along with muidei, iape, and aggiavated
assault, constitute the most seiious foims of violence in any ciiminal
justice systemaie aiound one yeai.
a
In Sweden, iobbeiy sentences aie
twenty-thiee months, just below two yeais.
aa
In the United States, they
aie eighty-nine months, oi a whopping seven-plus yeais.
a
Foi anothei
compaiison, sentences imposed foi homicidethe most seiious ciime of
violence in any systemaie seventy-seven months in Sweden, and a
months in the United States, oi six and twenty yeais, iespectively.
a
Finland, in fact, has engaged in one of the most conceited decaiceia-
tion eoits in the twentieth centuiy, ieducing its population behind bais
fiom neaily aoo pei oo,ooo in the ,os to aiound 6o pei oo,ooo cui-
iently, constituting a oo peicent deciease.
a
Duiing ioughly this same
peiiod, the United States embaiked on one of the laigest impiisonment
expeiiments in human histoiy, incieasing its population behind bais
by ovei oo peicent and solidifying its place as the undisputed punitive
:;; Conclusion
champion of the univeise, standing atop a pyiamid of state violence with
an incaiceiation iate of ;o pei oo,ooo, which is ovei ten times that of
any Scandinavian countiy.
a6
Finland now has fewei than thiee thousand
people locked up on any given day,
a;
we have ovei two million. At aiound
6o pei oo,ooo, Scandinavian countiies, along with Japan, have some
of the lowest incaiceiation iates in the woild, and stand viitually alone
among the inteinational community in theii humane appioach to punish-
ment.
In many ways, though, in the eaily decades of the twenty-ist centuiy,
it seems the United States is at a ciossioads in ciiminal justice. While
stimulated, in laige pait, by a stiuggling economy in which the massive
expendituies iequiied by oui impiisonment boom seem at least pioblem-
aticif not outiight iiiesponsibleto a giowing numbei of politicians
and piofessionals on eithei side of the political aisle, this ciossioads also
shows signs that deepei changes aie afoot. To quote, again, the woids
of Senatoi Jim Webb, Ameiicas ciiminal justice system is bioken, and
[o]ui failuie to addiess these pioblems cuts against the notion that we
aie a society founded on fundamental faiiness.
a8
Similaily, the iepeal of
the mandatoiy minimum foi simple possession of ciack, and the ieduc-
tion of the oo-to- ciack-powdei iatio to 8-to-while still empiiically
awed and iiiationally dispiopoitionateindicates at least a basic col-
lective willingness to admit fault and move foiwaid with positive, moie
evidence-diiven policies. And, peihaps most piomising of all, in aoo,,
state piison populations declined foi the ist time in thiity-eight yeais,
diopping by neaily ve thousand people, a o. peicent change.
a,
Even if these changes become noimalized ovei the long teim, how-
evei, one inescapable fact iemains: a neai-foity-yeai expeiiment in mass
incaiceiation will have sociocultuial eects unbounded by the timelines of
ocial decision making. Indeed, one of the cential piemises of this book
is that even the most obviously instiumental policies have cultuial lives
that extend fai beyond theii intended taigets in ways and in degiees to
which neithei theii oiiginal designeis noi theii most stiident opponents
could evei have contiolled, piedicted, oi, as is often the case, even pei-
ceived. My piemise implies that ciime has cultuial lives, that cultuie has
ciiminal lives, and that the policies aecting both nevei stait and end with
passage and iepeal. Instead, ciime and punishment get woven into exist-
ing webs of meaning, cieating, in the piocess, patchwoiks of cultuies and
policies that violently oveilap and woik at cioss-puiposes. Laws intended
to taiget the same things wind up tiumping each othei, and policy eoits
Conclusion :;,
aimed at suppoiting community cohesion wind up systematically picking
it apait, all of which, all the while, become absoibedoften impeicepti-
blyinto social piactices as seemingly insignicant as lyiical ows.
In addition, the piomising diop in state piison populations noted
above is tempeied by othei ndings, which show that, while twenty-six
states did see ieductions, anothei twenty-foui increased theii piison
populations, some substantially so.
o
Even moie pioblematic, the fed-
eial piison population has continued to inciease, having doubled since
,, and showing no signs of slowing.
Tis continuous giowth has been

spuiied in the past few yeais by one piimaiy factoi: a concentiation on
immigiation oenses, which accounted foi just a peicent of fedeial
sentences in ,,6 but now constitute a peicent, neaily tiiple the ,,6
numbei.
a
And, since almost ,o peicent of those sentenced undei fedeial
immigiation laws aie Hispanic, Latinos now account foi o peicent of
eveiyone sentenced at the fedeial level, ovei thiee times theii piopoition
of the geneial population.
And so it is that ciacks place as the lethal coie

of oui emotional sociality has been subsumed undei new concatenations
of ciiminological feivoi in which feais of teiioiism, illegal immigiation,
supei gangs, and cioss-boidei diug caitels aie coalescing to foim new
stiuctuies of feeling. Given oui expeiiences with mass incaiceiation ovei
the past thiity-plus yeais, it is uncleai how the social complexities inhei-
ent in this emeiging nexus could evei be seived by the punitive eoits to
which we have alieady been tuining. Tese changes well undeiway will
undoubtedly have theii own lasting cultuial consequences, iadiating out-
waid and inwaid in unfoieseen ways. Te staggeiing level of lethality in
Mexicos diug wai, foi example, has alieady ieshaped the eveiyday lives
of citizens as well as theii cultuial cieations, coloiing eveiything fiom the
way people inteiact in public space to the populaiity of narcocorridos, the
ballads wiitten and sung by aspiiing musicians that piaise the exploits
of specic diug caitels.
As in Ameiicas expeiience of ciack cocaine,

though, Mexicos hypeiaggiessive, militaiistic enfoicement eoits, with-
out question, have only fueled the violence.
I feel, then, in the woids of Raymond Williams, a diiect continuity

with these woiks and expeiiences Ive emphasised
6
in this book, and
believe the pioblems to which they speak aie still close and dicult, and
that whatevei we may do in othei diiections we aie still diiven, necessai-
ily, to what is possible in that aiea in the way of cieative iesponse.
;
My
own cieative iesponse to the devastations of the ciack eia has been to
wiite this bookto show how the lethal coie of Ameiicas ciiminological
:;o Conclusion
stiuctuie of feeling has been cieatively iewoiked thiough iaps confionta-
tion with its own commeicialization. Ciack has connected a vast aiiay of
social expeiiences into a shaied language that expiesses a new sense of
society as not only the beaiei but the active cieatoi, the active destioyei,
of the values of peisons and ielationships.
8
Ciack is a complex expeiien-
tial fabiic that has been patched togethei fiom often contiadictoiy diives,
desiies, and impulses but which, in Williamss woids speaks fiom its
own uniqueness and yet speaks a common expeiience.
,
In my piemise,
the ciack eia is a vital aiea of social expeiience
o
that enteied lives, to
shape oi to defoim, a piocess peisonally known but then again suddenly
distant, complex, incompiehensible, oveiwhelming.
And, as the child of

this sense of ciisis, iaps conict with its own commeicialization was a
iesponse to a new and vaiied but still common expeiience
a
in which a
dieient moial emphasis has become inevitable.
Ciack is symbolic of a bieak in histoiical peiiods, moial codes, ways of

violence, and patteins of woik. It maiks a key tuining point in commu-
nity ielations as well as in ways of making a living, ieecting the degiee
to which maiket ielations have suused all aspects of social life as well
as the violence necessaiy to iegulate them. Ciack put lethality to woik in
ways and at levels not seen since, leaving lasting impacts on communi-
ties and bioadei cultuial tiends. Communities had to adapt to the vicissi-
tudes of a piedatoiy maiketplace that diused iuthless violence thiough-
out many foims of social inteiaction. Once diused, such adaptations
became noimalized, aecting the mood of whole neighboihoods even
aftei actual violence declined. Ciack is maiket logic shoin of all complex-
ity, its baie fact of iegulation made plain and simple. If the punitive tuin,
in laige pait, depended upon a collective impulse to get down to biass
tacks and simplify the complex social dislocations of deindustiialization,
then lethal violence in the iegulation of the undeigiound economies that
incieasingly came to dominate social ielations and community life is that
simplied logic ieduced even fuithei. A simplied logic of maiket com-
petition is, simply put, killing ones competition.
Ciack iepiesents evei moie piecaiious patteins of woik, and the
lethality that is often necessaiy to iegulate them. It is a histoiical maikei
that is giounded in a logic of business, a new method of violence that
entails new aesthetics and moial adaptations, as well as the eoits to tiain
and balance those changes. And, in iaps conict with its own commei-
cialization, ciack seives as a means to indict a seemingly nonviolent busi-
ness, exposing its pietensions to faiiness and equality befoie the law.
Conclusion :;,
Te punishment stiuctuie foi ciack cocaine has nevei been anything
but a self-contiadiction. It can absoib any new nding oi diug quantity
iatio because, as a paiadox, it is itself innitely elastic. It is a law that
seaiches foi kingpins wheie none will evei be found, that squeezes puiity
out of a piocess that depends on the intioduction of impuiities, and that
tieats an inanimate substance as if it had moie intelligence than the esh
and blood people who move it. In this way, the innite elasticity of the
ciack laws ieects an unintentional, but no less poweiful, collective eoit
to pin down and punish away a peivasive, fiee-oating sense of unease,
instability, and foimless piedation. In tieating low-level dealeis moving
inheiently impuie foims of cocaine as if they weie the masteiminds of
global ciiminal enteipiises, the punishment stiuctuie foi ciack signies
an attempt to manufactuie a foim of pure culpability. Even though the
oo-to- iatio has been ieduced, oui emeiging ciiminological stiuctuie
of feelingdependent, as it is, on an anti-immigiation hysteiia that giows
moie eneigetic by the minuteieveals a ieinvigoiated eoit to enucleate
a kind of iaw culpability thiough which ieal people can be punished as
if they had authoied the social dislocations foi which the United States
has diused its own iesponsibility. Since punishing culpability itself is
inheiently impossible, the esh and blood people who must, by foice of
law, inhabit the cultuial spaces of this impossibility will take it on them-
selves to become the living, bieathing counteipaits to oui contiadictoiy
eoitsfoims of living lethality moving units of inpure purity in envi-
ionments of crushingfreedon. It is a biutal, iuthless logic indeed.
:;,
Methodological Essay
M
any yeais back, one of my mentois told oui seminai he thought
MobyDick was one of the best books of scholaiship hed evei iead.
He was convinced that scholaiship was a liteiaiy genie in its own iight,
and laughed when one of my classmates told him MobyDick wasnt schol-
aily because it didnt have footnotes. He was sinceiely conceined that the
scholaily appaiatus had become too easily mistaken foi good scholai-
ship, and set about tiying to convince us that the most impoitant thing
we could do on oui way fiom being knowledge consumeis to becoming
knowledge pioduceis was to stait caiing about the process of scholaily
woikof coming up with good ideas that inteiest ones colleagues and
taking pleasuie in putting aiguments togethei on the page. In shoit,
scholaishipI leained and still believeconceins saying something both
tiue and inteiesting about the woild that might challenge otheis to think
dieiently about it. Tat vision of scholaily woik has stayed with me and
continues to infoim eveiything I do. Even if those who have helped shape
this vision do not iecognize theii inuence in these pages, this book, in
eveiy way, is a defense of that sensibility. Rathei than depending on cieed-
like statements bluntly piofessing allegiances to this oi that theoietical
oiientation along a still-heie positivist-post-eveiything epistemologi-
cal continuum to which almost no one in piactice actually adheies, this
sensibility, instead, is giounded in one piimaiy notion: that ones schol-
aily piocessand not just the methods by which one chooses and soits
datais a way of being in the woild. Scholaiship is, ist and last, about
ciaftdaily piocesses of layeied woik that move pages out the dooi.
Given this sensibility, Ive come to believe that, befoie colleagues ask
each othei about methods, they should ist ask about philosophies of
scholaiship. Such oiienting questions might save us fiom talking at cioss-
puiposes oi, woise, fiom dismissing each otheis claims out of hand. As
pait of job announcements, foi instance, we ioutinely iequiie applicants
to submit teaching philosophies, a piactice that ieects a iealistic undei-
:,o Methodological Essay
standing of the business we aie in: iegaidless of how much we publish,
a substantial poition of oui lives will be spent in classiooms and oce
houis, piepping, lectuiing, discussing, and giading. Because of this ieal-
ity, we know that how we appioach those activities matteis a gieat deal
moie than the specic content we tiy to ielay thiough themthat we
aie not, in othei woids, just the vehicles thiough which infoimation is
tiansmitted, oi the mouthpieces foi textbook coipoiations, but convey-
eis of sensibilities who hope to stimulate an appieciation foi knowledge
thiough the achievement of haid-won peispectives. Just as teaching is a
way of being in the woild, accounting foi thousands of inteiactions acioss
oui caieeis, so, too, is scholaily piocess a daily, yeaily piactice of being.
Some see scholaiship only as an extension of scientic methodthe
iecoiding of obseivable facts in oidei to make geneializable tiuth claims
about cause and eect. Otheis see scholaiship as I do: a multilayeied pio-
cess of systematic biainstoiming and intellectual biidge makingfiom
peisonal to piofessional, and souices to aigumentwithin which method
stands as but one element in laigei eoits to say inteiesting things about
the woild aiound us. It is not enough foi me to know how one chooses
and soits data. I want to know how often you wiite, how bioadly you
iead, and if you caie about tuining a phiase.
Unfoitunately, the aiticial divoicing of method fiom its inheient
mooiings in laigei contexts of scholaily piocess is ieinfoiced at the giadu-
ate level wheie inciedibly useful wiiting woikshops aie often appioached
as meie addenda to tiaining, aftei the discipline has been absoibed, meth-
ods inteinalized, and data collectedwhen it is time, in othei woids, to
wiite it all up. But this emphasizes method at the expense of piocess,
mistaking diift foi bediock. My scholaily piocesswithin which method,
with a loweicase m, guies as an iteiative subpiocessstaits, theiefoie,
fiom one bediock activity: daily, uncensoied jouinal wiiting, a piactice I
had developed as a youth in oidei to woik out the woild. In this foium foi
iaw thought, patteins, pioblems, and themes emeige, develop, and ieap-
peai. Some die out, otheis stick. Te ones that stick mattei. Tey giow in
depth and bieadth. Tey become fiamewoiks aiound which othei themes
build themselves. Some themes gathei enough foice to become self-sus-
taining, a topic is foimed. Tiough this piocess, one takes owneiship
of ones woik since it was ones own fiom the stait, even while constantly
being infused with the thoughts of otheisfiiends, colleagues, mentois,
and wiiteis living and dead. It is, at eveiy stage, a layeied piocess that
giows ideas, iathei than exceipting ieseaich questions fiom the liteia-
Methodological Essay :,:
tuie as if othei peoples woik led diiectly to ones own. And this is pie-
cisely how this book took shape.
It staited simply, with a ten-woid phiase that would not go away:
Somehow the iap game ieminds me of the ciack game. In that lyiic I
saw a ciicuitiy of meaningconnections between ciime and cultuie,
mainstieams and undeigiounds, industiies of ciime and ciimes of indus-
tiy. To see something inteiesting in this phiase, though, alieady iequiied
a ceitain cultuial liteiacy, a peisonal connection. To even ask, as Ive done
in this book, What aie the pioducts themselves saying about being piod-
ucts, the piocess of becoming pioducts, and theii ielationship to theii
pioduceis? iequiies, ist, that one notice the pioducts aie, in fact, talk-
ing backthat one listen closely enough so that a ten-woid phiase sand-
wiched between bass-heavy biags stands out as meaningful. Second, it
iequiies that one notice the phiase is connected to othei disjointed intei-
jections buiied in the inteistices of sound and ihythm. Tese aie sensi-
bilities that can nevei emeige fiom the liteiatuie. Teie aie no data sets
fiom which iandom samples of disjointed inteijections can be diawn.
Teie aie, to be suie, iepiesentative cases, but in hip hop, being iepie-
sentative does not mean being inteichangeable with otheis who have an
equal chance of being chosen. Respect ensuies iepiesentation, not ian-
domness. And iespect is eained thiough showing and piovingby put-
ting oneself to the test and coming out on top. Repiesentatives aie cham-
pions who stand foi the highest level of skill that a community holds foi
itself. In subcultuies of heavily policed tastes, of which hip hop is one,
theie will always be disagieements about which aitist, song, oi album is
the most denitive. But no one with ieal ties to iap in ,,os New Yoik
could evei seiiously aigue that, say, Wu-Tang oi Nas did not denei.e.,
iepiesentthe peiiod. Similaily, no one could evei seiiously aigue that
Suge Knight did not play a foimative iole in ieshaping how iap aitists
appioached the music business. Moie than media hype, Suge was pait
of eveiyday conveisations on tiains and stoops and was integiated into
othei discussions about contiact points oi how to chop samples, all of
which weie ciucial elements in the peiiods expeiiential fabiic. I know
this because I was theie, shaiing stages and studios with many impoitant
aitists of the time, and the souices Ive used in this book ieect that ist-
hand expeiiencethe communal knowledge of who ieally iepiesents
what. In this book, theiefoie, I diaw fiom many of the classic albums
that dened New Yoik iap in the ,,os, including Wu-Tangs ,o Chan-
bers, Nass Illnatic, Mobb Deeps TeInfanous, O.C.s Word . . .Life, the
:,: Methodological Essay
Notoiious B.I.G.s ReadytoDie, Oiganized Konfusions Stress, and Com-
pany Flows FuncrusherPlus, to name only a few. In addition, I diaw fiom
the numeious DVDs and books that constitute the cottage industiy sui-
iounding the muideis of Biggie and Tupac, most of which fall into thiee
geneial categoiies: jouinalistic eoits at discoveiing the tiuth behind
theii muideis, moie ieveient biogiaphical poitiayals wiitten and pio-
duced by fiiends, family membeis, and foimei employees, and oppoitu-
nistic exposes made by foimei enemies. I also use autobiogiaphies wiit-
ten by those still in the iap industiy, whethei aitists, executives, oi both.
Togethei, these souices stand as the key public foiums thiough which iap
aitists have confionted theii own commeicialization, aiiing theii giiev-
ances to the woild, and standing as pioducts that talk back to theii pio-
duceis while actively taking pait in theii own pioduction.
In geneial, my piocess of woiking thiough souices ioughly follows a
thiee-tieied method of systematic biainstoiming, cobbled togethei fiom
my own piocessual tempeiament and the tiadition of giounded theoiy,

which allows mesince ndings nevei speak foi themselves, and intel-
lectual biidges between data and aigument aie only made by human
ingenuityto be systematic without compiomising inventiveness, iigoi
and spaik. Te ist stage ievolves aiound line-by-line coding, which, as
the phiase suggests, depends on ieading each line of textaftei ist tian-
sciibing all nontextual souicesand giving it a shoit, desciiptive keywoid
summaiy in the maigin. Tis accomplishes two main goals simultane-
ously: it tiansfoims a laige amount of mateiial into a much smallei foim,
andby ieading, ieieading, and iewiiting the mateiialone actively
engages with the souices, making them ones own. While my goal at this
ist level is to cieate a basic nuts-and-bolts summaiy of eveiy souice, it
is also, and impoitantly, a time of nonstop fiee wiiting duiing which any-
thing and eveiything that stands out as stiikinga woid, a metaphoi, an
imageis puisued, queiied, bioken down, and iebuilt. It is about accu-
iacy and play, desciiption and invention, with all ideas tiaceable to theii
oiigins in the souice.
Te second stage of intellectual biidge making ievolves aiound seaich-
ing foi patteins and themes in the ist set of codescoding the codes. At
this stage I iemove all of the oiiginal text by piinting out my handwiitten
notes sans souices. It is anothei layei of playful piocess that builds to a
highei level of abstiaction as I connect the dots acioss souices, looking
foi points of both consensus and conictshaied expiessions and expe-
iiences as well as the key factois about which souices agiee to disagiee.
Methodological Essay :,,
It is about fiee wiiting to connect souices, and layeiing desciiption with
invention.
Last is oiganizing what has been connected into hieiaichal aiguments.
Some connections may be enfolded into otheis, desciibed anew, and
eshed out fuithei. Otheis stand tall, iefusing to be subsumed, and pull
the iest into theii oibit thiough allegoiical dominance. Tis was ciack,
which emeiged as the key metaphoi thiough which iaps conict with its
own commeicialization was aiticulated. But ciack wasnt a simple anal-
ogy, it bespoke a gieat deal of pain, being a piimaiy conduit thiough
which foiceful accusations of betiayal weie ielayed. Ciack had a social
logic to it, a specic kind of ieasoning that diew fiom a vast well of com-
mon expeiience foi its symbolic iesonance. Ciack stood foi pain and
powei, chaos and oidei, the tiuth behind the lie. Ciack was a sociolegal
logic giounded in blood.
I appioach my mateiial, then, with the assumption that all souices
whethei ocial documents, published autobiogiaphies, peisonal let-
teis, oi song lyiicsaie the pioducts of complicated social piactices that
say something, but not eveiything, about the contexts fiom which they
emeiged. Unfoitunately, suspicion about the woithiness of populai
souices stilldespite many decades of vigoious cultuial analysispei-
meates much of the social sciences. Tis suspicion is often undeigiided
by a stubboin assumption that souices aie coiiuptedand, theiefoie,
less ieliablewhen they aie made foi a maiket. But to follow that same
logic, we should dismiss, en masse, the pioducts of academia since almost
eveiything it pioduces is in fuitheiance of caieei, which is itself detei-
mined by maiket conditions. Befoie judging the meiit of an academic
publication, foi example, we would not only have to know how it was
enabled by a specic giant, but also what iole this giant and publication
have had in the scholais tenuie and piomotion ieviews. Just as giadu-
ate students nish disseitations in oidei to get jobs, and junioi faculty
publish in oidei to get piomoted, so, too, do aitists and musicians iecoid
songs in oidei to keep food on the table and a piesence in the industiy.
Dismissing populai souices because they weie done foi money conve-
niently oveilooks the degiee to which almost all academic laboi is done,
at least in pait, foi similaily instiumental puiposes.
Because of these assumptions, scholais who want to take iapoi any
othei commeicially bound social piacticeseiiously have often felt the
need to defend it, aiguing that iap is ieally anothei foim of poetiy, lit-
eiatuie, oial histoiy, oi postmodein expiession and, by natuie of such
:,; Methodological Essay
distinctions, is woithy of study. But iap always has been and always will
be its own phenomenon, shaiing elements of the above, but iecombining
them with othei foims until what is left is, simply put, iap. Like academia,
iap is a complex, commeicially bound social piactice, which can neithei
be divoiced fiom its piofessional aspiiations noi ieduced to them. And,
like novels, plays, goveinment documents, oi inteiview tiansciipts, iaps
expiessive media contain tiaces of authoiial intent, stiuctuial foices, and
the contextual inteiplay of subject and object. In the end, since I am a
scholai of ciime and punishment, my woik with iapin legal theoiist
Robeit Coveis famous phiasetakes place in a eld of pain and death.
a

It has been my goal, then, to use iap in oidei to say something both tiue
and inteiesting about that eld of pain, and to speak to the men and
womenwhethei stiangeis, fiiends, ielatives, oi colleaguesfoi whom it
has matteied most.
:,,
Notes
i 1ouit1i o
1.Asofthiswiiting,themostiecenttextofTeFairSentencingActof:oIo,which
becamePublicLawrrr-aao,canbeieadinthenalveisionasappiovedbyboththe
SenateandtheHouseonJanuaiy,aoro,rrrthCong.,adsess.
z.TeAntiDrugAbuseActofI8o,Pub.L.No.,,-;o,rooStat.ao;(r,86)(heie-
inafteir,86Act),TeAntiDrugAbuseActofI88,Pub.L.No.roo-6,o,roaStat.(r8r
(r,88)(heieinafteir,88Act).
.UnitedStatesSentencingCommission(heieinafteiUSSCoicommission),Spe-
cialReporttotheCongressCocaineandFederalSentencingPolicy(Washington,DC:
U.S.SentencingCommission,Febiuaiyr,,),http://www.ussc.gov/ciack/exec.htm
(accessedAugustr,aoro)(heieinafteir,,USSCRepoit),ra.
.SeeUSSC,ReporttotheCongressCocaineandFederalSentencingPolicy(Washing-
ton,DC:U.S.SentencingCommission,Mayaoo;),http://www.ussc.gov/i_congiess/
cocaineaoo;.pdf(accessedAugustr,aoro)(heieinafteiaoo;USSCRepoit),ra.
.Inr,,a,thisnumbeiwas,rpeicent.Seeaoo;USSCRepoit,r.Foidemo-
giaphictiendsincocaineuse,seer,,USSCRepoit,(:Te[NationalHousehold
SuiveyonDiugAbuse]foundthatofthoseiepoitingcocaineuseatleastonceinthe
iepoitingyeai,;peicentweieWhite,rpeicentBlack,andropeicentHispanic.
Andofthoseiepoitingciackuseatleastonceintheiepoitingyeai,apeicentweie
White,8peicentweieBlack,andropeicentweieHispanic.
6.Lynnd.Johnson,Hip-HopsHolyTiinity,PopMatters,August8,aoo,http://
www.popmatteis.com/music/featuies/oo8o8-ocent.shtml(accessedAugustr6,
aoro).
;.RaymondWilliams,MarxisnandLiterature(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,
r,;;),rr.
8.Ibid.,ra.
,.Ibid.,rr.
1o.Foinationalhomicideiatesandyeailytotals,seeJamesAlanFoxandMaiianne
W.Zawitz,HonicideTrendsintheUnitedStates(Washington,DC:Depaitmentof
Justice,OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,aoo;).Onehundied
andtwenty-ninepeiroo,oooistheiatefoiPiecinct(rintheSouthBionx,New
Yoik,inr,,r.SeeAndiewKaimen,êwYorkMurderMystery(NewYoik:NewYoik
UniveisityPiess,aoo6),;r.
11.RaymondWilliams,TeEnglishôvel(NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,
r,;o),r,a.
:,o Notes to the Introduction
1z.Williams,MarxisnandLiterature,ra.
1.DavidCailand,TeCultureofControlCrineandSocialOrderinContenporary
Society(Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,aooa),r(a.Inphiasinghisaigument
thus,Cailandcleailydieisfiomotheiswhoaiguethatciimepolicyisdiivenpii-
maiilybymanipulativepoliticiansand,instead,suggestsfaimoiecollectivecomplic-
ityinpolicymeasuies,evenwhileiecognizingthatsuchcomplicityisneveicom-
plete,whollyplanned,oievenintentional.Foiasomewhatcontiastinganalysis,see
sociologistKatheiineBeckett,whoaiguesagainstwhatshecallsthedemociacy-at-
woikthesisthatsuppoitfoipunitiveanticiimemeasuieshaswaxedandwaned
thioughoutAmeiicanhistoiy,coexistswithsuppoitfoilesspunitivepolicies,and
isonlylooselyielatedtotheiepoitedincidenceofciime-ielatedpioblems.Making
CrinePayLawandOrderinContenporaryAnericanPolitics(NewYoik:OxfoidUni-
veisityPiess,r,,;),.
1.OfteninuencedbythewoikofDavidCailand,agiowingnumbeiofwiiteis
aieanalyzingthedegieetowhichciimeandpunishmenthavecometosuusesocial
lifegeneially.See,foiexample,Cailand,CultureofControl,DavidCailand,Punish-
nentandModernSocietyAStudyinSocialTeory(Chicago:UniveisityofChicago
Piess,r,,),PhilipSmith,PunishnentandCulture(Chicago:UniveisityofChicago
Piess,aoo8),andMichelleBiown,TeCultureofPunishnent(NewYoik:NewYoik
UniveisityPiess,aoo,).
1.PewCenteiontheStates,OneinIooBehindBarsinAnerica,:oo8(Washing-
ton,DC:PewChaiitableTiusts,Febiuaiyaoo8).
16.PewCenteiontheStates,Onein,ITeLongReachofAnericanCorrections
(Washington,DC:PewChaiitableTiusts,Maichaoo,).
1;.Togethei,oensesknowntothepoliceandunknownvictimizationsiepiesent
thetiuetotalofciimewhatciiminologistscallthedaikguieofciimewhich
isactuallyunknowablesincetheonlymeansbywhichwecanaccessitaiethiough
ciimesiepoitedtopoliceandvictimizationsuiveys,bothofwhich,althoughmuch
impiovedoveitheyeais,iemain,undeistandably,impeifect.
18.Ofaioundfouiteenmillionannualaiiests(notincludingtiacviolations),
thosefoidiugabuseviolationsaiethemostfiequent,accountingfoineailytwo
million.Aiound8opeicentofthosediugaiiestsaiefoipossession,iatheithanfoi
saleoimanufactuiing.SeeUnitedStatesDepaitmentofJustice,CrineintheUnited
States,:oo8(Washington,DC:FedeialBuieauofInvestigation,Septembeiaoo,),
http://www.fbi.gov/uci/ciusaoo8/aiiests/index.html(accessedAugustr,aoro).
1,.Idiscussthestatisticsfoithesepiocessesmoiefullyintheconclusion,buta
full,(peicentofconvictionsaieobtainedthioughguiltypleasandneveigototiial.
SeeSeanRosenmeikel,MatthewDuiose,andDonaldFaioleJi.,FelonySentencesin
StateCourts,:oooStatisticalTables(Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,
OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Decembeiaoo,),section(.
zo.Asstatedeailiei,oneineveiythiity-oneU.S.adultsisundeisomefoimof
coiiectionalsupeivision,includingoveitwomillioninjailoipiison,andoveive
milliononpiobationoipaiole.SeePewCentei,Onein,I.
z1.Analyzinghowcommonsensegetstobecommonintheistplacehaslong
beenapillaiofciiticalscholaishipineveiydiscipline,whetheiinspiiedbythewoik
ofMaix,Maicuse,Foucault,oiCiamsci,tonameonlyafew.Teinuenceofsuch
Notes to Chapter :,,
woikonmyownscholailypiocesshasbeenfaitoodeeplyinteinalizedtodisentangle
andpiofesseasily.Withoutquestion,howevei,oneofthemostimpoitanteailywoiks
lookingatthesymbolicpoweiofciimeinmodeinpoliticsisStuaitHallandotheis,
PolicingtheCrisisMugging,theState,andLawandOrder(NewYoik:PalgiaveMac-
millan,r,;8).
zz.CaliforniaPenalCoder86.ar(WestSupp.r,,6).
z.Williams,Englishôvel,rr.
z.IveboiiowedthephiaselanguageofexploitationfiomLocWacquant,
Whoies,Slaves,andStallions:LanguagesofExploitationandAccommodation
amongBoxeis,BodySociety;,nos.a-(aoor):r8r-,(.
z.Williams,Englishôvel,r86.
z6.Foiamoiein-depthdiscussionofmyscholailypiocess,seethemethodological
essayattheendofthebook.
tnv1i
1.See,foiexample,Apprendiv.êwIersey,oU.S.(66(aooo),Blakelyv.Washing-
ton,(aU.S.a,6(aoo(),Cunninghanv.California,(,U.S.(,(aoo;),Kinbrough
v.UnitedStates,aU.S.8(aoo;),Ritav.UnitedStates,rU.S.8(aoo;),United
Statesv.Booker,(U.S.aao,aa((aoo).
z.SentencingRefornActofI8,,Pub.L.No.ro(-8(r,8().
.USSC,GuidelinesManual.(Nov.aoo;),rAr.r,p..
.IntheBookerdecision,theCouitexcisedthestatutoiypiovisionsr8U.S.C.
(b)(r)andr8;(a(c),whichmadetheguidelinesadvisoiyonly.
.Teissuesconceinthedeteiminatesentencingstiuctuiesatboththestate
andthefedeiallevels,whichoftenrequirejudgestoincieasesentencesbeyondthe
maximumallowedbystatutebasedonndingaggiavatingfactsthathavenotbeen
pledbefoieajuiy,theiebyviolatingdefendantsSixthAmendmentiights.Califoinias
sentencingstiuctuie,howevei,isinteiestingbecauseitdoesnotpiovideatiueiange,
instead,itiequiiesjudgestoimposethemiddleofthieeteimsunlessaggiavating
factsaiefound.InthewakeoftheCunninghandecision,theiefoie,Califoiniapassed
anemeigencybilliemovingthemiddleteimasthepiesumptivestatutoiymaxi-
mum.TeCouitsdecisions,then,suggestthatsentencingstiuctuieswhichallow
foienhancementsbasedonfactsnotpiovedbeyondaieasonabledoubttoajuiy
aieunconstitutional.InKinbrough,howevei,theCouitdecidedthatjudgescould
consideitheunjustdispaiitybetweenciackandpowdeiingoingbelowthestatutoiy
minimum.
6.r,,USSCRepoit,USSC,SpecialReporttoCongressCocaineandFederalSen-
tencingPolicy(Washington,DC:U.S.SentencingCommission,Apiilr,,;),http://
www.ussc.gov/i_congiess/NEWCRACK.PDF(accessedAugustr,aoro)(heieinaftei
r,,;USSCRepoit),USSC,ReporttoCongressCocaineandFederalSentencingPolicy
(Washington,DC:U.S.SentencingCommission,Mayaooa),http://www.ussc.gov/i_
congiess/oaciack/aooaciackipt.htm(accessedAugustr,aoro)(heieinafteiaooa
USSCRepoit),aoo;USSCRepoit.
;.aoo;USSCRepoit,8.
:,8 Notes to Chapter
8.Asnotedintheintioduction,ovei8opeicentofthosesentencedundeithefed-
eialciacklawshavebeenblack.Foianin-depthfocusontheioleofiaceinthelaws
passing,seeMichaelToniy,MalignêglectRace,Crine,andPunishnentinAnerica
(NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,),andDoiisMaiiePiovine,Unequalunder
LawRaceintheWaronDrugs(Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,aoo;).Foia
contiastinganalysisofiacesioleinthepassageofthelaws,seeRandallKennedy,
Race,Crine,andtheLaw(NewYoik:PantheonBooks,r,,;),r-86.
,.Sen.JimWebb,WhyWeMustRefoimOuiCiiminalJusticeSystem,Hungton
Post,Junerr,aoo,,http://www.hungtonpost.com/sen-jim-webb/
why-we-must-iefoim-oui-ci_b_z11o.html(accessedAugustr6,aoro).OnMaich
a6,aoo,,WebbintioducedtheNationalCiiminalJusticeCommissionActofaoo,,
S.;r(,whichisthecompaniontoHousebillH.R.r(,whichwasintioduced,col-
lectively,byDemociaticiepiesentativesBillDelahunt,MaiciaFudge,andRobeitC.
BobbyScottandRepublicaniepiesentativesDaiielIssaandTomRooneyonApiil
a;,aoro.AsofAugustaoro,theHousebillstillneedstopasstheSenate,having
passedtheHouseinJulyaoro.
1o.See,foiexample,AdamLiptak,RightandLeftJointoChallengeU.S.on
CiiminalJustice,êwYorkTines,Novembeia(,aoo,,http://www.nytimes.
com/aoo,/rr/a(/us/a(ciime.html(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
11.BiuceJacobs,DealingCrackTeSocialWorldofStreetcornerSelling(Boston:
NoitheasteinUniveisityPiess,r,,,),.
1z.Ibid.,6.
1.See,foiexample,CiaigReinaimanandHaiiyC.Levine,CrackinAnerica
DenonDrugsandSocialIustice(Beikeley:UniveisityofCalifoiniaPiess,r,,;).
1.r,,USSCRepoit,ra,n.r6.
1.CeoigeRuscheandOttoKiichheimei,PunishnentandSocialStructure(New
Yoik:ColumbiaUniveisityPiess,r,,),6.
16.WilliamJ.Chambliss,TeLawofVagiancy,SocialProblensra,no.r(Summei
r,6():;;.
1;.RichaidQuinney,Class,State,andCrine(NewYoik:DavidMcKay,r,;;),r6.
18.Cailand,PunishnentandSociety,a8a.
1,.Smith,PunishnentandCulture,r.
zo.Biown,CultureofPunishnent,ra.
z1.Ibid.,ara.
zz.CeoigeL.Kellingandotheis,TeKansasCityPreventivePatrolExperinentA
TechnicalReport(Washington,DC:PoliceFoundation,r,;().
z.CeoigeL.Kellingandotheis,êwarkFootPatrolExperinent(Washington,DC:
PoliceFoundation,r,8r).
z.Allquotationsattiibutedtothiswoikcanbefoundheie:CeoigeL.Kelling
andJamesQ.Wilson,BiokenWindows,AtlanticMonthly,Maichr,8a,http://www.
theatlantic.com/doc/r,8ao/bioken-windows(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
z.See,foiexample,thestiongpiaiseofNewYoikssuccessinCeoigeL.Kelling
andWilliamJ.Biatton,DecliningCiimeRates:InsideisViewsoftheNewYoikCity
Stoiy,IournalofCrininalLawandCrininology88,no.((Summeir,,8):rar;-a.But
seealsotheciitiqueofthispiaiseinJudithA.Cieene,ZeioToleiance:ACaseStudy
ofPolicePoliciesandPiacticesinNewYoikCity,CrineandDelinquency(,no.a
(Apiilr,,,):r;r-8;.Peihapsthestiongestciitique,howevei,isBeinaidE.Haicouit,
IllusionofOrderTeFalseProniseofBrokenWindowsPolicing(Cambiidge,MA:Hai-
vaidUniveisityPiess,aoo).
z6.Inalaigeeld,seetheconcisediscussioninNoivalMoiiis,TeContempo-
iaiyPiison:r,6Piesent,inTeOxfordHistoryofthePrisonTePracticeofPunish-
nentinWesternSociety,ed.NoivalMoiiisandDavidJ.Rothman,aoa-r(NewYoik:
OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,8).
z;.Cailand,CultureofControl,r(;.
z8.SamuelWalkei,TaningtheSystenTeControlofDiscretioninCrininalIustice,
I,o-Io(NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,).
z,.RobeitMaitinson,WhatWoiks?QuestionsandAnsweisaboutPiison
Refoim,PublicInterest(Spiingr,;():a.
o.See,foiexample,aconciseciitiqueofMaitinsoninFiancisT.Cullen,Reha-
bilitationandTieatmentPiogiams,inCrinePublicPoliciesforCrineControl,ed.
JamesQ.WilsonandJoanPeteisilia,a-8,(Oakland:InstitutefoiContempoiaiy
Studies,aooa).FoiacultuialanalysisofMaitinsonsioleinpiisonscience,see
Biown,CultureofPunishnent,r-8,.
1.See,foiexample,PaulaM.DittonandDoiisJamesWilson,TruthinSentenc-
inginStatePrisons(Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJustice
Piogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Januaiyr,,,).
z.Tepopulaiityofmandatoiyminimumsentences,accoidingtodiuglawhis-
toiianDavidF.Musto,hadbeengatheiingstiengthatthestatelevelsincetheenact-
mentoftheso-calledRockefelleiLawsinNewYoikinr,;.TeAnericanDisease
OriginsofârcoticControl,ided.(NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,,),a;.
.See,foiexample,AlexandeiSmithandHaiiietPolack,Cuitailingthe
SentencingPoweiofTiialJudges:TeUnintendedConsequences,CourtReview
(Williamsbuig,VA:AmeiicanJudgesAssociation,Summeir,,,).Foianeconomic
ciitique,seeJonathanP.Caulkinsandotheis,MandatoryMininunDrugSentenc-
ingTrowingAwaytheKeyortheTaxpayersMoney?(SantaMonica,CA:Rand,Diug
PolicyReseaichCentei,r,,;).Foiadiscussionofthepiosecutoisiiseinpoweiovei
thelatteihalfofthetwentiethcentuiy,seeJonathanSimon,GoverningthroughCrine
HowtheWaronCrineTransfornedAnericanDenocracyandCreatedaCultureof
Fear(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo;),-;(.
.QuotedinMaikMaitin,MaximumInsecuiity:CalifoiniasPiisonSystem
PioducesBizaiieandDangeiousResultsHaimfultoInmatesandPublic,San
FranciscoChronicle,Augusta;,aoo6,http://aiticles.sfgate.com/aoo6-o8-a;/opinion/
r;o8(,r_r_coiiections-system-piison-paiole(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
.Foiexample,see,inaveiylaigeeld,JamesAustinandJohnIiwin,Itsabout
TineAnericasInprisonnentBinge,ided.(Belmont,CA:Wadswoith,aoor).
6.Take,foiexample,thefollowingquotationfiomChiistineWaid,diiectoiof
theCiimeVictimsActionAlliance:WeundeistandthatthisisamovebytheLegis-
latuietohelpielievepiisonoveiciowdingandsavemoneyinthebudget.Butweie
veiydisappointedthatpublicsafetyseemstohavetakenabackseattootheiissues.
SamStanton,CalifoiniaInmateReleasePlanBegins,SacranentoBee,Januaiy
a,aoro,http://www.sacbee.com/topstoiies/stoiy/a(86a8o.html?stoiylink=omni_
populai(accessedAugustr6,aoro).Considei,also,thewoidsofPaulM.Webei,
:oo Notes to Chapter
piesidentoftheLosAngelespoliceunion:Weaieconceinedaboutvictimsthese
felonswillleaveintheiiwakebefoiebeingieaiiestedfoicommittingnewciimes.
RandalC.Aichibold,Califoinia,inFinancialCiisis,OpensPiisonDoois,êw
YorkTines,Maicha,aoro,http://www.nytimes.com/aoro/o/a(/us/a(calpiisons.
html?hp(accessedAugustr6,aoro).AssemblymanTedLieustateshisviews
evenmoieplainly:Inmatesaiebeingieleasedeaily,itshappeningnowandits
goingtoincieaseciime.SamStanton,EailyJailReleasesinCalifoiniaWoiiy
FoimeiViolentOendei,SacranentoBee,Febiuaiy6,aoro,http://www.sacbee.
com/aoro/oa/o6/ar;6(/
eaily-ieleases-woiiy-foimei-violent.html(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
;.Foitheielevantcases,seethePiisonLawOceswebsite,http://www.piison-
law.com/cases.php.
8.Moiiis,TeContempoiaiyPiison,aa,.
,.PhilippeBouigois,InSearchofRespectSellingCrackinElBarrio,anded.(Cam-
biidge:CambiidgeUniveisityPiess,aoo),r(.
o.Jacobs,DealingCrack,rao.
1.Ibid.
z.Bouigois,InSearchofRespect,r,8.
.Ibid.,r;a(biacketsinoiiginal).
.Ibid.,a66.
.SudhiiVenkatesh,GangLeaderforaDayARogueSociologistTakestotheStreets
(NewYoik:Penguin,aoo8),8,,ror.
6.LocWacquant,DeadlySymbiosis:WhenChettoandPiisonMeetandMesh,
PunishnentandSociety,no.r(Januaiyaoor):rr6(oiiginalemphasis).
;.JeanComaioandJohnComaio,MillennialCapitalism:FiistToughtsona
SecondComing,PublicCulturera,no.a(aooo):o;.
8.JockYoung,MeitonwithEneigy,KatzwithStiuctuie:TeSociologyofVin-
dictivenessandtheCiiminologyofTiansgiession,TeoreticalCrininology;,no.
(aoo):(ro-rr.
,.JeChang,CantStopWontStopAHistoryoftheHip-HopGeneration(New
Yoik:Picadoi,aoo),ao8.
o.TiiciaRose,TeHipHopWarsWhatWeTalkaboutWhenWeTalkaboutHip
HopandWhyItMatters(NewYoik:BasicCivitasBooks,aoo8),(;.
1.JeieyOgbai,Hip-HopRevolutionTeCultureandPoliticsofRap(Lawience:
UniveisityPiessofKansas,aoo,),r((.
tnv1i :
1.r,,USSCRepoit,r,,;USSCRepoit,aooaUSSCRepoit,aoo;USSCRepoit.
Tobesuie,fedeiallawisnottheonlylawoftheland,andmanystatesdidnotadopt
theexactsamepunishmentstiuctuie.Withoutquestion,howevei,statutesanddeci-
sionsatthefedeiallevelhavemateiialandsymboliceectsthatieveibeiatenation-
allyinsignicantways,manyofwhichaiediiectlystimulatedbyfedeialfunding
giventothosestatesthatfollowsuit,whetheiintheaieaofeducationoiintheaiea
ofpunishment.InMaiiePiovineswoids,
Notes to Chapter :o:
Taking a tough stand on ciack cocaine has been a bipaitisan commit-
ment in Washington since Piesident Ronald Reagan speaiheaded the wai
on diugs.Legislationciiminalizingthepossessionandsaleofciack
cocainequicklypassedbothhousesofCongiessinr,86andr,88,with
hugemaiginsofbothpaitiesinsuppoit.Testatesweieuigedtofollow
thefedeialexampleandgiveninducementstodoso.(RaceintheWaron
Drugs,,a)
By the 1,,os, thiity-two states had mandatoiy minimums foi diug oenses, and foui-
teen states dieientiated between ciack and powdei.Seer,,USSCRepoit,ra,-6.
See,also,geneially,Musto,AnericanDisease.
z.r,,USSCRepoit,rarn.ro.
.Ibid.
.Ibid.
.Ibid.
6.Ibid.,rar.Nationalsecuiityhasioutinelybeeninvokedthioughoutthehistoiy
ofAmeiicaswaiondiugs.AsieseaicheiPeteiDaleScottandjouinalistJonathan
Maishallhaveshown,PiesidentRonaldReagansiesponsetothethieatofcommu-
nismintheTiidWoildwastoinventanewthieat,closelyassociatedwithcom-
munismandevenmoiefiighteningtothepublic:naicoteiioiism.Teteim,iaiely
welldenedbyitsuseis,encompassesavaiietyofphenomena:gueiillamovements
thatnancethemselvesbydiugsoitaxesondiugtiackeis,diugsyndicatesthat
useteiioiistmethodstocounteithestateslawenfoicementappaiatus,andstate-
sponsoiedteiioiismassociatedwithdiugciimes.Ciackshistoiicaluniqueness,
howevei,liesinthespeedwithwhichitspunitivescaoldingwaseiected,andthe
community-levellethalitythatgiewwithit.PeteiDaleScottandJonathanMaishall,
CocainePoliticsDrugs,Arnies,andtheCIAinCentralAnerica,updateded.(Beike-
ley:UniveisityofCalifoiniaPiess,r,,r),a.Foithehistoiyofdiugenfoicementin
theUnitedStatesgeneially,see,again,Musto,AnericanDisease.
;.r,,USSCRepoit,rr6.
8.Ibid.,ra(.
,.Ibid.,rr;.
1o.Ibid.,raa.
11.Ibid.,ra.
1z.SeethecollectioninReinaimanandLevine,CrackinAnerica.
1.Jacobs,DealingCrack,(.
1.Onmakingpowdei,base,andciack,seer,,USSCRepoit,,-r(.
1.JohnP.MoiganandLynnZimmei,TeSocialPhaimacologyofSmokeable
Cocaine:NotAllItsCiackedUptoBe,inCrackinAnerica,ed.Reinaimanand
Levine,r.
16.Ibid.,r(.
1;.Jacobs,DealingCrack,(.
18.CiaigReinaimanandHaiiyC.Levine,CiackinContext,inReinaimanand
Levine,CrackinAnerica,a.
1,.Ibid.
zo.r,,USSCRepoit,r.
z1.Ibid.,,r.
:o: Notes to Chapter
zz.aoo;USSCRepoit,.
z.r,,USSCRepoit,ra.
z.Ibid.
z.Ibid.,ra8.
z6.Ibid.,ra,,quotingtheStiategicManagementSystem,whichoutlinesthekey
iesponsibilitiesoftheDiugEnfoicementAgency(DEA).
z;.Ibid.,ra(myemphasis).
z8.Ibid.,rao(emphasisiniepoit).
z,.Ibid.,rr8(myemphasis).
o.Ibid.,rr,.
1.Ibid.,6;.
z.Ibid.,66.
.Ibid.,6(myemphasis).
.Ibid.,6(.
.Ibid.,66,quotingieseaichbyBiuceJohnson.
6.Ibid.
;.Ibid.,68.
8.See,foiexample,thediscussioninJamesLynch,CiimeinInteinationalPei-
spective,inWilsonandPeteisilia,Crine,-(r.
,.See,foiexample,FianklinE.ZimiingandCoidonHawkins,CrineIsôtthe
ProblenLethalViolenceinAnerica(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,;).
o.AlfiedBlumsteinandJoelWallman,TeRecentRiseandFallofAmeiican
Violence,inTeCrineDropinAnerica,ed.AlfiedBlumsteinandJoelWallman
(Cambiidge:CambiidgeUniveisityPiess,aooo),(.
1.Ibid.
z.IiaClasseiandLoienSiegel,WhenConstitutionalRightsSeemTooExtiava-
ganttoEnduie:TeCiackScaiesImpactonCivilRightsandLibeities,inReinai-
manandLevine,CrackinAnerica,a.
.BiuceJohnson,AndiewColub,andEloiseDunlap,TeRiseofHaidDiugs,
DiugMaikets,andViolenceinInnei-CityNewYoik,inBlumsteinandWallman,
CrineDrop,r8.
.HeibeitL.Packei,TeLinitsoftheCrininalSanction(Stanfoid,CA:Stanfoid
UniveisityPiess,r,68),a;,.
.See,foiexample,JeiomeSkolnick,CangsandCiimeasOldasTime,but
DiugsChangeCangCultuie,iepiintedinTeModernGangReader,ed.Malcolm
Klein,CheiylL.Maxson,andJodyMillei(LosAngeles:Roxbuiy,r,,),aaa-a;,fiom
Commentaiy,oiiginallypublishedinCrineandDelinquencyinCalifornia,I8o-
I8(Saciamento:CalifoiniaDepaitmentofJustice,OceoftheAttoineyCeneial,
BuieauofCiiminalStatisticsandSpecialSeivices),r;r-;,.
6.See,foiexample,RobeitJ.Sampson,StephenRaudenbush,andFeltonEails,
NeighboihoodsandViolentCiime:AMultilevelStudyofCollectiveEcacy,Sci-
encea;;(r,,;):,r8-a(.
;.ToddCleai,InprisoningConnunitiesHowMassIncarcerationMakesDisadvan-
tagedêighborhoodsWorse(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo,),;.
8.ElijahAndeison,CodeoftheStreetDecency,Violence,andtheMoralLifeofthe
InnerCity(NewYoik:Noiton,r,,,).
Notes to Chapter :o,
,. LegalscholaiTiaceyMeaies,foiexample,hasaiguedthatmanycommunity
membeiswhendealingwiththeday-to-dayiealitiesofdiugandgangviolence
oftenwelcomeincieasedpolicepiesence,evenattheexpenseoftheiiowncivillibei-
ties.Seeminglysuppoitingthisaigumentisthefactthatmanyblackleadeisinitially
endoisedthefedeialciacklaws,callingonthestatefoihelpinaddiessingciack-ielated
issues.Afteiitbecamecleaithatblackcommunitymembeisweieshouldeiingthe
woistofincieasedpolicing,howevei,thesesameleadeisthencondemnedthelawsand
calledfoitheiiiepeal.Similaily,legalscholaiRandallKennedy,indefendingtheiatio-
nalbasisoftheciacklaws,hasaiguedthat[o]neofthestiongestieasonsfavoringthe
ciack-powdeidistinctionispieciselythatciackismoieaccessibleand,foithatieason
alone,moiedangeious. . . .[Becauseacheapeidiug]islessexpensiveitismoieaoid-
abletomoiepeopleandthusmoiepotentiallyaccessible.Kennedysanalysis,howevei,
isdeeplyawed,completelyignoiing,asitdoes,evidence-basedappioachestoiational
policymaking.Seiiousaigumentsaboutpotentialpioblemsi.e.,thingsthathavenot
yethappenedmustpiovide,iftheyaietodiiveiationalpolicy,empiiicalevidencefoi
theiiclaimsandpiojections,iatheithanabstiactpossibilitiesbasedonnothingmoie
thanunsuppoitedwheelspinning.NeitheitheUSSCiepoits,theieseaichonwhich
theyvebeenbased,noiannualself-iepoitsofdiugusestatisticshaveeveisuppoited
suchpiojections,theiebynullifyinganyiationalbasisfoifeaiingwhathasnevei
beenshowntohaveexisted.Kennedysdefense,theiefoie,iestssolelyonyetanothei
paiadoxicalassumption:feaisthathavenobasisiniealitywhich,bydenition,aie
iiiationalaieadequateandappiopiiatebasesfoiiationalpolicies.Inaddition,Ken-
nedysaigumentcompletelyignoiesthefoundationaldoctiineofdiugenfoicementin
thelate-twentieth-centuiyUnitedStates:theKingpinStiategy,which,bylaw,requires
enfoicementocialstofocuspiimaiilyonhigh-levelsupplieis,astiategythat,ateveiy
stepoftheway,isundeiminedbyafeai-basedstiuctuiethatpunishesstieet-level
dealeismovingminusculediugamounts.SeeTiaceyL.MeaiesandDanM.Kahan,
UrgentTinesPolicingandRightsinInner-CityConnunities(Boston:Beacon,r,,,),and
Kennedy,Race,Crine,andtheLaw,8(oiiginalemphasis).
o.PaulJ.Coldsteinandotheis,CiackandHomicideinNewYoikCity:ACase
StudyintheEpidemiologyofViolence,inReinaimanandLevine,CrackinAnerica,
rr8(oiiginalemphasis).
1.r,,USSCRepoit,,.
z.Ibid.,8.
.Ibid.,,;.
.Ibid.,quotingotheiieseaicheis.
.Ibid.,ro.
6.BaiiyBluestoneandBennettHaiiison,TeDeindustrializationofAnerica
PlantClosings,ConnunityAbandonnent,andtheDisnantlingofBasicIndustry(New
Yoik:BasicBooks,r,8a).
;.WilliamJuliusWilson,WhenWorkDisappearsTeWorldoftheêwUrban
Poor(NewYoik:VintageBooks,r,,6),(,ar.
8.See,foiexample,KatheiineS.Newman,ôShaneinMyGaneTeWorking
PoorintheInnerCity(NewYoik:VintageBooks,aooo),JayMacLeod,AintôMakin
ItAspirationsandAttainnentinaLow-Inconeêighborhood(Bouldei,CO:West-
view,r,,).
:o; Notes to Chapter
,.Skolnick,CangsandCiime,aaa.
6o.PhilippeBouigois,InSeaichofHoiatioAlgei:CultuieandIdeologyinthe
CiackEconomy,inReinaimanandLevine,CrackinAnerica,6(-6.
61.Ibid.,6,(oiiginalemphasis).
6z.r,,USSCRepoit,ro.
6.WilliamB.Sandeis,GangbangsandDrive-BysGroundedCultureandIuvenile
GangViolence(NewYoik:deCiuytei,r,,().
6.Ibid.,68.
6.Ibid.,8.
66.LisaMahei,SexedWorkGender,Race,andResistanceinaBrooklynDrugMarket
(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,;).
6;.Ibid.,r.
68.Ibid.,8-ro;.
6,.Ibid.,r(:Manywomenwhoheldoutfoisroastheiilowestpiicefoia
blowjobweieheioinuseis,withsrocoiiespondingtothemaiketpiicefoiabagof
heioin.
;o.Ibid.,r,.
;1.Ibid.,r;.
;z.Ibid.,r,.
;.Ibid.,r((.
;.Ibid.,r(8-.
;.r,,USSCRepoit,8a-8.
;6.FelixPadilla,TeGangasanAnericanEnterprise(NewBiunswick,NJ:Rutgeis
UniveisityPiess,r,,),ra.
;;.Skolnick,CangsandCiime,aa(.
;8.Inagiowinggenie,see,foiexample,ReymundoSanchez,MyBloodyLifeTe
MakingofaLatinKing(Chicago:ChicagoReviewPiess,aooo),ColtonSimpsonwith
AnnPeailman,InsidetheCripsLifeInsideL.A.sMostôtoriousGang(NewYoik:St.
Maitins,aoo6).
;,.SanyikaShakui,MonsterTeAutobiographyofanL.A.GangMenber(New
Yoik:Ciove,r,,),6;.
8o.Ibid.,6-6;.
81.Ibid.,6.
8z.r,,USSCRepoit,6.
8.QuotedinMichaelWoodiwiss,GangsterCapitalisnTeUnitedStatesandthe
GlobalizationofOrganizedCrine(NewYoik:CaiiollandCiaf,aoo),rrr(emphasis
added).
8.r,,USSCRepoit,;8.
8.aoo;USSCRepoit,B-6.
86.Ibid.
8;.Teliteiatuiethathasgiownaioundandthioughthisieconceptualization
piocesswhichhaspaialleledandbeeninteitwinedwithnotionsofexiblelaboiand
post-Foidisteconomiciestiuctuiingisquitesubstantial,andhasiedenedalmost
eveiyeldithastouched,academicandpopulai.Icannot,theiefoie,doitfulljustice
heie.ButManuelCastellsswoikinther,,osisakeyexample.See,foiinstance,
ManuelCastells,RiseoftheêtworkSociety(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,6).
88.Indeed,thisiswhatBenjaminBaibeicalledJihadvs.McWoild.Benjamin
Baibei,Iihadvs.McWorldHowGlobalizationandTribalisnAreReshapingtheWorld
(NewYoik:RandomHouse,r,,6).
8,.NealStephenson,SnowCrash(NewYoik:BantamBooks,r,,a).
,o.Ofcouise,thedicultyheieliesindecipheiingwho,infact,ismimicking
whom.TakesociologistJackKatzsdiscussionofgangsassoveieignnations.Stieet
elites,hecontends,useviolenceinnovativelytoelaboiatethethemeofsovei-
eignty. . . .Withtaskfoicesandspyactivities,policedepaitmentsbiggioupsof
seiious,tough-looking,gun-beaiing,esh-and-bloodadultmenoiganizetheii
woiklivesalongunitsthataiedictated,ineect,bymetaphoisdesignedbythe
ghettoadolescents.Whatgieateipioofofsoveieigntythantheabilitytodiawocial
mapsofuibangeogiaphy!Inthisway,Katzhasaiguedfoianinteiestinggameof
followtheleadei:gangsistmimicsoveieignty,thenlawenfoicementiespondsto
theiiinnovativemimiciy.Butotheis,suchaspoliticalscientistsPeteiAndieasand
EthanNadelmann,foiexample,aiguethatthegameoffollowtheleadeiwoiksthe
otheiwayioundthatAmeiicanlawenfoicementagencieshave,infact,aggiessively
woikedtoexpoittheiiownveisionsofciimeaioundthewoildinfuitheianceof
nationalinteiests,andthatundeigioundnetwoiksadapttothem.Impoitantly,these
kindsofaigumentsndtheiioppositeinthewoikofmanyteiioiismexpeitssuchas
WalteiLaqueui,whocleailysuggeststhatAmeiicaneoitsneedtoadapttoincieas-
inglyextiemistgioups.Toputitsimply,tiyingtondakingpininanetwoikislike
tiyingtondaneedleinahaystack.Peihapsthemostimpoitantaspectofthese
ieoiientationsaioundtheconceptofnetwoiks,howevei,isthat,iegaidlessofthe
actualleadei,lawenfoicementagenciesalmostalwaysjustifyinoideitoensuie
thattheyaieaccomplishingwhattheyvebeentaskedwithdoingtheiiactionsas
necessaiyinoideitofollowincieasinglynebulousciiminalgioups,whichispiecisely
whatoccuiiedintheciackeiaaswell.SeeJackKatz,SeductionsofCrineMoraland
SensualAttractionsinDoingEvil(NewYoik:BasicBooks,r,88),r,PeteiAndieas
andEthanNadelmann,PolicingtheGlobeCrininalizationandCrineControlinInter-
nationalRelations(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo6),WalteiLaqueui,ôEnd
toWarTerrorisnintheTwenty-FirstCentury(London:Continuum,aoo().
,1.TomasFiank,OneMarketunderGodExtreneCapitalisn,MarketPopulisn,
andtheEndofEcononicDenocracy(NewYoik:AnchoiBooks,aoor).
,z.HandbookoftheBusinessRevolutionManifesto,FastConpany,Octobei,
r,,,http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/or/edpage.html(accessedAugustr6,
aoro).Allquotationsattiibutedtothiswoikcanbefoundheie.
,. NotoiiousB.I.C.,TeTenCiackCommandments,LifeafterDeath(BadBoy,r,,;).
tnv1i
1. Rubbeibandsaioundthewiistsuggestthatoneisadiugdealeiwhousesthem
toholdcash.TeacionymMBAiefeistotheMasteiinBusinessAdministiation
degiee.
z. SeeRobeitK.Meiton,SocialStiuctuieandAnomie,AnericanSociological
Review,no.(Octobeir,8):6;a-8a.
:oo Notes to Chapter
.SeeClioidR.ShawandHeniyD.McKay,IuvenileDelinquencyinUrbanAreas
(Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,r,(a).
.SeeBouigois,InSearchofRespect,Jacobs,DealingCrack.
. SupiemesveiseinBootCampClik,WelcometoBucktownU.S.A.,Chosen
Few.
6.Jay-Z,RapCame/CiackCame,InMyLifetine,Vol.I(Rock-a-Fella,r,,;).
;.Jay-Z,UDontKnow,TeBlueprint(Rock-a-Fella,aoor).Ag-packisslang
foiaone-thousand-dollai-bundlewoithofciackthatisbaggedupandieadytosell
hand-to-handonthestieet.
8.PushaTsveiseintheClipse,Ciindin,LordWillin(StaiTiak,aooa).
,.Raekwon,CubanLinx.See,also,hisaoo,sequel,OnlyBuiltforCubanLinx . . .Pt.
II(IceHaO/EMI).
1o.ChostfaceKillah,Fishscale(DefJam,aoo6).
11.FatJoeinTeiioiSquad,LeanBack,TrueStory(UmvdLabels,aoo().
1z.JuelzSantana,IAmCiack,WhattheGanesBeenMissing!(DefJam,aoo).
1.Foiaiecentdiscussionofiapshustleimythologyanditsiootsinblackvei-
naculaitiaditions,seeEithneQuinn,ûthinbutaGTangTeCultureandCon-
nerceofGangstaRap(NewYoik:ColumbiaUniveisityPiess,aoo),chapteisand
6.Whileelementsofiapsbadmanmythologyaiecleailyiootedinsuchtiaditions,
Neveitheless,ashistoiianRobinKelleyaigues,iapespeciallygangstaiaphas
anidentiablestyleofitsown,andinsomeiespectsitisapaiticulaipioductofthe
mid-r,8os.Oi,ascultuialtheoiistPaulCilioyasks,Howcaniapbediscussedasif
itspiangintactfiomtheentiailsoftheblues?RobinD.C.Kelley,KickinReality,
KickinBallistics:CangstaRapandPostindustiialLosAngeles,inDroppinScience
CriticalEssaysonRapMusicandHipHopCulture,ed.WilliamEiicPeikins(Philadel-
phia:TempleUniveisityPiess,r,,6),rr,.PaulCilioy,TeBlackAtlanticModernity
andDoubleConsciousness(Cambiidge,MA:HaivaidUniveisityPiess,r,,),(.
1.AdveitisementinXXL,Maichaoo(,r;8.
1.RappeiC-MuideiSentencedtoLifeinPiison,USAToday,Augustr(,aoo,,
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/aoo,-o8-r(-cmuidei-sentencing_N.htm
(accessedAugustrr,aoro).
16.TeSource,Maichaoo(.
1;.SimmonsquotedinRussellSimmonsPiesents:HipHopJustice,Business
Wire,Julyaa,aoo(,http://www.allbusiness.com/ciime-law-enfoicement-coiiections/
law/aoooo,-r.html(accessedAugustr;,aoro).
18.Infact,thelistofslainiappeisisstaggeiinglydepiessing,andincludesyoung
menfiomalloveitheUnitedStates:ScottLaRock(NY)inr,8;,MCRock(MA)
inr,,o,Chaiizma(CA)inr,,,Mi.Cee(CA)inr,,6,Stietch(NY)inr,,,Tupac
Shakui(NYandCA)inr,,6,NotoiiousB.I.C.(NY)inr,,;,FatPat(TX)inr,,8,Big
L(NY)inr,,,,FieakyTah(NY)inr,,,,JamMasteiJay(NY)inaooa,MacDie(CA)
inaoo(,Pioof(MI)inaoo6,andStackBundles(NY)inaoo;,tonamebutafew.
1,.See,foiexample,CeialdineBaum,RappeisUpbeatSpiiitRecalled,LosAnge-
lesTines,Novembei6,aooa,CeoBoucheiandPaulLiebeiman,FatalShooting
ofRapPioneeiinStudioJoltsFansandPeeis,LosAngelesTines,Novembeir,aooa,
AlanFeuei,RapWoildBaedbyKillingofStaiwithPeacefulImage,êwYork
Tines,Novembeir,aooa,AndyNewmanandAlBakei,WasItaBadBusinessDeal
oiaMusicIndustiyFeud?êwYorkTines,Novembeir,aooa,JohnPaieles,Latest
ViolenceIsNotTypicalofPieviousCunplay,êwYorkTines,Novembeir,aooa.
zo.See,foiexample,MicheleMcPhee,BulletsRiddleBustaRide,êwYorkDaily
êws,Febiuaiya(,aoo,ChuckPhilips,RapFeudPiomptsUniveisaltoCancel
Paity,SouicesSay,LosAngelesTines,Febiuaiy(,aoo,WilliamK.Rashbaum,
InvestigatingMuideiofaD.J.,PoliceUseDetectivesSpecializingintheWoildof
Hip-Hop,êwYorkTines,Januaiya,aoo.
z1.DeiiickPaikeiandMattDiehl,ôtoriousC.O.P.TeInsideStoryoftheTupac,
Biggie,andIanMasterIayInvestigationsfron^YPDsFirstHip-HopCop(NewYoik:
St.Maitins,aoo6).
zz.GrandUprightMusic,Ltdv.WarnerBros.Records,Inc.,;8oF.Supp.r8a
(S.D.N.Y.r,,r).
z.MikeDavis,CityofQuartzExcavatingtheFutureinLosAngeles(NewYoik:
VintageBooks,r,,a),8;.
z.PaulCilioy,AfteitheLoveHasCone:Bio-PoliticsandEtho-Poeticsinthe
BlackPublicSpheie,PublicCulture;,no.r(Fallr,,():o.
z.PaulCilioy,ItsaFamilyAaii,inTatstheIoint!TeHip-HopStudiesReader,
ed.MuiiayFoimanandMaikAnthonyNeal(NewYoik:Routledge,aoo(),,o.
z6.Ibid.
z;.Cilioy,BlackAtlantic,a.
z8.See,foiexample,DavidToop,RapAttack,,ided.(London:SeipentsTail,
aooo),DickHebdige,CutnMixCulture,Identity,andCaribbeanMusic(London:
Routledge,r,8;).Foimoieiecenthistoiies,seeChang,CantStopWontStop,Alan
Light,ed.,TeVibeHistoryofHipHop(NewYoik:TieeRiveis,r,,,).
z,.See,foiexample,Peikins,DroppinScience,HoustonA.BakeiJi.,BlackStud-
ies,Rap,andtheAcadeny(Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,r,,),TiiciaRose,
BlackôiseRapMusicandBlackCultureinContenporaryAnerica(Middletown,CT:
WesleyanUniveisityPiess,r,,().
o.Rose,Blackôise,r((.
1.Asanexample,see,amongmany,TonyMitchell,ed.,GlobalôiseRapandHip
HopoutsidetheUSA(Middletown,CT:WesleyanUniveisityPiess,aooa).
z.KRS-One,HipHopvs.Rap,onSoundofthePolice,vinylsingle(Jive
Recoids,r,,).
.Manyalsoaddafthelement:beatboxingtheaitofmakingbeatssolely
withonesownvoice.
.See,foiexample,Chang,CantStopWontStop,aa8,andCiegDimitiiadis,
PerforningIdentityPerforningCultureHipHopasText,Pedagogy,andLivedPractice
(NewYoik:PeteiLang,aoor),r(-(.
.ToddBoyd,InteigeneiationalCultuieWais:CivilRightsvs.HipHop(intei-
viewbyYusufNuiuddin),SocialisnandDenocracyr8,no.a(aoo():o.Similaisen-
timentsaiealsoexpiessedinToddBoyd,TeêwH.^.I.C.TeDeathofCivilRights
andtheReignofHipHop(NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,aooa).
6.CeoigeMaitinez,TePoliticsofHipHop(inteiviewbyRonHayduk),Social-
isnandDenocracyr8,no.a(aoo():r,6.
;.ImaniPeiiy,ProphetsoftheHoodPoliticsandPoeticsinHipHop(Duiham,NC:
DukeUniveisityPiess,aoo(),ro.
:o8 Notes to Chapter
8.KiistineWiight,RiseUpHipHopNation:FiomDeconstiuctingRacial
PoliticstoBuildingPositiveSolutions,SocialisnandDenocracyr8,no.a(aoo():r
(oiiginalemphasis).
,.Ibid.,r;.
o.CwendolynPough,CheckItWhileIWreckItBlackWonanhood,Hip-Hop
Culture,andtheBlackPublicSphere(Boston:NoitheasteinUniveisityPiess,aoo(),
rr.
1.Ibid.,(.
z.Rose,HipHopWars,xii.
.Ibid.,r.See,also,JoanMoigan,WhenChickenheadsConeHonetoRoostA
Hip-HopFeninistBreaksItDown(NewYoik:Touchstone,r,,,).
.Raphaslongbeenthefocusofmoialisticciusadeis.Foiadiscussionofthis
histoiy,seeQuinn,ûthinbutaGTang,staitingr(,.
.JuanWilliams,BanishtheBling:ACultuieofFailuieTaintsBlackAmeiica,
WashingtonPost,Augustar,aoo6,http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
aiticle/aoo6/o8/ao/ARaoo6o8aoooa;.html(accessedAugustrr,aoro).
6.Ibid.
;.TextandMPofBillCosbysspeechcanbefoundathttp://www.ameiican-
ihetoiic.com/speeches/billcosbypoundcakespeech.htm.
8.Williams,BanishtheBling.
,.JuanWilliams,WhatBillOReillyReallyToldMe,Tine,Septembeia8,aoo;,
http://www.time.com/time/nation/aiticle/o,8,,,r666;,oo.html(accessedAugust
r6,aoro).
o.JonCaiamanicaandotheis,Victim,XXL,Maichaoo,ra.
1.T.DeneanShaipley-Whiting,PinpsUp,HosDownHipHopsHoldonYoung
BlackWonen(NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,aoo;),8a.
z.Betweenr,,andaoo,foiexample,iatesfoiiobbeiydeclinedby;peicent,
aggiavatedassaultby6(peicent,andiapeby6;peicent.Piopeityciimesasawhole
alsodeclinedbyapeicentduiingthispeiiod.SeeShannanM.Catalano,Crininal
Victinization,:oo,(Washington,DC:U.SDepaitmentofJustice,OceofJustice
Piogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Septembeiaoo6),.
.Shaipley-Whiting,PinpsUp,HosDown,8(.
.SeeTimothyC.Hait,ReportingCrinetothePolice,I:-:ooo(Washington,DC:
DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Maich
aoo).
.Putyetanotheiway,[A]ntisocialbehavioiinchildienisoneofthebest
piedictoisofantisocialbehavioiinadults,yetmostantisocialchildiendonotgiow
uptobeantisocialadults.Inietiospect,high-iateadultoendeiswillalmostalways
bediawnfiomthepoolofhigh-iiskchildien,butlookingfoiwaidfiomhigh-iisk
childien,wecannotdistinguishwellwhowillpeisistoidesistasadults.RobeitJ.
SampsonandJohnH.Laub,ALife-CouiseViewoftheDevelopmentofCiime,
AnnalsoftheAnericanAcadenyofPoliticalandSocialScience6oa(Novembeiaoo):
ao-ar(citationomitted).
6.See,foiexample,AlanM.Deishowitz,TeAbuseExcuseAndOtherCop-Outs,
SobStories,andEvasionsofResponsibility(Boston:BackBayBooks,r,,().
;.SampsonandLaub,Life-CouiseView,8.
8.JodyMillei,GettingPlayedAfricanAnericanGirls,UrbanInequality,andGen-
deredViolence(NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,aoo8),(.
,.Ibid.
6o.Mahei,SexedWork,r6.
61.Millei,GettingPlayed,a(on.ro.
6z.Bouigois,InSearchofRespect,88.
6.Eddiesowntioublesdemonstiatethehoiiicdepthsofthisviolencecontin-
uumevenfuithei:Bysevenyeaisofage,he[Eddie]hadalieadytiiedtocommitsui-
cide,andatnine,heattemptedtothiowhimselfoutofathiid-ooischoolwindow
whenateacheiioughedmeupfoinotpayingattentioninclass.Ibid.,r8.
6.Ibid.,r8(.
6.Ibid.,r8a-8.
66.Ibid.,r,o.
6;.Ibid.,a(.
68.Ibid.,a.
6,.Ibid.
;o.Ibid.,a(.
;1.Ibid.,ao8.
;z.TeteimimpiisoningfiamewoikisboiiowedfiomlegalscholaiSusanShap-
iio,andisdiscussedinmoiedetaillateiinthischaptei.
;.See,foiexample,CheoHodaiiCokei,N.W.A.,andTonyCieen,TeDiity
South,inLight,VibeHistory,ar-6,a6-;.See,also,Quinn,ûthinbutaG
Tang,staiting6;.
;.See,foiexample,DavidBiy,NewYoikStateofMind:TeResuigenceofEast
CoastHipHop,inLight,VibeHistory,a;-;.
;.TelineinotesinthegioupCompanyFlowsistiecoid,foiexample,pioudly
pioclaimedbeingIndependentasFuck!CompanyFlow,FuncrusherPlus(Rawkus,
r,,;).
;6.Someofthesedaikeielementscanbeseeninthehoiioicoieiapthatbegan
aioundthemid-r,,os.TeCiavediggaz,agioupledbyWu-TangClanpioducei
RZA,isanexample.
;;.ChostfaceKillahinShaikNiggas(Biteis),onRaekwon,CubanLinx.
;8.Redman,Basically,DareIzaDarkside(DefJam,r,,().Tisquotationalso
illustiatesthedegieetowhichundeigioundandhaidcoieiapinmid-r,,osNew
Yoikweieinextiicablylinked.
;,.O.C.,TimesUp,Word . . .Life(WildPitch,r,,().
8o.Nas,Repiesent,Illnatic(Sony,r,,().
81.Teoutlineoftheindustiythatfollowscleailyieectsthestateofthemusic
businessinther,,os,whichhadyettoseethedevelopmentofonlinesalesoiiing-
tones,tonameonlyafewindustiyinnovationssincethen.Butmanyofthesame
issuespeisist,especiallywhenitcomestokeycontiactpoints.Inthewoidsofmusic
lawexpeitsWilliamKiasilovskyandSydneyShemel,inTisBusinessofMusicTe
DenitiveGuidetotheBusinessandLegalIssuesoftheMusicIndustry,rothed.(New
Yoik:BillboaidBooks,aoo;),
In the music business old habits aie ieinfoiced by long-teim contiacts
and complex owneiship issues, and paiticipants in the music business
:,o Notes to Chapter
have to contend daily with issues iesulting fiom decisions made long
ago. . . .Teiesistancetoieexaminingtheseteimsandthewillingness
toacceptteimspiesentedasstandaidaiebothelementsofwhatcan
bedesciibedascontiactualineitia:thepeipetuationofindustiy
standaidteimslongafteitheoiiginaljusticationfoithemhasceased
toexist.ClauseslikethisshouldbeasiaieastheCoelacanth,butthey
peisist.(TisBusinessofMusic,(8)
8z.Teiehasgiownaveiylaigeself-helpliteiatuieaioundthemusicindus-
tiy.See,amongmany,MosesAvalon,SecretsofêgotiatingaRecordContractTe
MusiciansGuidetoUnderstandingandAvoidingSneakyLawyerTricks(SanFiancisco:
BackbeatBooks,aoor),DonaldS.Passman,AllYouêedtoKnowabouttheMusic
Business(NewYoik:Simon&Schustei,aooo),KiasilovskyandShemel,TisBusiness
ofMusic.
8.Tehistoiyofcopyiightisalsoalaigeandgiowingeld.Peihapstheclassic
isLymanRayPatteison,CopyrightinHistoricalPerspective(Nashville,TN:Vandei-
biltUniveisityPiess,r,68).Foiamoieiecentaccountthatemphasizesinteina-
tionallegalaspects,seePaulColdstein,InternationalCopyrightPrinciples,Law,and
Practice(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoor).Myhistoiicalsummaiiesielyon
bothauthoiswoik,and,especially,onRussellSanjeksthiee-volumewoik,Aneri-
canPopularMusicandItsBusinessTeFirstFourHundredYears(NewYoik:Oxfoid
UniveisityPiess,r,88).
8.AsMaikRose,scholaiofliteiatuieandintellectualpiopeity,hasaigued,mod-
einconceptionsofauthoishipandowneishiphavedevelopedtogetheiandcannotbe
undeistoodapaitfiomeachothei.MaikRose,AuthorsandOwnersTeInventionof
Copyright(Cambiidge,MA:HaivaidUniveisityPiess,r,,).
8.Techallengesthatdigitaldomainsposetointellectualpiopeitylawaiepei-
hapsthemostimpoitantissuesfoiintellectualpiopeityscholaisandciiticstoday.
Amongmany,seeJamesBoyle,Shanans,Software,andSpleensLawandtheCon-
structionoftheInfornationSociety(Cambiidge,MA:HaivaidUniveisityPiess,r,,;),
LawienceLessig,TeFutureofIdeasTeFateoftheConnonsinaConnectedWorld
(NewYoik:VintageBooks,aooa).
86.AsSanjekdesciibes,
A mastei, two waidens, and a Couit of Assistants weie elected to gov-
ein the [Stationeis publishing company], assign tasks and obligations
to membeis, and mete out punishment foi infiactions of tiade iules and
piactices.Agentsweieieciuitedtoseekoutandiepoitthepiintingand
saleofseditiousbooksandballads.Conscatedmateiialwasbuinedina
laigeieplaceinthekitchenofStationeisHall. . . .Seveialpeisonsweie
executedfoiviolationofthelawandofcompanyiegulations,andotheis
weieimpiisonedinthehallscellais.Publisheisofunlicensedballads
weienedfouipencefoieachcopyseizedandoccasionallyweieheldfoi
ashoitpeiiodinthebasementcells.(AnericanPopularMusic,r:(a)
See, also, Goldstein, InternationalCopyright, , and Donald Tomas, ALongTine
BurningTeHistoryofLiteraryCensorshipinEngland (New Yoik: Piaegei, 1,6,).
8;.AsmusicologistJoannaDemeisaigues,[M]ostauthoisdonotownthe
copyiightstotheiiwoik,theysellthemtoapublisheifoiashaieintheioyaltiesand
Notes to Chapter :,:
aguaianteethattheiiwoikwillbedistiibutedcommeicially.JoannaDemeis,Steal
TisMusicHowIntellectualPropertyLawAectsMusicalCreativity(Athens:Univei-
sityofCeoigiaPiess,aoo6),rr.
88.OnTinPanAlley,seeSanjek,AnericanPopularMusic,a:(or-ao.
8,. Asonemusicindustiylawyeiputit,WhenIusetheteimaitist,Iamtalk-
ingaboutthepeisonwhopeifoimsthesong,whetheiliveoionaiecoid,iegaidless
ofwhetheioinottheywiotethesong.WhenIusetheteimsongwiitei,Iamtalking
aboutthepeisonwhowiotethesong,whetheioinottheypeifoimit.DavidNaggai,
TeMusicBusiness(ExplainedinPlainEnglish)WhatEveryArtistandSongwriterShould
KnowtoAvoidGettingRippedO!anded.(SanFiancisco:DaJePublishing,aooo),ra.
,o.Foithecomplexioyaltystiuctuies,seeauthoiscitedinnote8aabove.Again,
thisoveiviewdoesnottakeintoaccountiingtones,foiexample,mechanicalioyalties
stillguiecentiallyinindustiydeals,howevei.
,1.AccoidingtoPassman,
Recoid deals used to be foi a teim of one yeai, with options to ienew foi
additional peiiods of one yeai each.Teaitistwasusuallyobligatedto
deliveitwoalbumseachyeai.Tiswoikedteiiicallyinthedayswhen
iecoidsweiebangedoutlikepancakes,sincemostofthetimeaitists
justshowedup,sang,thenwentbacktothebeach. . . .Butallthishas
gonethewayofthedinosauis.(AllYouêedtoKnow,rr,)
,z.Avalon,Secrets,a(8.
,. See,foiexample,EdnaCundeison,RightsIssuesRockstheMusicWoild,USA
Today,Septembeir6,aooa,http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/aooa-o,-r-
aitists-iights_x.htm(accessedAugustrr,aoro),ChuckPhilips,MusiciansUigeN.Y.
RightsRefoim,LosAngelesTines,Novembeir,aooa,ChuckPhilips,StateSenateto
ExamineMusicFiims,LosAngelesTines,Augusta6,aooa,CalifoiniaStateSenate,Per-
sonalServiceContractsSeven-YearRule,ExceptionforRecordingArtists,Heaiingbefoie
theSelectCommitteeontheEnteitainmentIndustiy,Septembei,aoor,Califoinia
StateSenate,RecordLabelAccountingPractices,JointHeaiingoftheCommitteeonthe
JudiciaiyandSelectCommitteeontheEnteitainmentIndustiy,Julya,aooa,Califoinia
StateSenate,RecordLabelAccountingPractices,JointHeaiingoftheJudiciaiyCommit-
teeandtheSelectCommitteeontheEnteitainmentIndustiy,Septembeia(,aooa.
,.SteveAlbini,TePioblemwithMusic,http://www.negativland.com/albini.
html(accessedAugustrr,aoro).
,.Cundeisen,RightsIssues.
,6.Ibid.
,;.Ibid.
,8.SusanShapiio,CollaiingtheCiime,NottheCiiminal,AnericanSociological
Review,no.(Juner,,o):o.
,,.EdwinSutheiland,WhiteCollarCrine(NewYoik:Holt,Rinehait,andWin-
ston,r,(,),,.
1oo.Shapiio,CollaiingtheCiime,6a.
1o1.Ibid.,o.
1oz.MaicCalantei,WhytheHavesComeOutAhead:SpeculationsontheLim-
itsofLegalChange,LawandSocietyReview,,no.r(Autumnr,;():,-r6o.
1o.Ibid.,,;.
:,: Notes to Chapter
tnv1i
1.QuotedinBethanyTomas,La.PioposesCiackdownonBelly-BaiingPants,
^BCêws,Mayr,aoo(,http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/(,6ra/(accessedAugust
ra,aoro).
z.QuotedinLauiaPaikei,SeveialCitiesSnappingoveiBaggyPants,USAToday,
Octobeir,aoo;,http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/aoo;-ro-r(-Baggy_N.htm
(accessedAugustra,aoro).
.LauiieSegall,NewYoikPoliticianHopestoEndYouthsPants-SaggingTiend,
C^^,Maicha,,aoro,http://www.cnn.com/aoro/LIVINC/o/a,/new.yoik.baggy.
pants/index.html?iief=allseaich(accessedAugustr;,aoro).
.Ibid.
.LawienceM.Fiiedman,CrineandPunishnentinAnericanHistory(NewYoik:
BasicBooks,r,,).
6.SeealsoBaiiyC.Feld,BadKidsRaceandtheTransfornationoftheIuvenile
Court(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,,).
;.Fiiedman,CrineandPunishnent,(r(oiiginalemphasis).
8.Ibid.,r6.
,.NicoleHahnRaftei,CiiminalAnthiopologyintheUnitedStates,iepiintedin
TeCrininologyTeoryReader,ed.StuaitHeniyandWeineiEinstadtei(NewYoik:
NewYoikUniveisityPiess,r,,8),86.
1o.Ibid.
11.JohnJ.DiIulioJi.,TeComingoftheSupei-Piedatois,WeeklyStandard,
Novembeia;,r,,,a.Allquotationsattiibutedtothisaiticlecanbefoundheie.
1z.Foiamoiein-depthpiesentationofthetheoiyofmoialpoveity,seeWilliam
J.Bennett,JohnJ.DiIulioJi.,andJohnP.Walteis,BodyCountMoralPoverty . . .and
HowtoWinAnericasWaragainstCrineandDrugs(NewYoik:Simon&Schustei,
r,,6).
1.TextandMPofBillCosbysspeechcanbefoundathttp://www.ameiican-
ihetoiic.com/speeches/billcosbypoundcakespeech.htm.
1.Williams,BanishtheBling.See,also,JuanWilliams,EnoughTePhony
Leaders,Dead-EndMovenents,andCultureofFailureTatAreUnderniningBlack
AnericaandWhatWeCanDoAboutIt(NewYoik:TieeRiveisPiess,aoo;).
1.Williams,BanishtheBling.
16.Williams,BillOReilly.
1;.TeNotoiiousB.I.C.,TingsDoneChanged,ReadytoDie(BadBoy,r,,().
18.Eastvs.West,Beef(ImageEnteitainment,aoo).
1,.Foisobeiingdesciiptionsofjusthowhecticthingsdidgetfoimanyyouthin
late-eightiesandeaily-ninetiesNewYoik,seetheist-handaccountscollectedin
YouthCommunication,TingsGetHecticTeensWriteabouttheViolenceTatSur-
roundsTen,ed.PhilipKay,AndieaEstepa,andAlDesetta(NewYoik:Touchstone,
r,,8).
zo.BeinaidE.Haicouit,LanguageoftheGunYouth,Crine,andPublicPolicy(Chi-
cago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,aoo6),;.
z1.Ibid.,ro.
zz.Ibid.,8.
z.Ibid.,8.
z.AllenFeldman,FornationsofViolenceTeârrativeoftheBodyandPolitical
TerrorinôrthernIreland(Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,r,,r).
z.Ibid.,a.
z6.Ibid.,(;.
z;.Ibid.,(;-(8.
z8.Ibid.,.
z,.JamesWilliamCibson,WarriorDreansParanilitaryCultureinPost-Vietnan
Anerica(NewYoik:HillandWang,r,,(),a(.
o.Ibid.,a((.
1.Ibid.,a(.
z.RobeitH.Boatman,LivingwithGlocksTeConpleteGuidetotheêwStandard
inConbatHandguns(Bouldei,CO:Paladin,aooa),r.
.Haicouit,LanguageoftheGun,8.
.Ibid.,(8.
.Ibid.,(r.
6.Ibid.,6.
;.NotoiiousB.I.C.inJunioiM.A.F.I.A,PlayeisAnthem,Conspiracy(BigBeat,
r,,).
8.Nas,ICaveYouPowei,ItWasWritten(Columbia,r,,6).
,.Seenoteo,chaptei.
o.Shakui,Monster,66-6;(oiiginalemphasis).
1.oCentwithKiisEx,FronPiecestoWeightOnceuponaTineinSouthside
Queens(NewYoik:MTVBooks,aoo),ro,.
z.Ibid.,rrr.
.Ibid.,rr-r.
.Ibid.,rr-r8.
.Ibid.,rr;-r8.
6.ElliottCuiiie,CrineandPunishnentinAnericaWhytheSolutionstoAnericas
MostStubbornSocialCrisisHaveôtWorkedandWhatWill(NewYoik:OwlBooks,
r,,8),rr.
tnv1i
1.Nas,OneLove,Illnatic.
z.Jacobs,DealingCrack,ra,.InthewoidsofElliottCuiiie,whousesabiiefquota-
tionfiomlyiicsbyWu-TangClanasanillustiation,Tefallingiatesofuibanviolence
mayhavemoietodowiththesechangingattitudesthanallthenewpolicetacticsput
togethei.Cuiiie,CrineandPunishnent,r8,.SociologistRobeitCaiotalsomakessim-
ilaiaiguments,suggestingthatthioughcomplexdeploymentsofvaiiousavoidance
stiategies,includingclothingmodications,linguisticdiusion,andnotclaiminggang
tieswhenfacedwithbadoddsmanyyouth,eveninthemosthecticenviionments,
consistentlyndwaystoavoidseiiousviolencewithoutlosingface.RobeitCaiot,Who
YouClainPerforningGangIdentityinSchoolandontheStreets(NewYoik:NewYoik
UniveisityPiess,aoro).See,also,Johnson,Colub,andDunlap,TeRiseandDecline.
:,; Notes to Chapter
.Jacobs,DealingCrack,ra8.
.MichaelR.CottfiedsonandTiavisHiischi,AGeneralTeoryofCrine(Stanfoid,
CA:StanfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,o).
.Ibid.,.
6.Ibid.,r6.
;.Ibid.
8.Ibid.,,.
,.Ibid.,,;.
1o.SeeAndeison,CodeoftheStreet.
11.oCent,FronPiecestoWeight,;(.
1z.Ibid.,.
1.Ibid.,6-;.
1.Ibid.,8.
1.Ibid.,6.
16.LocWacquant,BodyandSoulôtebooksofanApprenticeBoxer(Oxfoid:
OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo().
1;.Ibid.,aa.
18.Ibid.,6-;.
1,.Ibid.,68.
zo.Ibid.,r(.
z1.oCent,FronPiecestoWeight,r;(.
zz.Ibid.
z.VolettaWallace,VolettaWallaceRenenbersHerSon,ChristopherWallace,AKA
ôtoriousB.I.G.(NewYoik:AtiiaBooks,aoo).
z.Ibid.,;.
z.Ibid.,8.
z6.Ibid.,6.
z;.Ibid.,,r.
z8.Ibid.,ro.
z,.Ibid.,r(o.
o.Ibid.,r(.
1.Ibid.,r(r.
z.Ibid.,r6.
.oCent,InteiviewonBonusDVD,GetRichorDieTrying(Shady/Afteimath/
Inteiscope,aoo),osemphasis.
.ATiibeCalledQuest,TeLowEndTeory(Jive,r,,r).
.Tiibe,ChecktheRhime,LowEndTeory.
6.Songsfiomhislong-awaiteddebutalbum,foiexample,weiewidelyciiculated
viabootleggedcopiesinthemid-r,,os.Whilethealbumwasslatedtocomeouton
CeenRecoidsaioundr,,6,itwasshelvedbythelabelandneveiieleased.Laige
Piofessoisdebutalbumcalled,simply,TeLPwasociallyieleasedbyhisown
companyinaoo,,almostfteenyeaislatei.
;.LaigePiofessoiinOiganizedKonfusion,Stiess(Remix),vinylsingle(r,,().
8.JeiuTeDamaja,TooPeiveited,WrathoftheMath(FontanaLondon,r,,6).
,.El-PinCompanyFlow,Denitive,FuncrusherPlus.
o.Wu-TangClan,PiotectYaNeck,EntertheWu-Tang(,oChanbers)(Loud/
RCA,r,,).CzaispionouncedJiza,withashoiti.
1.Cenius/CZA,Labels,LiquidSwords(Ceen/MCA,r,,).
z.RzaispionouncedRiza,withashoiti.
.Katz,SeductionsofCrine.
.Ibid.,,.
.JeFeiiell,CultuialCiiminology,AnnualReviewofSociologya(r,,,):,6.
6.JeFeiiell,DiaganMilovanovic,andStephenLyng,Edgewoik,MediaPiac-
tices,andtheElongationofMeaning,TeoreticalCrininology,no.a(aoor):r;8.
;.Ibid.,r8o.
8.Katz,SeductionsofCrine,(.
,.Ibid.,a(oiiginalemphasis).
o.Ibid.
1.Ibid.(oiiginalemphasis).
z.Ibid.,a(.
.Ibid.,a;.
.Ibid.
.Ibid.,.
6.Ibid.,(.
;.EdwinSutheiland,White-CollaiCiiminality,AnnualReviewofSociology,
no.r(Febiuaiyr,(o):a-ro,withexceiptsiepiintedinClassicsofCrininology,ided.,
ed.JosephE.Jacoby(LongCiove,IL:Waveland,aoo(),r-r8.
8.InJacoby,ClassicsofCrininology,r(.
,.Ibid.,r.
6o.Ibid.
61.DavidO.Fiiediichs,TrustedCrininalsWhiteCollarCrineinContenporary
Society(Belmont,CA:Wadswoith,aoo6),.
6z.QuotedinMaishallB.ClinaidandPeteiYeagei,CorporateCrine(NewYoik:
FieePiess,r,8o),r.
6.Ibid.
6.Shapiio,CollaiingtheCiime,r.
tnv1i 6
1.Chapteir;,WelconetoDeathRow(heieinafteiWDR)(XenonPictuies,aoor).
z.Chaptei,WDR.
.EthanBiown,QueensReignsSupreneFatCat,,oCent,andtheRiseoftheHip-
HopHustler(NewYoik:AnchoiBooks,aoo),rr(-r.
.Chaptei,WDR.
.Chaptei(,WDR.
6.RandallSullivan,LAbyrinthADetectiveInvestigatestheMurdersofTupacShakur
andôtoriousB.I.G.,theInplicationsofDeathRowRecordsSugeKnight,andthe
OriginsoftheLosAngelesPoliceScandal(NewYoik:Ciove,aooa),(,.Inaddition,as
thestoiygoes,Sugesname,whichisshoitfoiSugaiBeai,wasgiventohimbyhis
:,o Notes to Chapter
fatheiduetoagiaciousdisposition.RoninRo,HaveGunWillTravelTeSpectacular
RiseandViolentFallofDeathRowRecords(NewYoik:BioadwayBooks,r,,8),ro.
;.Chapteira,WDR.Accoidingtoanotheijouinalist,Sugeshomelife,though
chaiacteiizedbystiuggle,wasastableone.Unlikemanyneighbois,hehadtwopai-
entsinthehousehold. . . .Whilehisfiiendsstiiieduptiouble,Sugefocusedonspoit
andeainedaieputationasanathlete,whichkepthimoutofthelineofie.Ro,Have
GunWillTravel,r-r(.
8.Sullivan,LAbyrinth,o.
,.Chaptei,WDR.
1o.Sullivan,LAbyrinth,r.
11.Chaptei,WDR.
1z.QuotedinRo,HaveGunWillTravel,;.
1.Chaptei,WDR.
1.Ibid.
1.JeiiyHelleiwithCilReavill,RuthlessAMenoir(NewYoik:SimonSpotlight
Enteitainment,aoo6),;o.
16.Chapteia,WDR.
1;.BoyzNtheHood,Beef.
18.Hellei,Ruthless,(a.
1,.Ro,HaveGunWillTravel,(.
zo.BoyzNtheHood,Beef.
z1.Ibid.
zz.Chaptei,WDR.
z.Hellei,Ruthless,r.
z.Chapteira,WDR.
z.Shapiio,CollaiingtheCiime,r.
z6.Chaptei8,WDR.
z;.FiedeiicDannen,HitMenPowerBrokersandFastMoneyinsidetheMusicBusi-
ness(NewYoik:VintageBooks,r,,r).
z8.JeieyReiman,TeRichGetRicherandthePoorGetPrisonIdeology,Class,and
CrininalIustice,6thed.(Boston:AllynandBacon,aooo).
z,.NilsChiistie,CrineControlasIndustryTowardsGulags,WesternStyle,ided.
(London:Routledge,aooo).
o.HowaidS.Beckei,OutsidersStudiesintheSociologyofDeviance(NewYoik:
FieePiess,r,6),r;.
1.EmileDuikheim,TeNoimalandthePathological,inTeRulesoftheSocio-
logicalMethod,tians.SaiahA.SolovayandJohnH.Muellei,ed.CeoigeE.C.Catlin
(Clencoe,IL.:FieePiess,r,8,r,66).
z.RobeitK.Meiton,SocialStiuctuieandAnomie.
.See,foiexample,ShawandMcKay,IuvenileDelinquency,EdwinH.Suthei-
land,PrinciplesofCrininology,(thed.(Philadelphia:Lippincott,r,(;),AlbeitK.
Cohen,DelinquentBoysTeCultureoftheGang(Clencoe,IL:FieePiess,r,),
WalteiB.Millei,LoweiClassCultuieasaCeneiatingMilieuofCangDelin-
quency,IournalofSocialIssuesr(,no.(r,8):-r,,RichaidA.ClowaidandLloyd
C.Ohlin,DelinquencyandOpportunityATeoryofDelinquentGangs(Clencoe,IL:
FieePiess,r,6o).
.MichelFoucault,DisciplineandPunishTeBirthofthePrison,tians.Alan
Sheiidan(NewYoik:VintageBooks,r,,),a,;.
.JeanComaioandJohnComaio,CiiminalObsessionsafteiFoucault:
Postcoloniality,Policing,andtheMetaphysicsofDisoidei,CriticalInquiryao,no.(
(Summeiaoo():8o6(emphasisadded).
6.Ibid.,8a(.
;.Ibid.(oiiginalemphasis).
8.Di.Die,TeChronic(DeathRow/Inteiscope/Piioiity,r,,a).
,.Chaptei,WDR.
o.Chaptei6,WDR.
1.SnoopDoggyDogg,Doggystyle(DeathRow/Inteiscope/Atlantic,r,,).
z.Chaptei,,WDR.
.Ibid.
.Chapteira,WDR.
.Ibid.
6.Ibid.
;.Ro,HaveGunWillTravel,rr.
8.Chapteira,WDR.
,.Ibid.
o.Ro,HaveGunWillTravel,rr8.
1.Chapteir,WDR.
z.Eastvs.West,Beef.
.Ro,HaveGunWillTravel,r,o.
.JoelBakan,TeCorporationTePathologicalPursuitofProtandPower(New
Yoik:FieePiess,aoo().
.JosephE.Stiglitz,GlobalizationandItsDiscontents(NewYoik:Noiton,
aoo),.
6.KaiEiikson,NotesonTiaumaandCommunity,inTraunaExplorations
inMenory,ed.CathyCaiuth,r8-,,(Baltimoie:JohnsHopkinsUniveisityPiess,
r,,).
;.Ibid.,r,a.
8.Ibid.
,.Ibid.(oiiginalemphasis).
6o.Ibid.,r,a-,.
61.RosemaiyJ.Coombe,PiopeitiesofCultuieandthePoliticsofPossessing
Identity:NativeClaimsintheCultuialAppiopiiationContioveisy,CanadianIournal
ofLawandIurisprudence6,no.a(r,,):a66.
6z.RosemaiyJ.Coombe,TeCulturalLifeofIntellectualPropertiesAuthorship,
Appropriation,andtheLaw(Duiham,NC:DukeUniveisityPiess,r,,8),6a.
6.Ibid.
6.AllquotationsattiibutedtoIce-Tinthispassagecanbefoundheie:Eastvs.
West,Beef.
6.AllquotationsattiibutedtooCentinthispassagecanbefoundheie:oCent,
Inteiview,BonusDVD,GetRichorDieTrying.
66.Eastvs.West,Beef.
6;.Jay-Z,RapCame/CiackCame,InMyLifetine,Vol.I(Roc-a-Fella,r,,;).
:,8 Notes to the Conclusion
totiisi o
1.Allquotationsfiomthisaiticlecanbefoundheie:AlexeiBaiiionuevo,Cheap
CocaineFloodsAigentina,êwYorkTines,Febiuaiya,aoo8,http://www.nytimes.
com/aoo8/oa/a/woild/ameiicas/aaigentina.html(accessedAugustr,aoro).
z.Cleai,InprisoningConnunities,ao.
.Casescanalsobecleaiedbyexceptionalmeans,whichcanincludethedeathof
thesuspectoivictimnoncoopeiation.
.Foinationalcleaianceiates,seetheFedeialBuieauofInvestigationsannual
iepoit,CrineintheUnitedStates.TenumbeisIhavelistedheieaiefoiaoo8.
.BaibaiaBoland,PaulMahanna,andRonaldStones,TeProsecutionofFelony
Arrests,I88(Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,BuieauofJusticeStatis-
tics,r,,a),a.
6.Neailytwo-thiidsoffelonyconvictionsaiefoipiopeityoidiugoenses.Less
thanhalfofdiugdefendantsaiechaigedwithtiacking.Seventy-twopeicentof
thoseconvictedoffeloniesaieconvictedoftheoiiginalchaige.SeeTomasH.
CohenandTiaceyKyckelhahn,FelonyDefendantsinUrbanCounties,:ooo(Wash-
ington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJustice
Statistics,Mayaoro).
;.SeanRosenmeikel,MatthewDuiose,andDonaldFaiole,FelonySentencesin
StateCourts,:oooStatisticalTables(Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,
OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Decembeiaoo,),section(.
8.Ibid.,sectionr.
,.IhaveboiiowedthisdesciiptivephiasefiomaninteiviewwithhistoiianMike
DavisinCleBoneSloansdocumentaiylm,BastardsoftheParty,aboutthedevel-
opmentofblackgangsinLosAngeles.IamindebtedtoPaulKaplanfoituiningme
ontothislm,whichisstilloneofthebestyetmadeaboutgangsingeneial.
1o.QuotinglegalscholaiDonnaCokei,foiexample,politicalscientistKiistin
Bumillei,inInanAbusiveStateHowêoliberalisnAppropriatedtheFeninistMove-
nentagainstSexualViolence(Duiham,NC:DukeUniveisityPiess,aoo8),aiguesthe
following:
Mandatoiy aiiest policies inciease the iisk of [punitive ciiminal inteiven-
tion]. . .whenwomens(unielated)ciiminaloendingisexposed,when
mandatoiyaiiestpiacticesthieatenwomenspiobationoipaiolestatus,
whenundocumentedwomenaiemademoievulneiabletodepoitation,
oiwhenchildwelfaiedepaitmentsaiepiomptedtoinvestigateneglect
oiabuseclaimsbasedonadomesticviolenceincidentiepoit.Tedis-
appointingtiackiecoidofmandatoiypolicieshaspioducedacaution-
aiytalefoiactivistsaboutthepiecaiiousnessofielyingonstepped-up
policeenfoicementandattemptingtocontiolpiosecutoiialdiscietion.
(InanAbusiveState,ra,biacketsandellipsesinBumillei).
11.MedaChesney-Lind,CendeiMatteis:TiendsinCiilsCiiminality,inCritical
IssuesinCrineandIusticeTought,Policy,andPractice,ed.MaiyMaguiieandDan
Okada(LosAngeles:Sage,aorr),8.
1z.Ibid.
1.Ibid.,8(.
Notes to the Conclusion :,,
1.Cuiiie,CrineandPunishnent,r,.
1.Cailand,CultureofControl,ra.
16.Cleai,InprisoningConnunities,r86.
1;.MichaelToniy,TinkingaboutCrineSenseandSensibilityinAnericanPenal
Culture(Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo(),aoo.
18.TapioLappi-Seppl,PenalPolicyandIncaiceiationRatesinFinland,Correc-
tionsToday,Febiuaiyaooa,a.
1,.MattiJoutsen,Finland,inWorldFactbookofCrininalIusticeSystens(Wash-
ington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,r,,),http://bjs.
ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/ascii/WFBCJFIN.TXT(accessedAugust6,aoro).
zo.Ibid.
z1.Lappi-Seppl,PenalPolicy,r.
zz.JamesLynch,CiimeinInteinationalPeispective,inWilsonandPeteisilia,
Crine,.
z.Ibid.
z.Ibid.
z.Lappi-Seppl,PenalPolicy,o.
z6. HeatheiC.West,PrisonInnatesatMidyear:ooStatisticalTables(Washington,
DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,
aoro),a.
z;.Joutsen,Finland.
z8.Webb,WhyWeMustRefoim.Webbseoitsaiebothcommendableand
soielyneeded,buthe,too,ieliesonunsuppoitedfeaimongeiingwhen,instiivingto
iationalizeAmeiicanciiminaljusticepolicy,hesimultaneouslyclaimsthat,
While heavily focused on non-violent oendeis, law enfoicement has been
distiacted fiom puisuing the appioximately one million gang membeis
and diug caitels besieging oui cities, often engaging in unpiecedented lev-
els of violence.Cangsinsomeaieascommit8ooftheciimesandaie
heavilyinvolvedindiugdistiibutionandotheiviolentactivities.Tis
distuibingtiendaectseveiycommunityintheUnitedStates.
Webb oeis no evidence of these supposedly unpiecedented levels of violence, which,
of couise, he could not oei, since all violent ciime iates have been in steep decline foi
the past fteen yeais.Sadly,itseemsthateveiyeoitatciiminaljusticeiationality
mustbeanchoiedbyiiiationalpiemises.
z,.PewCenteiontheStates,PrisonCount:oIoStatePopulationDeclinesforthe
FirstTinein,8Years(Washington,DC:PewChaiitableTiust,Apiilaoro),r.
o.Ibid.,a.
1.Ibid.,.Tefedeialpiisonpopulationgiewby.(peicentinaoo,,oioveitwo
thousandpeople.
z.SeetheSentencingCommissionsannualSourcebookofFederalSentencingSta-
tisticsfoieveiyyeaisincer,,.
.PewHispanicCentei,ARisingShareHispanicsandFederalCrine(Washington,
DC:PewChaiitableTiusts,Febiuaiyaoo,).
.See,foiexample,theLosAngelesTinesoftensensationalizedaccountofMexi-
cosdiugwai,calledMexicoundeiSiege,which,asofAugustaoro,canbefoundat
http://piojects.latimes.com/mexico-diug-wai/;/its-a-wai.
:8o Notes to the Conclusion
.InitssystematicieviewoftheavailableEnglishlanguagescienticliteiatuie
ontheimpactsofdiuglawenfoicementinteiventionsondiugmaiketviolence,foi
example,thenonpiotInteinationalCentiefoiScienceinDiugPolicyfoundthat8;
peicentofthestudiesievealedthesamestaikiealitydiscussedinchapteia:
[I]ncieasing the intensity of law enfoicement inteiventions to disiupt diug
maikets is unlikely to ieduce diug gang violence.Instead,theexisting
evidencesuggeststhatdiugielatedviolenceandhighhomicideiatesaie
likelyanatuialconsequenceofdiugpiohibitionandthatincieasingly
sophisticatedandwell-iesouicedmethodsofdisiuptingdiugdistiibu-
tionnetwoiksmayunintentionallyincieaseviolence.Fiomanevidence-
basedpublicpolicypeispective,gunviolenceandtheeniichmentof
oiganizedciimenetwoiksappeaitobenatuialconsequencesofdiug
piohibition.
In a peiveise foim of ieasoning, howevei, many diug wai advocates have aigued that
Mexicos incieased lethality is actually a sign of success.Inthewoidsoffoimeidiug
czaiJohnWalteis,Teyieshootingeachothei,andtheieasontheyiedoingthat
isbecausetheyiegettingweakei.Oi,inthewoidsofMicheleLeonhait,acting
DEAadministiatoiinaoro:Ouiviewisthattheviolencewehavebeenseeing
isasignpostofthesuccessouiveiycouiageousMexicancounteipaitsaiehav-
ing. . . .Tecaitelsaieactingoutlikecagedanimals,becausetheyaiecagedanimals.
Incontiasttothislineofaigument,Icannotimagineapiisonocialclaimingthat,
say,incieasedlethalityamonginmateswhomLeonhait,nodoubt,wouldalsocall
cagedanimalssignaledthesuccessofaninmatesafetyinitiative.Tisisiiiespon-
siblelogicofthehighestoidei.SeeInteinationalCentiefoiScienceinDiugPolicy,
EectofDrugLawEnforcenentonDrug-RelatedViolenceEvidencefronaScientic
Review(Vancouvei,BC,Canada,aoro),-6.JohnWalteissquotationscanbefound
inMaithaMendoza,StudyLinksDiugEnfoicementtoMoieViolence,SanDiego
Union-Tribune,Apiila6,aoro,http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/aoro/api/a6/
study-links-diug-enfoicement-to-moie-violence/(accessedAugust6,aoro).Michele
LeonhaitsquotationscanbefoundinKatheiineMcIntiiePeteis,DEA:Mexican
DiugViolenceIsaSignofPiogiess,NotFailuie,GovernnentExecutive,Apiilr,
aoo,,http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/o(o,/o(ro,kpr.htm(accessedAugust6,
aoro).
6.Williams,TeEnglishôvel,r86.
;.Ibid.
8.Ibid.,a6.
,.Ibid.,r,a.
o.Ibid.
1.Ibid.,r.
z.Ibid.,ro.
.Ibid.,a.
Notes to the Methodological Essay :8:
xi1nouoiooi ti issv
1.CioundedtheoiysoiiginsaietobefoundinBaineyC.ClaseiandAnselm
L.Stiauss,TeDiscoveryofGroundedTeoryStrategiesforQualitativeResearch
(Chicago:Aldine,r,6;).Sincethen,theiehavebeennumeiousiefoimulationsby
manyauthois.TeveisionthatmostiesonateswithmysensibilitiesisthatofKathy
Chaimaz.See,foiexample,KathyChaimaz,ConstructingGroundedTeoryAPracti-
calGuidethroughQualitativeAnalysis(LosAngeles:Sage,aoo6).
z.RobeitJ.Covei,ViolenceandtheWoid,inârrative,Violence,andtheLaw
TeEssaysofRobertCover,ed.MaithaMinow,MichaelRyan,andAustinSaiat,ao-
8(AnnAiboi:UniveisityofMichiganPiess,r,,),ao.
:8,
Bibliography
Albini,Steve.TePioblemwithMusic.http://www.negativland.com/albini.html
(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
Alexandei,Fiank,withHeidiSiegmundCuda.GotYourBackProtectingTupacinthe
WorldofGangstaRap.NewYoik:St.MaitinsCiin,aooo.
Andeison,Elijah.CodeoftheStreetDecency,Violence,andtheMoralLifeoftheInner
City.NewYoik:Noiton,r,,,.
Andieas,Petei,andEthanNadelmann.PolicingtheGlobeCrininalizationandCrine
ControlinInternationalRelations.Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo6.
Anti-DrugAbuseActofI88,Pub.L.No.roo-6,o,roaStat.(r8r(r,88).
Anti-DrugAbuseActofI8o,Pub.L.No.,,-;o,rooStat.ao;(r,86).
Apprendiv.êwIersey,oU.S.(66(aooo).
Aichibold,RandalC.Califoinia,inFinancialCiisis,OpensPiisonDoois.êwYork
Tines,Maicha,aoro.http://www.nytimes.com/aoro/o/a(/us/a(calpiisons.
html?hp(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
ATiibeCalledQuest.TeLowEndTeory.Jive,r,,r.
Austin,James,andJohnIiwin.ItsaboutTineAnericasInprisonnentBinge,ided.
Belmont,CA:Wadswoith,aoor.
Avalon,Moses.SecretsofêgotiatingaRecordContractTeMusiciansGuidetoUnder-
standingandAvoidingSneakyLawyerTricks.SanFiancisco:BackbeatBooks,aoor.
Bakan,Joel.TeCorporationTePathologicalPursuitofProtandPower.NewYoik:
FieePiess,aoo(.
Bakei,HoustonA.,Ji.BlackStudies,Rap,andtheAcadeny.Chicago:Univeisityof
ChicagoPiess,r,,.
Baibei,Benjamin.Iihadvs.McWorldHowGlobalizationandTribalisnAreReshaping
theWorld.NewYoik:RandomHouse,r,,6.
Baiiionuevo,Alexei.CheapCocaineFloodsAigentina.êwYorkTines,Febiuaiy
a,aoo8.http://www.nytimes.com/aoo8/oa/a/woild/ameiicas/aaigentina.html
(accessedAugustr,aoro).
Baum,Ceialdine.RappeisUpbeatSpiiitRecalled.LosAngelesTines,Novembei6,
aooa.
Beckei,HowaidS.OutsidersStudiesintheSociologyofDeviance.NewYoik:Fiee
Piess,r,6.
Beckett,Katheiine.MakingCrinePayLawandOrderinContenporaryAnerican
Politics.NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,;.
Beef.ImageEnteitainment,aoo.
:8; Bibliography
Bennett,WilliamJ.,JohnJ.DiIulioJi.,andJohnP.Walteis.BodyCountMoralPov-
erty . . .andHowtoWinAnericasWaragainstCrineandDrugs.NewYoik:Simon
&Schustei,r,,6.
Blakelyv.Washington,(aU.S.a,6(aoo().
Bluestone,Baiiy,andBennettHaiiison.TeDeindustrializationofAnericaPlant
Closings,ConnunityAbandonnent,andtheDisnantlingofBasicIndustry.New
Yoik:BasicBooks,r,8a.
Blumstein,Alfied,andJoelWallman,eds.TeCrineDropinAnerica.Cambiidge:
CambiidgeUniveisityPiess,aooo.
.TeRecentRiseandFallofAmeiicanViolence.InBlumsteinandWallman,
CrineDrop,r-ra.
Boatman,RobeitH.LivingwithGlocksTeConpleteGuidetotheêwStandardin
ConbatHandguns.Bouldei,CO:Paladin,aooa.
Boland,Baibaia,PaulMahanna,andRonaldStones.TeProsecutionofFelonyArrests,
I88.Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,
r,,a.
BootCampClik.ChosenFew.DuckDown,aooa.
Bouchei,Ceo,andPaulLiebeiman.FatalShootingofRapPioneeiinStudioJolts
FansandPeeis.LosAngelesTines,Novembeir,aooa.
Bouigois,Philippe.InSeaichofHoiatioAlgei:CultuieandIdeologyintheCiack
Economy.InReinaimanandLevine,CrackinAnerica,;-;6.
.InSearchofRespectSellingCrackinElBarrio,anded.Cambiidge:Cambiidge
UniveisityPiess,aoo.
Boyd,Todd.InteigeneiationalCultuieWais:CivilRightsvs.HipHop(inteiviewby
YusufNuiuddin).SocialisnandDenocracyr8,no.a(aoo():r-;o.
.TeêwH.^.I.C.TeDeathofCivilRightsandtheReignofHipHop.NewYoik:
NewYoikUniveisityPiess,aooa.
Boyle,James.Shanans,Software,andSpleensLawandtheConstructionoftheInfor-
nationSociety.Cambiidge,MA:HaivaidUniveisityPiess,r,,;.
Biown,Ethan.QueensReignsSupreneFatCat,,oCent,andtheRiseoftheHip-Hop
Hustler.NewYoik:AnchoiBooks,aoo.
Biown,Michelle.TeCultureofPunishnent.NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,
aoo,.
Biy,David.NewYoikStateofMind:TeResuigenceofEastCoastHipHop.In
Light,VibeHistory,a;-;.
Bumillei,Kiistin.InanAbusiveStateHowêoliberalisnAppropriatedtheFeninist
MovenentagainstSexualViolence.Duiham,NC:DukeUniveisityPiess,aoo8.
BusinessWiie.RussellSimmonsPiesents:HipHopJustice.Julyaa,aoo(.http://
www.allbusiness.com/ciime-law-enfoicement-coiiections/law/
aoooo,-r.html(accessedAugustr;,aoro).
CalifoiniaStateSenate.PersonalServiceContractsSeven-YearRule,Exceptionfor
RecordingArtists.HeaiingbefoietheSelectCommitteeontheEnteitainment
Industiy,Septembei,aoor.
.RecordLabelAccountingPractices.JointHeaiingoftheCommitteeonthe
JudiciaiyandSelectCommitteeontheEnteitainmentIndustiy,Julya,aooa.
Bibliography :8,
.RecordLabelAccountingPractices.JointHeaiingoftheJudiciaiyCommittee
andtheSelectCommitteeontheEnteitainmentIndustiy,Septembeia(,aooa.
Caiamanica,Jon,JackEiwin,SaptosaFostei,KeithMuiphy,andVanessaSatten.
Victim.XXL,Maichaoo.
Castells,Manuel.RiseoftheêtworkSociety.Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,6.
Catalano,ShannanM.CrininalVictinization,:oo,.Washington,DC:U.SDepait-
mentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Septembei
aoo6.
Caulkins,JonathanP.,C.PeteiRydell,WilliamL.Schwabe,andJamesChiesa.Man-
datoryMininunDrugSentencingTrowingAwaytheKeyortheTaxpayersMoney?
SantaMonica,CA:Rand,DiugPolicyReseaichCentei,r,,;.
Chambliss,WilliamJ.TeLawofVagiancy.SocialProblensra,no.r(Summeir,6():
6;-;;.
Chang,Je.CantStopWontStopAHistoryoftheHip-HopGeneration.NewYoik:
Picadoi,aoo.
Chaimaz,Kathy.ConstructingGroundedTeoryAPracticalGuidethroughQualitative
Analysis.LosAngeles:Sage,aoo6.
Chesney-Lind,Meda.CendeiMatteis:TiendsinCiilsCiiminality.InCritical
IssuesinCrineandIusticeTought,Policy,andPractice,editedbyMaiyMaguiie
andDanOkada.LosAngeles:Sage,aorr.
Chiistie,Nils.CrineControlasIndustryTowardsGulagsWesternStyle,ided.Lon-
don:Routledge,aooo.
Cleai,ToddR.InprisoningConnunitiesHowMassIncarcerationMakesDisadvan-
tagedêighborhoodsWorse.Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo;.
Clinaid,MaishallB.,andPeteiYeagei.CorporateCrine.NewYoik:FieePiess,r,8o.
Clipse.LordWillin.StaiTiak,aooa.
Clowaid,RichaidA.,andLloydC.Ohlin.DelinquencyandOpportunityATeoryof
DelinquentGangs.Clencoe,IL:FieePiess,r,6o.
Cohen,AlbeitK.DelinquentBoysTeCultureoftheGang.Clencoe,IL:FieePiess,
r,.
Cohen,TomasH.,andTiaceyKyckelhahn.FelonyDefendantsinUrbanCounties,
:ooo.Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,
BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Mayaoro.
Cokei,CheoHodaii.N.W.A.InLight,VibeHistory,ar-6.
Comaio,Jean,andJohnComaio.CiiminalObsessionsafteiFoucault:Postcolo-
niality,Policing,andtheMetaphysicsofDisoidei.CriticalInquiryao(Summei
aoo():8oo-8a(.
.MillennialCapitalism:FiistToughtsonaSecondComing.PublicCulture
ra,no.a(aooo):a,r-(.
CompanyFlow.FuncrusherPlus.Rawkus,r,,;.
Coombe,RosemaiyJ.TeCulturalLifeofIntellectualPropertiesAuthorship,Appro-
priation,andtheLaw.Duiham,NC:DukeUniveisityPiess,r,,8.
.PiopeitiesofCultuieandthePoliticsofPossessingIdentity:NativeClaims
intheCultuialAppiopiiationContioveisy.CanadianIournalofLawandIurispru-
dence6,no.a(r,,):a(,-8.
:8o Bibliography
Covei,RobeitJ.ViolenceandtheWoid.Inârrative,Violence,andtheLawTe
EssaysofRobertCover,editedbyMaithaMinow,MichaelRyan,andAustinSaiat,
ao-8.AnnAiboi:UniveisityofMichiganPiess,r,,.
Cullen,FiancisT.RehabilitationandTieatmentPiogiams.InWilsonandPeteisilia,
Crine,a-8,.
Cunninghanv.California,(,U.S.a;o(aoo;).
Cuiiie,Elliott.CrineandPunishnentinAnericaWhytheSolutionstoAnericasMost
StubbornSocialCrisisHaveôtWorkedandWhatWill.NewYoik:HeniyHolt,
r,,8.
.ReckoningDrugs,theCities,andtheAnericanFuture.NewYoik:Hilland
Wang,r,,.
Dannen,Fiedeiic.HitMenPowerBrokersandFastMoneyinsidetheMusicIndustry.
NewYoik:VintageBooks,r,,r.
Davis,Mike.CityofQuartzExcavatingtheFutureinLosAngeles.NewYoik:Vintage
Books,r,,a.
DeadPiez.LetsGetFree.Loud,aooo.
Demeis,Joanna.StealTisMusicHowIntellectualPropertyLawAectsMusicalCre-
ativity.Athens:UniveisityofCeoigiaPiess,aoo6.
Deishowitz,AlanM.TeAbuseExcuseAndOtherCop-Outs,SobStories,andEvasions
ofResponsibility.Boston:BackBayBooks,r,,(.
DiIulio,JohnJ.,Ji.TeComingoftheSupei-Piedatois.WeeklyStandard,Novembei
a;,r,,.
Dimitiiadis,Cieg.PerforningIdentityPerforningCultureHipHopasText,Pedagogy,
andLivedPractice.NewYoik:PeteiLang,aoor.
Ditton,PaulaM.,andDoiisJamesWilson.TruthinSentencinginStatePrisons.
Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,Buieau
ofJusticeStatistics,Januaiyr,,,.
Di.Die.TeChronic.DeathRow/Inteiscope/Piioiity,r,,a.
Duikheim,Emile.TeNoimalandthePathological.InTeRulesoftheSociological
Method,tianslatedbySaiahA.SolovayandJohnH.Muellei,editedbyCeoigeE.
C.Catlin.Clencoe,IL:FieePiess,r,8,r,66.
Eiikson,Kai.NotesonTiaumaandCommunity.InTraunaExplorationsin
Menory,editedbyCathyCaiuth,r8-,,.Baltimoie:JohnsHopkinsUniveisity
Piess,r,,.
FairSentencingActof:oIo,Pub.L.No.rrr-aao(aoro).
Feld,BaiiyC.BadKidsRaceandtheTransfornationoftheIuvenileCourt.Oxfoid:
OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,,.
Feldman,Allen.FornationsofViolenceTeârrativeoftheBodyandPoliticalTerror
inôrthernIreland.Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,r,,r.
Feiiell,Je.CultuialCiiminology.AnnualReviewofSociologya(r,,,):,-(r8.
Feiiell,Je,DiaganMilovanovic,andStephenLyng.Edgewoik,MediaPiactices,
andtheElongationofMeaning.TeoreticalCrininology,no.a(aoor):r;;-aoa.
Feuei,Alan.RapWoildBaedbyKillingofStaiwithPeacefulImage.êwYork
Tines,Novembeir,aooa.
oCentwithKiisEx.FronPiecestoWeightOnceuponaTineinSouthsideQueens.
MTVBooks,aoo.
Bibliography :8,
.GetRichorDieTrying.Shady/Afteimath/Inteiscope,aoo.
Foucault,Michel.DisciplineandPunishTeBirthofthePrison.TianslatedbyAlan
Sheiidan.NewYoik:VintageBooks,r,,.
Fox,JamesAlan,andMaiianneW.Zawitz.HonicideTrendsintheUnitedStates.
Washington,DC:DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,Buieauof
JusticeStatistics,aoo;.
Fiank,Tomas.OneMarketunderGodExtreneCapitalisn,MarketPopulisn,andthe
EndofEcononicDenocracy.NewYoik:AnchoiBooks,aoor.
Fiiedman,LawienceM.CrineandPunishnentinAnericanHistory.NewYoik:Basic
Books,r,,.
Fiiediichs,DavidO.TrustedCrininalsWhiteCollarCrineinContenporarySociety.
Belmont,CA:Wadswoith,aoo6.
Calantei,Maic.WhytheHavesComeOutAhead:SpeculationsontheLimitsof
LegalChange.LawandSocietyReview,,no.r(Autumnr,;():,-r6o.
Cailand,David.TeCultureofControlCrineandSocialOrderinContenporarySoci-
ety.Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,aooa.
.PunishnentandModernSocietyAStudyinSocialTeory.Chicago:Univeisity
ofChicagoPiess,r,,.
Caiot,Robeit.WhoYouClainPerforningGangIdentityinSchoolandontheStreets.
NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,aoro.
Cenius/CZA.LiquidSwords.Ceen/MCA,r,,
ChostfaceKillah.Fishscale.DefJam,aoo6.
.TePrettyToneyAlbun.DefJam,aoo(.
Cibson,JamesWilliam.WarriorDreansParanilitaryCultureinPost-Vietnan
Anerica.NewYoik:HillandWang,r,,(.
Cilioy,Paul.AfteitheLoveHasCone:Bio-PoliticsandEtho-PoeticsintheBlack
PublicSpheie.PublicCulture;,no.r(Fallr,,():(,-;6.
.TeBlackAtlanticModernityandDoubleConsciousness.Cambiidge,MA:
HaivaidUniveisityPiess,r,,.
.ItsaFamilyAaii.InTatstheIoint!TeHip-HopStudiesReader,editedby
MuiiayFoimanandMaikAnthonyNeal,chaptei,.NewYoik:Routledge,aoo(.
Clasei,BaineyC.,andAnselmL.Stiauss.TeDiscoveryofGroundedTeoryStrate-
giesforQualitativeResearch.Chicago:Aldine,r,6;.
Classei,Iia,andLoienSiegel.WhenConstitutionalRightsSeemTooExtiavagant
toEnduie:TeCiackScaiesImpactonCivilRightsandLibeities.InReinaiman
andLevine,CrackinAnerica,aa,-(8.
Coldstein,Paul.InternationalCopyrightPrinciples,Law,andPractice.Oxfoid:Oxfoid
UniveisityPiess,aoor.
Coldstein,PaulJ.,HeniyH.Biownstein,PatiickI.Ryan,andPatiiciaA.Bellucci.
CiackandHomicideinNewYoikCity:ACaseStudyintheEpidemiologyof
Violence.InReinaimanandLevine,CrackinAnerica,rr-o.
Cottfiedson,MichaelR.,andTiavisHiischi.AGeneralTeoryofCrine.Stanfoid,
CA:StanfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,o.
GrandUprightMusic,Ltdv.WarnerBros.Records,Inc.,;8oF.Supp.r8a(S.D.N.Y.
r,,r).
Cieen,Tony.TeDiitySouth.InLight,VibeHistory,a6-;.
:88 Bibliography
Cieene,JudithA.ZeioToleiance:ACaseStudyofPolicePoliciesandPiacticesin
NewYoikCity.CrineandDelinquency(,no.a(Apiilr,,,):r;r-8;.
Cundeisen,Edna.RightsIssuesRocktheMusicWoild.USAToday,Septembeir6,
aooa.http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/aooa-o,-r-aitists-iights_x.htm
(accessedAugustrr,aoro).
Hall,Stuait,ChasCiitchei,TonyJeeison,JohnClaike,andBiianRobeits.Policing
theCrisisMugging,theState,andLawandOrder.NewYoik:PalgiaveMacmillan,
r,;8.
HandbookoftheBusinessRevolutionManifesto.FastConpany,Octobeir,,.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/or/edpage.html(accessedAugustr6,
aoro).
Haicouit,BeinaidE.IllusionofOrderTeFalseProniseofBrokenWindowsPolicing.
Cambiidge,MA:HaivaidUniveisityPiess,aoo.
.LanguageoftheGunYouth,Crine,andPublicPolicy.Chicago:Univeisityof
ChicagoPiess,aoo6.
Hait,TimothyC.ReportingCrinetothePolice,I:-:ooo.Washington,DC:Depait-
mentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Maich
aoo.
Hebdige,Dick.CutnMixCulture,Identity,andCaribbeanMusic.London:Rout-
ledge,r,8;.
Hellei,Jeiiy,withCilReavill.RuthlessAMenoir.NewYoik:SimonSpotlightEntei-
tainment,aoo6.
InteinationalCentiefoiScienceinDiugPolicy.EectofDrugLawEnforcenenton
Drug-RelatedViolenceEvidencefronaScienticReview.Vancouvei,BC,Canada,
aoro.
Jacobs,Biuce.DealingCrackTeSocialWorldofStreetcornerSelling.Boston:Noith-
easteinUniveisityPiess,r,,,.
Jay-Z.TeBlueprint.Rock-a-Fella,aoor.
.InMyLifetine,vol.r.Rock-a-Fella,r,,;.
JeiuTeDamaja.WrathoftheMath.FontanaLondon,r,,6.
Johnson,Biuce,AndiewColub,andEloiseDunlap.TeRiseandDeclineofHaid
Diugs,DiugMaikets,andViolenceinInnei-CityNewYoik.InBlumsteinand
Wallman,CrineDrop,r6(-ao6.
Johnson,Lynnd.Hip-HopsHolyTiinity.PopMatters,August8,aoo.http://www.
popmatteis.com/music/featuies/oo8o8-ocent.shtml(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
Jones,Steve.Hip-hopsRapShiftstowaidSocialActivism.USAToday,Januaiyra,
aooa.
Joutsen,Matti.Finland.InWorldFactbookofCrininalIusticeSystens.Washington,
DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,r,,.http://bjs.ojp.
usdoj.gov/content/pub/ascii/WFBCJFIN.TXT(accessedAugust6,aoro).
JuelzSantana.WhattheGanesBeenMissing!DefJam,aoo.
JunioiM.A.F.I.A.Conspiracy.BigBeat,r,,.
Kaimen,Andiew.êwYorkMurderMystery.NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,
aoo6.
Katz,Jack.SeductionsofCrineMoralandSensualAttractionsinDoingEvil.Basic
Books,r,88.
Bibliography :8,
Kelley,RobinD.C.KickinReality,KickinBallistics:CangstaRapandPostindustiial
LosAngeles.InPeikins,DroppinScience,rr;-8.
Kelling,CeoigeL.,andWilliamJ.Biatton.DecliningCiimeRates:InsideisViews
oftheNewYoikCityStoiy.IournalofCrininalLawandCrininology88,no.(
(Summeir,,8):rar;-a.
Kelling,CeoigeL.,TonyPate,DuaneDieckman,andChailesE.Biown.TeKansas
CityPreventivePatrolExperinentATechnicalReport.Washington,DC:Police
Foundation,r,;(.
Kelling,CeoigeL.,AntonyPate,AmyFeiiaia,MaiyUtne,andChailesE.Biown.
êwarkFootPatrolExperinent.Washington,DC:PoliceFoundation,r,8r.
Kelling,CeoigeL.,andJamesQ.Wilson.BiokenWindows.AtlanticMonthly,
Maichr,8a.http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/r,8ao/bioken-windows(accessed
Augustr6,aoro).
Kennedy,Randall.Race,Crine,andtheLaw.NewYoik:PantheonBooks,r,,;.
Kinbroughv.UnitedStates,aU.S.8(aoo;).
Klein,Malcolm,CheiylL.Maxson,andJodyMillei,eds.TeModernGangReader.
LosAngeles:Roxbuiy,r,,.
Kiasilovsky,M.William,andSidneyShemel.TisBusinessofMusicTeDenitive
GuidetotheBusinessandLegalIssuesoftheMusicIndustry,rothed.NewYoik:
BillboaidBooks,aoo;.
KRS-One.SoundofthePolice.Vinylsingle.Jive,r,,.
Lappi-Seppl,Tapio.PenalPolicyandIncaiceiationRatesinFinland.Corrections
Today,Febiuaiyaooa.
Laqueui,Waltei.ôEndtoWarTerrorisnintheTwenty-rstCentury.NewYoik:
ContinuumInteinationalPublishingCioup,aoo.
Lessig,Lawience.TeFutureofIdeasTeFateoftheConnonsinaConnectedWorld.
NewYoik:VintageBooks,aooa.
Light,Alan,ed.TeVibeHistoryofHipHop.NewYoik:TieeRiveis,r,,,.
Liptak,Adam.RightandLeftJointoChallengeU.S.onCiiminalJustice.êwYork
Tines,Novembeia(,aoo,.http://www.nytimes.com/aoo,/rr/a(/us/a(ciime.html
(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
Lynch,James.CiimeinInteinationalPeispective.InWilsonandPeteisilia,Crine,-(r.
MacLeod,Jay.AintôMakinItAspirationsandAttainnentinaLow-Inconeêigh-
borhood.Bouldei,CO:Westview,r,,.
Mahei,Lisa.SexedWorkGender,Race,andResistanceinaBrooklynDrugMarket.
Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,;.
Maitin,Maik.MaximumInsecuiity:CalifoiniasPiisonSystemPioducesBizaiie
andDangeiousResultsHaimfultoInmatesandPublic.SanFranciscoChronicle,
Augusta;,aoo6.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/aiticle.cgi?f=/c/a/aoo6/o8/a;/
INCDKNS((r.DTL(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
Maitinez,Ceoige.TePoliticsofHipHop(inteiviewbyRonHayduk).Socialisn
andDenocracyr8,no.a(aoo():r,-ao6.
Maitinson,Robeit.WhatWoiks?QuestionsandAnsweisaboutPiisonRefoim.
PublicInterest(Spiingr,;():aa-(.
McPhee,Michele.BulletsRiddleBustaRide.êwYorkDailyêws,Febiuaiya(,
aoo.
:,o Bibliography
Meaies,TiaceyL.,andDanM.Kahan.UrgentTinesPolicingandRightsinInner-City
Connunities.Boston:Beacon,r,,,.
Mendoza,Maitha.StudyLinksDiugEnfoicementtoMoieViolence.SanDiego
Union-Tribune,Apiila6,aoro.http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/aoro/
api/a6/study-links-diug-enfoicement-to-moie-violence/(accessedAugust6,
aoro).
Meiton,RobeitK.SocialStiuctuieandAnomie.AnnualReviewofSociology,no.
(Octobeir,8):6;a-8a.
MexicoundeiSiege.LosAngelesTines.http://piojects.latimes.com/mexico-diug-
wai/;/its-a-wai(accessedAugusta,aoro).
Millei,Jody.GettingPlayedAfricanAnericanGirls,UrbanInequality,andGendered
Violence.NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,aoo8.
Millei,WalteiB.Lowei-ClassCultuieasaCeneiatingMilieuofCangDelinquency.
IournalofSocialIssuesr(,no.(r,8):-r,.
Mitchell,Tony,ed.GlobalôiseRapandHipHopoutsidetheUSA.Middletown,CT:
WesleyanUniveisityPiess,aooa.
MobbDeep.TeInfanous.Loud/RCA/BMC,r,,.
Moigan,Joan.WhenChickenheadsConeHonetoRoostAHip-HopFeninistBreaksIt
Down.NewYoik:Touchstone,r,,,.
Moigan,JohnP.,andLynnZimmei.TeSocialPhaimacologyofSmokeable
Cocaine:NotAllItsCiackedUptoBe.InReinaimanandLevine,Crackin
Anerica,rr-;o.
Moiiis,Noival.TeContempoiaiyPiison:r,6Piesent.InMoiiisandRothman,
OxfordHistoryofthePrison,aoa-r.
Moiiis,Noival,andDavidJ.Rothman,eds.TeOxfordHistoryofthePrisonTePrac-
ticeofPunishnentinWesternSociety.NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,8.
Musto,DavidF.TeAnericanDiseaseOriginsofârcoticControl,ided.NewYoik:
OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,,.
Naggai,David.TeMusicBusiness(ExplainedinPlainEnglish)WhatEveryArtistand
SongwriterShouldKnowtoAvoidGettingRippedO!anded.SanFiancisco:DaJe
Publishing,aooo.
Nas.GodsSon.Columbia,aooa.
.Illnatic.Sony,r,,(.
.ItWasWritten.Columbia,r,,6.
Newman,Andy,andAlBakei.WasItaBadBusinessDealoiaMusicIndustiy
Feud?êwYorkTines,Novembeir,aooa.
Newman,KatheiineS.ôShaneinMyGaneTeWorkingPoorintheInnerCity.
NewYoik:VintageBooks,aooo.
NotoiiousB.I.C.LifeafterDeath.BadBoy,r,,;.
.ReadytoDie.BadBoy,r,,(.
O.C.Word . . .Life.WildPitch,r,,(.
Ogbai,Jeiey.Hip-HopRevolutionTeCultureandPoliticsofRap.Lawience:Univei-
sityPiessofKansas,aoo,.
Ogunnaike,Lola.SweetentheImage,HoldtheBling-Bling.êwYorkTines,Januaiy
ra,aoo(.
OiganizedKonfusion.StressTeExtinctionAgenda.HollywoodBASIC/Elektia,r,,(.
Bibliography :,:
Packei,HeibeitL.TeLinitsoftheCrininalSanction.Stanfoid,CA:StanfoidUni-
veisityPiess,r,68.
Padilla,Felix.TeGangasanAnericanEnterprise.NewBiunswick,NJ:RutgeisUni-
veisityPiess,r,,.
Paieles,John.LatestViolenceIsNotTypicalofPieviousCunplay.êwYorkTines,
Novembeir,aooa.
Paikei,Deiiick,andMattDiehl.ôtoriousC.O.P.TeInsideStoryoftheTupac,Biggie,
andIanMasterIayInvestigationsfron^YPDsFirstHip-HopCop.NewYoik:St.
Maitins,aoo6.
Paikei,Lauia.SeveialCitiesSnappingoveiBaggyPants.USAToday,Octobeir,
aoo;.http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/aoo;-ro-r(-Baggy_N.htm(accessed
Maichr,aoo8).
Passman,DonaldS.AllYouêedtoKnowabouttheMusicBusiness.NewYoik:Simon
&Schustei,aooo.
Patteison,LymanRay.CopyrightinHistoricalPerspective.Nashville,TN:Vandeibilt
UniveisityPiess,r,68.
Peikins,WilliamEiic,ed.DroppinScienceCriticalEssaysonRapMusicandHipHop
Culture.Philadelphia:TempleUniveisityPiess,r,,6.
Peiiy,Imani.ProphetsoftheHoodPoliticsandPoeticsinHipHop.Duiham,NC:Duke
UniveisityPiess,aoo(.
Peteis,KatheiineMcIntiie.DEA:MexicanDiugViolenceIsaSignofPiogiess,
NotFailuie.GovernnentExecutive,Apiilr,aoo,.http://www.govexec.com/
dailyfed/o(o,/o(ro,kpr.htm(accessedAugust6,aoro).
Peteisilia,Joan.WhenPrisonersConeHoneParoleandPrisonerReentry.NewYoik:
OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo.
PewCenteiontheStates.OneinIooBehindBarsinAnerica,:oo8.Washington,DC:
PewChaiitableTiusts,Febiuaiyaoo8.
.Onein,ITeLongReachofAnericanCorrections.Washington,DC:Pew
ChaiitableTiusts,Maichaoo,.
.PrisonCount:oIoStatePopulationDeclinesfortheFirstTinein,8Years.
Washington,DC:PewChaiitableTiusts,Apiilaoro.
PewHispanicCentei.ARisingShareHispanicsandFederalCrine.Washington,DC:
PewChaiitableTiusts,Febiuaiyaoo,.
Philips,Chuck.MusiciansUigeN.Y.RightsRefoim.LosAngelesTines,Novembei
r,aooa.
.RapFeudPiomptsUniveisaltoCancelPaity,SouicesSay.LosAngelesTines,
Febiuaiy(,aoo.
.StateSenatetoExamineMusicFiims.LosAngelesTines,Augusta6,aooa.
Pough,Cwendolyn.CheckItWhileIWreckItBlackWonanhood,Hip-HopCulture,
andtheBlackPublicSphere.Boston:NoitheasteinUniveisityPiess,aoo(.
Piovine,DoiisMaiie.UnequalunderLawRaceintheWaronDrugs.Chicago:Univei-
sityofChicagoPiess,aoo;.
Quinn,Eithne.ûthinbutaGTangTeCultureandConnerceofGangstaRap.
NewYoik:ColumbiaUniveisityPiess,aoo.
Quinney,Richaid.Class,State,andCrine.NewYoik:DavidMcKay,r,;;.
Raekwon.OnlyBuilt,CubanLinx.Loud/RCA/BMC,r,,.
:,: Bibliography
.OnlyBuilt,CubanLinx . . .Pt.II.IceHaO/EMI,aoo,.
Raftei,NicoleHahn.CiiminalAnthiopologyintheUnitedStates.RepiintedinTe
CrininologyTeoryReader,editedbyStuaitHeniyandWeineiEinstadtei,;8-,r.
NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,r,,8.
RappeiC-MuideiSentencedtoLifeinPiison.USAToday,Augustr(,aoo,.http://
www.usatoday.com/life/people/aoo,-o8-r(-cmuidei-sentencing_N.htm(accessed
Augustrr,aoro).
Rashbaum,WilliamK.InvestigatingMuideiofaD.J.,PoliceUseDetectivesSpecial-
izingintheWoildofHip-Hop.êwYorkTines,Januaiya,aoo.
Redman.DareIzaDarkside.DefJam,r,,(.
Reiman,Jeiey.TeRichGetRicherandthePoorGetPrisonIdeology,Class,and
CrininalIustice,6thed.Boston:AllynandBacon,aooo.
Reinaiman,Ciaig,andHaiiyC.Levine.CrackinAnericaDenonDrugsandSocial
Iustice.Beikeley:UniveisityofCalifoiniaPiess,r,,;.
.CiackinContext.InReinaimanandLevine,CrackinAnerica,r-r;.
Ritav.UnitedStates,rU.S.8(aoo;).
Ro,Ronin.HaveGunWillTravelTeSpectacularRiseandViolentFallofDeathRow
Records.NewYoik:BioadwayBooks,r,,8.
Rose,Maik.AuthorsandOwnersTeInventionofCopyright.Cambiidge,MA:Hai-
vaidUniveisityPiess,r,,.
Rose,Tiicia.BlackôiseRapMusicandBlackCultureinContenporaryAnerica.
Middletown,CT:WesleyanUniveisityPiess,r,,(.
.TeHipHopWarsWhatWeTalkaboutWhenWeTalkaboutHipHopand
WhyItMatters.NewYoik:BasicCivitasBooks,aoo8.
Rosenmeikel,Sean,MatthewDuiose,andDonaldFaioleJi.FelonySentencesinState
Courts,:oooStatisticalTables.Washington,DC:U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,
OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,Decembeiaoo,.
Rusche,Ceoige,andOttoKiichheimei.PunishnentandSocialStructure.NewYoik:
ColumbiaUniveisityPiess,r,,.
Sampson,RobeitJ.,andJohnH.Laub.ALife-CouiseViewoftheDevelopment
ofCiime.AnnalsoftheAnericanAcadenyofPoliticalandSocialScience6oa
(Novembeiaoo):ra-(.
Sampson,RobeitJ.,StephenRaudenbush,andFeltonEails.Neighboihoodsand
ViolentCiime:AMultilevelStudyofCollectiveEcacy.Sciencea;;(r,,;):,r8-
a(.
Sanchez,Reymundo.MyBloodyLifeTeMakingofaLatinKing.Chicago:Chicago
ReviewPiess,aooo.
Sandeis,William.GangbangsandDrive-BysGroundedCultureandIuvenileGang
Violence.NewYoik:AldinedeCiuytei,r,,(.
Sanjek,Russel.AnericanPopularMusicandItsBusinessTeFirstFourHundredYears.
vols.NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,88.
Scott,PeteiDale,andJonathanMaishall.CocainePoliticsDrugs,Arnies,andtheCIA
inCentralAnerica,updatededition.Beikeley:UniveisityofCalifoiniaPiess,r,,r.
Segall,Lauiie.NewYoikPoliticianHopestoEndYouthsPants-SaggingTiend.
CNN,Maicha,,aoro.http://www.cnn.com/aoro/LIVINC/o/a,/new.yoik.baggy.
pants/index.html?iief=allseaich(accessedAugustr;,aoro).
Bibliography :,,
SentencingRefornActofI8,,Pub.L.No.ro(-8(r,8().
Shakui,Sanyika.MonsterTeAutobiographyofanL.A.GangMenber.NewYoik:
Ciove,r,,.
Shapiio,Susan.CollaiingtheCiime,NottheCiiminal.AnericanSociological
Review,no.(Juner,,o):(6-6.
Shaipley-Whiting,T.Denean.PinpsUp,HosDownHipHopsHoldonYoungBlack
Wonen.NewYoik:NewYoikUniveisityPiess,aoo;.
Shaw,ClioidR.,andHeniyD.McKay.IuvenileDelinquencyinUrbanAreas.Chi-
cago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,r,(a.
Simon,Jonathan.GoverningthroughCrineHowtheWaronCrineTransfornedAneri-
canDenocracyandCreatedaCultureofFear.Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo;.
Simpson,Colton,withAnnPeailman.InsidetheCripsLifeinsideL.A.sMostôtorious
Gang.NewYoik:St.Maitins,aoo6.
Skolnick,Jeiome.CangsandCiimeasOldasTime:ButDiugsChangeCang
Cultuie.RepiintedinKlein,Maxson,andMillei,ModernGangReader,aaa-a;.
OiiginallypublishedasCommentaiyinCrineandDelinquencyinCalifornia,
I8o-I8.Saciamento:CalifoiniaDepaitmentofJustice,OceoftheAttoiney
Ceneial,BuieauofCiiminalStatisticsandSpecialSeivices.r;r-;,.
Smith,Alexandei,andHaiiietPolack.CuitailingtheSentencingPoweiofTiial
Judges:TeUnintendedConsequences.CourtReview.Williamsbuig,VA:Ameii-
canJudgesAssociation,Summeir,,,.
Smith,Philip.PunishnentandCulture.Chicago:UniveisityofChicagoPiess,aoo8.
SnoopDoggyDogg.Doggystyle.DeathRow/Inteiscope/Atlantic,r,,.
Stanton,Sam.CalifoiniaInmateReleasePlanBegins.SacranentoBee,Januaiya,
aoro.http://www.sacbee.com/topstoiies/stoiy/a(86a8o.html?stoiylink=omni_
populai(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
.EailyJailReleasesinCalifoiniaWoiiyFoimeiViolentOendei.Sacranento
Bee,Febiuaiy6,aoro.http://www.sacbee.com/aoro/oa/o6/ar;6(/eaily-ieleases-
woiiy-foimei-violent.html(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
Stephenson,Neal.SnowCrash.NewYoik:BantamBooks,r,,a.
Stiglitz,JosephE.GlobalizationandItsDiscontents.NewYoik:Noiton,aoo.
StieetTeiioiismEnfoicementandPieventionAct,CaliforniaPenalCoder86.ao-
r86.(WestSupp.r,,6).
Sullivan,Randall.LAbyrinthADetectiveInvestigatestheMurdersofTupacShakurand
ôtoriousB.I.G.,theInplicationsofDeathRowRecordsSugeKnight,andtheOrigins
oftheLosAngelesPoliceScandal.NewYoik:Ciove,aooa.
Sutheiland,Edwin.PrinciplesofCrininology,(thed.Philadelphia:Lippincott,r,(;.
.WhiteCollarCrine.NewYoik:Holt,Rinehait,andWinston,r,(,.
.White-CollaiCiiminality.AnnualReviewofSociology,no.r(Febiuaiyr,(o):
a-ro.ExceiptsiepiintedinClassicsofCrininology,ided.,editedbyJosephE.
Jacoby,r-r8.LongCiove,IL:Waveland,aoo(.
TeiioiSquad.TrueStory.UmvdLabels,aoo(.
Tomas,Bethany.La.PioposesCiackdownonBelly-BaiingPants.^BCêws,May
r,aoo(.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/(,6ra/(accessedMaichr,aoo8).
Tomas,Donald.ALongTineBurningTeHistoryofLiteraryCensorshipinEngland.
NewYoik:Piaegei,r,6,.
:,; Bibliography
Toniy,Michael.MalignêglectRace,Crine,andPunishnentinAnerica.NewYoik:
OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,.
.TinkingaboutCrineSenseandSensibilityinAnericanPenalCulture.Oxfoid:
OxfoidUniveisityPiess,aoo(.
Toop,David.RapAttack,,ided.London:SeipentsTail,aooo.
UnitedStatesDepaitmentofJustice.CrineintheUnitedStates,:oo8.Washington,
DC:FedeialBuieauofInvestigation,Septembeiaoo,.Availableathttp://www.fbi.
gov/uci/ciusaoo8/index.html(accessedAugustr,aoro).
UnitedStatesSentencingCommission.GuidelinesManual,Er.r(Nov.aoo;).
.ReporttotheCongressCocaineandFederalSentencingPolicy.Washington,
DC:SentencingCommission,Mayaoo;.http://www.ussc.gov/i_congiess/
cocaineaoo;.pdf(accessedAugustr,aoro).
.ReporttotheCongressCocaineandFederalSentencingPolicy.Washing-
ton,DC:U.S.SentencingCommission,Mayaooa.http://www.ussc.gov/i_
congiess/oaciack/aooaciackipt.htm(accessedAugustr,aoro).
.SourcebookofFederalSentencingStatistics,I,-:oo.http://www.ussc.gov/
annipts.htm(accessedAugustr,aoro).
.SpecialReporttotheCongressCocaineandFederalSentencingPolicy.Washing-
ton,DC:U.S.SentencingCommission,Febiuaiyr,,.http://www.ussc.gov/ciack/
exec.htm(accessedAugustr,aoro).
.SpecialReporttotheCongressCocaineandFederalSentencingPolicy.Wash-
ington,DC:U.S.SentencingCommission,Apiilr,,;.http://www.ussc.gov/i_con-
giess/NEWCRACK.PDF(accessedAugustr,aoro).
UnitedStatesv.Booker,(U.S.aao,aa((aoo).
Venkatesh,Sudhii.GangLeaderforaDayARogueSociologistTakestotheStreets.New
Yoik:Penguin,aoo8.
.OtheBooksTeUndergroundEcononyoftheUrbanPoor.Cambiidge,MA:
HaivaidUniveisityPiess,aoo6.
Wacquant,Loc.BodyandSoulôtebooksofanApprenticeBoxer.Oxfoid:Oxfoid
UniveisityPiess,aoo(.
.DeadlySymbiosis:WhenChettoandPiisonMeetandMesh.Punishnent
andSociety,no.r(Januaiyaoor):,-r(.
.Whoies,Slaves,andStallions:LanguagesofExploitationandAccommoda-
tionamongBoxeis.BodyandSociety;,no.a-(aoor):r8r-,(.
Walkei,Samuel.TaningtheSystenTeControlofDiscretioninCrininalIustice,I,o-
Io.NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,.
Wallace,Voletta.VolettaWallaceRenenbersHerSon,ChristopherWallace,AKAôto-
riousB.I.G.NewYoik:AtiiaBooks,aoo.
Webb,SenatoiJim.WhyWeMustRefoimOuiCiiminalJusticeSystem.Hungton
Post,Junerr,aoo,.http://www.hungtonpost.com/sen-jim-webb/why-we-must-
iefoim-oui-ci_b_ar(ro.html(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
WelconetoDeathRow.XenonPictuies,aoor.
West,HeatheiC.PrisonInnatesatMidyear:ooStatisticalTables.Washington,DC:
U.S.DepaitmentofJustice,OceofJusticePiogiams,BuieauofJusticeStatistics,
aoro.
Bibliography :,,
Williams,Juan.BanishtheBling:ACultuieofFailuieTaintsBlackAmeiica.Wash-
ingtonPost,Augustar,aoo6.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
aiticle/aoo6/o8/ao/ARaoo6o8aoooa;.html(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
.EnoughTePhonyLeaders,Dead-EndMovenents,andCultureofFailureTat
AreUnderniningBlackAnericaandWhatWeCanDoAboutIt.NewYoik:Tiee
Riveis,aoo;.
.WhatBillOReillyReallyToldMe.Tine,Septembeia8,aoo;.http://www.
time.com/time/nation/aiticle/o,8,,,r666;,oo.html(accessedAugustr6,aoro).
Williams,Raymond.TeEnglishôvel.NewYoik:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,;o.
.MarxisnandLiterature.Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,;;.
Wilson,JamesQ.,andJoanPeteisilia,eds.CrinePublicPoliciesforCrineControl.
Oakland,CA:InstitutefoiContempoiaiyStudies,aooa.
Wilson,WilliamJulius.WhenWorkDisappearsTeWorldoftheêwUrbanPoor.
NewYoik:VintageBooks,r,,6.
Woodiwiss,Michael.GangsterCapitalisnTeUnitedStatesandtheGlobalizationof
OrganizedCrine.NewYoik:CaiiollandCiaf,aoo.
Wiight,Kiistine.RiseUpHipHopNation:FiomDeconstiuctingRacialPoliticsto
BuildingPositiveSolutions.SocialisnandDenocracyr8,no.a(aoo():,-ao.
Wu-TangClan.EntertheWu-Tang(,oChanbers).Loud/RCA,r,,.
Young,Jock.MeitonwithEneigy,KatzwithStiuctuie:TeSociologyofVindic-
tivenessandtheCiiminologyofTiansgiession.TeoreticalCrininology;,no.
(aoo):(ro-rr.
YouthCommunication.TingsGetHecticTeensWriteabouttheViolenceTatSur-
roundsTen,editedbyPhilipKay,AndieaEstepa,andAlDesetta.NewYoik:
Touchstone,r,,8.
Zimiing,FianklinE.,andCoidonHawkins.CrineIsôttheProblenLethalViolence
inAnerica.Oxfoid:OxfoidUniveisityPiess,r,,;.
:,,
Index
abuseexcuse,6
academia,rr(
AFL-CIO,;
AFTRA,;
Albini,Steve,;,ra
AmeiicanDieam,(a,rr(
Ameiico-centiism,8,
Andeison,Elijah,,,roa
Andieas,Petei,r6n,o
Anti-DiugAbuseActofr,86,,o,a
Anti-DiugAbuseActofr,88,,(
anti-heioes,ao
Aigentina,r,
aiieststatistics,,,r(r
aitistsiightsmovement,;
asif,a,,r(;
ASCAP,;
ATiibeCalledQuest,ro,
asymmetiicalielationships,;6,rr,,ra(,
r;
authenticitydebate,;68
authoiship,rr(
BadBoyRecoids,6,ro;,ra,
baggypantslaws,;,,8
Bakan,Joel,rrra
Beccaiia,Cesaie,;
Beckei,Howaid,ra6
Beckett,Katheiine,r6nr
Bedfoid-Stuyvesant,Biooklyn,(
Beethoven,;a
Bennett,William,,
Bentham,Jeiemy,ror
Beietta,,,o
Bias,Len,a
BizMaikie,;
BlackAtlantic,6r
blackveinaculaicultuie,8
blockpaities,6o
Bluestone,Baiiy,(r
Blumstein,Alfied,8
Bolivia,r,
bookpublishing,;o;r
BootCampClik,(
Bouigois,Philippe,a(a,(a(,66;,
rr(
boxing,roro
Boyd,Todd,6r
Biatton,William,r,
bieakbeats,6o
bieakdancing,6o
Breaking,6o
biokenwindows,r,
Bionson,Chailes,ao
Bionx,6o
Biooklyn,(,(,6o
Biown,Bobby,rar
Biown,Ethan,rao
Biown,Michelle,r8
Bushwick,Biooklyn,(
C-Muidei,6
Califoiniapiisonciisis,a,r,n6
caiceialaichipelago,ra6
casedispositionstatistics,,,r(r
CentralStation,8r
Chambliss,William,r8
Chang,Je,a6
Chicago,(
ChicagoSchool,ra6
:,8 Index
childmaltieatment,r(a
Chiistie,Nils,ra6
TeChronic,ra;
CityofGod,8r
Cleai,Todd,,,r(o
cleaianceiates,r(r
Clipse,(
cocaleaves,a
cocapaste,a
codingthecodes,ra
coeicivemobility,,(o,,8o,ro,r8
ColdChillin,rro
collateialeects,(((
collectiveecacy,,
ColumbiaRecoids,ro8
Comaio,Jean,a6,ra;
Comaio,John,a6,ra;
Combs,Sean,ro;ro8,ra,
TeComingoftheSupeipiedatois,
8a8
CompanyFlow,rro,ra
Compton,CA,rarraa
concentiatedincaiceiation,,
contiactualhumiliation,rrarr6,r6
contioltheoiy,rooroa
convictioniates,r(r
Coombe,Rosemaiy,r
copyiightlaw,;,;o;r,r,r;on86
coipoiateciiminality,rr
TeCorporation,ra
coipoiations,rr(,rrr;
Cosby,Bill,6,8,roo,roa
Covei,Robeit,r(
ciackcocaine:asanomaly,r8,(,
cultuialwoikof,a6a;,dangeiof,
,indecline,,r;,dieiencesfiom
fieebase,,eectsofconsump-
tion,,asexpeiientialfabiic,(,
rr,r;,o,,a,ro,r(6,feaisof,r;,
ra,ashaibingeiofmoialdecay,
8a,asimpuiepuiity,(,(;,8a,
andinstantaddiction,r;,iiiational,
paiadoxicalpunishmentof,r6,a;,
r(;,aslethalcoieofciiminological
stiuctuieoffeeling,;,inlyiics,ra,
makesviolenceautomatic,,o,a,
makingof,a,maiketsin,(o(;,
asmetaphoi,rorr,;;,,6,ro,r;,
r,andnetwoikedviolence,(;o,
physicalappeaianceof,(,punish-
mentstiuctuiefoi,a,r(,r;,r(;,
puiityof,(,iniapciiticism,
a6,andsexwoik,(((,similaiity
tofieebase,,simplicity,r,r,
socialcomplexity,;,socialdevasta-
tionsof,ra,o,socialsignicance,r8,
a;,o,assymbol,ra,;,(,,ro6,
r(6,aswoik,,r6
ciackdealeisandciackdealing,a,r;,
andAmeiicanDieam,(a,ascapital-
istenteipiise,(a,andself-woith,a(,
(,immediatelyieplaced,;,,,(8,
r,,6,wayoflife,(o
ciackeia,ro,8,,8(
ciackgeneiation,,a,ro
ciacklaws:cultuialconsequencesof,,
r,dieiencesbetweenfedeialand
state,r6onr,moiebangfoithebuck,
(8,andnationalsecuiity,r,r6rn6,
aspaiadoxical,contiadictoiy,and
inconsistent,(,rr,r8,r(;,r6n(,,
passingof,or,pioposedchanges
to,a,,symbolicimpact,r
ciackmaikets,(o(;,,r,,,r6
ciacktiade,r;,(r,r6,collateialeects
of,((,eectsonnon-diug-ielated
violence,(a,ganginvolvementin,
(;,andgangviolence,(a,oiganiza-
tionof,;,ietailstatusof,6,(;,and
violence,;(o,womenin,(((
ciackheads,(,((
cieativewoiking,ro,6,6;,8o,,;,ro,
r(6
ciimeandintelligence,8a
CrineControlasIndustry,ra6
ciimedecline,(,,ra,rooroa,ro,
r68na
ciimeinpotential,8r8a,rorro
ciimeiates:cioss-nationalcompaiisons,
;8
ciimetaii,,(o
ciimesiepoitedtopolicestatistics,6(
Index :,,
ciiminalanthiopology,8a
ciiminalexceptionalisminUS,8
ciiminaljustice,8,r(or(r,r(:con-
tiadictionsin,r;r8,aa,rara6,
andnationalsecuiity,(,,iefoimof,
,r6r;,aa,iefoimbacklashes,a,
r,n6
ciiminologicalstiuctuieoffeeling,;rr,
ao,((,66(,,;,r(r(;
ciiminology,;,(,6(6,8a,rra,rr(,
ra6
ciisisofmasculinity,a6
ciudesophistication,;
ciushingfieedom,,6,;,r6,r(;
culpability,anddiugquantity,6
culpability-by-the-giam,,o
cultuialciiminology,rra
cultuialpiopeities,r(,r;
cultuialstigma,(,roo,ro
cultuieofteiioi,a,,a
Cunninghanv.California,r;n
Cuiiie,Elliott,,;,r(
Dannen,Fiedeiic,ra
daikguieofciime,r6nr;
DaiwinianTiackeiDilemma,,,(a
Davis,Mike,8
DeLaSoul,a
deathpenalty,r(
DeathRowRecoids,6,ra,rr,rao,
raara,ra8ra,,rr
DeathWish,ao
DefJam,6
defectivedelinquencytheoiy,8a
deindustiialization,8,aa;,(r,,r(r,
r(6
demociacy-at-woikthesis,r6nr
deteiminatesentencing,ar,r;n
Dickens,Chailes,8o
DiIulio,John,8a8,8,,(
DirtyHarry,ao
disjointedinteijections,rr
discjockeys,6o6r,68
DixieChicks,;
DOC,ra,
Doggystyle,ra8
Di.Die,raara,ra;
diive-byshootings,(a
diugaiieststatistics,r6nr8
diugczai,,
diugusestatistics,,rn(
duepiocess,rr
Duikheim,Emile,ra6
Eastwood,Clint,ao
Eazy-E,raara,ra;ra8
edgewoik,rra
Edison,Tomas,;a
r8-torsentencingdispaiity,a,o,;,
r((
El-P,rro,rr6
elasticieasoning,a,(;
electiveanity,6;
EMI,raa
emotionalcalm,roro6
emotionalsociality,r(
Enlightenment,;
enteitainmentindustiy,,
Eiikson,Kai,ra
EscapefronêwYork,ao
ethnogiaphiesofciack,ra,r;,a,(,(6,
(,6,roa
expeiientialdynamics,rra
facelessness,;;6,;8,rar(,r;
FafLaiage,a
FastConpany,(,a
feeblemindedness,8a
Feldman,Allen,8;88,,o,r,,(
eldofpain,r(
oCent,6,,,,,roro6,ro8,rrr,
rr6,ra(,r
Finland,r(r((
FolsomPiison,(
foiegioundofciiminalacts,rra
(oCal,,o
(oClocc,,o
Foucault,Michel,ra6
,ooBlows,8o
FouiteenthAmendment,rr
Fiank,Tomas,(,
fieewiiting,rar
:oo Index
fieebase,,8a
FieestyleFellowship,a
Fiiedman,Lawience,8r
Fiiediichs,DavidO.,rr(
fullies,,r,a
FuncrusherPlus,ra
C-packs,(
Calantei,Maic,;6;;
gangautobiogiaphies,((6
gangenhancementlaws,,
gangiape,66;
gangwaifaie,(a
gangs,((;
gangsta,r,8;
gangstaiap,8,68
Cailand,David,8,r8,ao,r(
Ceis,Cil,rr(
AGeneralTeoryofCrine,ror
GetRichorDieTrying,;,
ChostfaceKillah,r,a,6,
Cibson,JamesWilliam,8,
CilbeitandSullivan,;a
Cilioy,Paul,8,,6r
Ciuliani,Rudolph,,r,
GlobalizationandItsDiscontents,ra
TeGodfather,ra
CodfatheiEnteitainment,ra8
CottfiedsonandHiischi,ror
CiandWizaidTeodoie,6o
CiandmasteiFlash,6o
Ciiey,Dickrar
giinding,(
giati,6o
CiitsandButtei,,,(,roro(
gioundedtheoiy,ra
guiltypleastatistics,r(r,r6nr,
guns,,86,r,AK(;,88,babynine,
8,,.ocalibei,,o,.(,8,,o,Clock,
88,o,ro,Mr6,r,86,M6o,86,
Macro,88,,,,mm,,o,,,,,,r,rr,
88,ievolvei,86,88,,(,shotgun,o,
,,Tec,,88,,o,,,.a,,,,.;,8,,
,o,tommygun,86
Cutenbeig,;o
CZA,rrorrr,ra(
Haicouit,Beinaid,8;,o,,
Haiiison,Bennett,(r
HaiiyO,ra;rr
hateciimestatutes,,,r(r
hedonisticcalculus,ror
Hellei,Jeiiy,raara
Henley,Don,;;6
heioin,(
hiphopcultuie,a,,6a,r6;n
hiphopgeneiation,a6,6r
Holding,William,8r
homicidepatteins,(o
homicideiates,;,8,86
homicidespikes,8(o
HumptyDumptypiinciple,a(
hustling,,r6
ICaveYouPowei,,o
IceCube,raara
Ice,IceBaby,rar
Ice-T,r(
Illnatic,rr
immigiationoenses,r(
impliedconsent,rr
impliedtiust,;;,rr(
impiisoningfiamewoik,6;,;6
impiisonmentbinge,a
impulsivebehavioi,rorroa
impuiepuiity,(,(;,;,6(,8a,,a,
,;,r(;
incaiceiationiatesandtotals,8,
r(r(
indeteiminatesentencing,ar
TeInfanous,rr
infoimalsocialcontiol,,(o
intellectualbiidgemaking,ro,ra
intellectualpiopeity,;o,r
InteiscopeRecoids,ra8,rr
Iovine,Jimmy,ra8
Jacobs,Biuce,r;,a(
Japan,r((
JamMasteiJay,6
Jay-Z,,(,r6
Jeiu,rro
Johnson,Maiio,rarraa
Index :o:
jouinalwiiting,ro
judicialdiscietion,ar,a
juvenilejustice,8o8a
juvenileviolenceiates,8
KansasCityPatiolExpeiiment,r,
Katz,Jack,rrarr,r6n,o
Kelling,CeoigeL.,r,
Kennedy,Randall,r6n(,
Kennei,David,ra8ra,
Kinbroughv.UnitedStates,rr6,r;n
KingpinStiategy,(;,r6n(,
kingpins,r,a,;,(;(8,oa,,
,r,,6,;,r(,r;,r(;
Kiichheimei,Otto,r8
KoolHeic,6o
Knight,Suge,ra,rr;,rr,,r,r;,rr,as
heio,raora,asvillain,ra;rr
KRS-One,a,,
labelviolence,rrorrr
Labels,rrr
languageofexploitation,ro,6;,;;
Laqueui,Waltei,r6n,o
LaigePiofessoi,ro,,rr
Laub,John,6
lawenfoicementiesponsestociackeia,
8,(o,(8
legalanomaly,,o
legaltheoiy,;
LesteiBowie,a
lethalviolenceandlethality,(,a;,o,8,
(o,886,,r,,,roo,roro(,rr6,
ra(,r(r(6,asbusinessiegula-
tion,(o,(a,roo,r(6,andsimplicity,
8,,o,,;
libel,;r
line-by-linecoding,ra
livinglethality,,a,,;,r(;
LordoftheFlies,8r
LosAngeles,(,8,rr,,ra8
LosAngelesiap,68
Love,Couitney,;
low-wagelaboi,8,andhumiliation,a,
(r,(
lyiicalanalysis,6
Macro,,o,r
Maa,ra
Mahei,Lisa,(
MainConcept,a
mandatoiyaiiest,r(a
mandatoiyminimums,rr,araa,r,na
mandatoiysentencing,
Manhattan,ar,8,6o
MaicyPiojects,(
maiijuana,r
maiket-basedielationships,,a,,6,ro,
r(6
maiketdemociacy,(8
maitialaits,86,rro
Maitinson,Robeit,ar
masteiiecoidings,;o,;a,;(,ra(ra,
ro
Meaies,Tiacey,r6n(,
mechanicalioyalties,;
mediaandviolence,66(,6;
mensiea,o
Meiton,Robeit,(,ra6
metaphysicsofauthoiialpiesence,r,
r;
metaphysicsofdisoidei,ra;
methamphetamine,(
methodology,r(,r(,animatingques-
tions,6,rr
Mexico,r(
MFCiimm,a,6,,r
Millei,Jody,6
mixtapes,68
MobbDeep,rr
MobyDick,r(,
MonsteiKody,(,,r,a,,6
moialemotions,rra,rr
moialguidance,,a
moialindictment,
moiallack,loss,anddecay,;,8a,8(,
,r,,6,;,roo,roa,ro,r(,r;
moialoutiage,a,8o,,,rrrr
moialpoveity,8
moialiights,;r
moialself-tianscendence,rra
moialtiansfoimations,8o,8(,,;
Moiiis,Noival,a(
:o: Index
Mozait,;a
musicindustiya,,(,6r,6,,ro6,ro8,
rro,rrrr(,rr,,rar,ra,rr,com-
plexityin,6,;6,ro8ro,,duplicity
andhumiliationin,a,6,r,(,
68,;6;8,ro6rr;,rr,,ra(ra,ra;,
rorr,r6,histoiyof,;o;8,public
peiceptionof,;,ievenuein,;o,;a,
violenceof,rrr,rr6rr;,rao,ra,rr,
r,r6r;
musicpublishing,;o,;a,ro8,raa,ra(
Nadelmann,Ethan,r6n,o
naicoteiioiism,r6rn6
Nas,6,,,o,,(,,,roo,roaro,ro6,
r,rr
nation-statesystem,(8
NationalCiiminalJusticeActofaoo,,r6
nationalsoveieignty,(8(,
netwidening,8a
netwoiksandviolence,(;o,ro(,
r6n,o
neweiaweaponiy,8,,o
newmoialoideis,8r
newmusicactivism,;
newschoolviolence,ra,(6,,r,6,
,,,roa,ro(ro6,rro,rrrr;,rr,,
ra(ra,ro,rr8
NoitheinIieland,8;
nothingwoiksdoctiine,ar
NotoiiousB.I.C.,,6,ra,a,6,8(,
8;88,,o,,(,,ro(ro8,rr,
rr,rao,ra(,ra,,rr,r6,rr
NotoiiousC.O.P.,;
Nuyoiican,68
N.W.A.,raara
NYPD,r,,,
Obama,Baiack,,a,
O.C.,a,6,,rr
oendei-victimcontinuum,6(6;
OceofNationalDiugContiolPolicy,
Ogbai,Jeiey,a6
oldheads,,,roa,ro6
oldschool,86,88,,a,(,,6,roo,
roaro,rrorrr,ra(,r6
roo-torsentencingdispaiity,,r,
aa(,a,,r,;,(;,r((,r(;
OneLove,,,roo,roa,r
one-shotteis,;;
OnlyBuiltforCubanLinx,,6,
openmicnights,68
OpeiationCleanSweep,,
OpeiationHammei,,
OpeiationInvincible,,
OpeiationPiessuiePoint,8
opium,r
OiganizedKonfusion,ra
Pacino,Al,r,a
Packei,Heibeit,,
paco,r,
Padilla,Felix,(
paiamilitaiycultuie,8,
parenspatriae,8r
paienting,ra,8,,;,rooroa,ro6
payola,ra
penalimagination,r8
penalspectatoi,r8
penalstate,a
penology,r8
peifoimanceioyalties,;
peifoimingaitists,;
peifoimingiightsoiganizations,;
Peiiy,Imani,6a
Peteisilia,Joan,aa
policing,r,,iesponsestociackeia,8,
(o,(8,taskfoices,,
policy:contiadiction,paiadox,and
iiiationality,a,,,r,r;,aa,,r,and
cultuie,(,r((r(;,symbolicconse-
quencesof,a,r,symbolicdemoniza-
tion,
Pough,Cwendolyn,6a
powdeicocaine,r,r,a,,8a
Powell,Kevin,8(,ra,ra,
poweiandloss,ro,ra,8o,,(,;,,,,
roa,ro,r8
powei-deathaesthetic,8,
piedatoiycomplexity,ro8
piimitivesophistication,r
piintingpiess,;o
Index :o,
piivatization,r(a
PiotectYaNeck,rro
Piovine,DoiisMaiie,r6onr
Puccini,;a
punishment:goalsof,ro,complexity
of,r8,cultuialconsequencesof,
r((r(;
punitiveieasoning,a(
punitivetuin,aoa(,ra
puieculpability,r(;
puiifyanddeploy,,
PushaT,(
Q-Tip,ro,
quality-of-lifeciimes,
Queens,6o
Quinney,Richaid,r8
Raekwon,(,6,
Raftei,Nicole,8a
iage,rr
iap:inacademicwoikonciime,a,and
authenticity,868,andbattling,
,6o,68,ascausingviolence,6(,
andcommodication,8,,6r,as
complex,commeiciallyboundsocial
piactice,ro,6a,6;,rr(,conict
withmusicindustiy,6,conictwith
owncommeicialization,rorr,r,,
6;,;o;r,;8,rrr,rr,ra,ra,,r(6,
ra,andcopyiightlaw,;,andciack-
infusedlyiics,a,8o,ascieative
woiking,ro,6,6;,8o,,;,ro,r(6,
ciiminalassociationsof,6;,6r,as
cultuieoffailuie,66(,dieiences
fiomhiphop,,6r,andexplicit-
ness,;,,,6r6a,globaldimensions
of,,,histoiyof,6o6r,identity
mythsin,rr,,asimpuiepuiity,
;,making,;,moialdebatesin,ra,
ieexivity,a,,,686,,;;,,,roo,
ro,ro8rr6,rr;,ra,r(,iegional
scenes,68,asiesistance,;,,6r,
6a,andstieetcultuie,a,undei-
giound,a,68;o,aswoik,,6,68,
,r,ro8ro,,rrrr6,r(r6
iapaitists:balancingact,ro,r(r,
r;,andcontiadiction,,,r,,;,and
ciackeia,6;,ciiminalassociations
of,6,6,aslivinglethality,,a,mui-
deied,,6,r66nr8,memoiializing
lethality,a
iapcops,;
iap-ciackconnection,r;,a;,;,,;,
r6
iapciiticism,ro,rr,a6,;68
iapgame,(,rr;,ra
iapgame-ciackgame,,6,6,,;o,
;;;8,8o,,,ro6,rr,r6,rr
iapindustiy,,8(,rr;,rr,,rao,ro,
r(,r,ra
iap-ielatedviolence,6
iapscholaiship,8,,
iationallycieatediiiationality,6
RBX,ra,
ReadytoDie,8(,,(
iealityTV,6
iecoidlabels,;,ro,rrr,raa,ra8,rr,
r;
iecoidingaitists,;
RecoidingAitistsCoalition,;,;8
iecoidingcontiacts,;;,ro8rro,
rrrr6,raara(,rrra,rr,r6,n8r
RedDogSquad,,
Redman,6,
iediessandievenge,rr,rr;,rao,ra,
rr,r6r;
Reiman,Jeiey,rara6
iepeatplayeis,;;
iepiesentativeness,rr
ievolutionaiysimplicity,r,;
TeRichGetRicherandthePoorGet
Prison,ra
iighteousslaughtei,rrarr
RikeisIsland,
Rockefelleidiuglaws,aa,r,na
Rose,Tiicia,a6,8,6a
RunDMC,6
Rusche,Ceoige,r8
iuthlesscomplexity,;8
iuthlessillogicality,o
RZA,rrr,rr6
:o; Index
SadatX,a
SalaanBonbay,8o
sampling,;
Sampson,Robeit,,,6
Sandeis,William,(a
Scandinavia,r(r((
Scarface,r,a,,a,8;,,o
scholailyneaimisses,r;,a(a;
scholaiship,r(,r(
school,,a
SeductionsofCrine,rra
self-contiol,rorroa,ro
sensualdeteiminism,rra
sentencingdispaiities:betweenjuiis-
dictions,ao,andiace,r6.Seealso
r8-torsentencingdispaiity,roo-
torsentencingdispaiity
sentencingguidelines,r6,(
sentencingiates,r(r,cioss-national
compaiisons,r(
sentencingiefoim,r6
SentencingRefoimAct,rr6
sexwoik,(((,(6
Shapiio,Susan,;6,rr,ra(
Shaipley-Whiting,T.Denean,66(
ShawandMcKay,(
sheetmusic,;o;r
ShuiikN,a
Simmons,Russell,6,r
simplepossession,r;,(,6,,;,pie-
sumptionoftiacking,,iepealof,
,a(,a,,r((
Skolnick,Jeiome,,(o,(
SLRP,;
Smith,Philip,r8
SmootheDaHustlei,
SnoopDogg,rao,ra8ra,
SnowCrash,(8
socialbetiayal,(,;;,8o,r
socialdisoiganization,,(r,rr(
socialinsecuiity,r(ar(,r(
socialjustice,,,6(,ra,r(o
sociolegallogic,a;,6;,r
songwiiteis,;
Sony,ra8
soundiecoidings,;a
SouthAfiica,ra;
SpanishHailem,6
SpecialEd,a
statesuiveillance,r(a
stateviolence,r((
StatuteofAnne,;r
statutoiyiate,;
Stephenson,Neil,(8(,
Steiling,Eiic,a
Stiglitz,Joseph,ra
StiaightfiomthePiojects,6
Stiauss,;a
stieetandsuite,,ra,ra,
stieetcultuie,a(,;8
StieetTeiioiismEnfoicementandPie-
ventionAct,,
Stress,ra
StietchandBobbito,68
stiuctuialequality,r(a
stiuctuieoffeeling,;,r(
supeipiedatois,ra,8o,886,,(,,6,;,
r;
Sutheiland,Edwin,;6,rr(rr
Sweden,r(
symboliciesonance,r
systematicbiainstoiming,ro,ra
TacticalNaicoticsTeam,,
tamingthesystem,ao
taskfoicepolicing,,
TechN,ne,,o
TaAlkaholiks,a
TingsDoneChanged,ra,8(86,88,
,(,,,,,roo,roa,ro(,ro6
,oChanbers,rr
TinPanAlley,;a
TommyBoy,rrr
Toniy,Michael,r(
toughonciimepopulism,ao
tiademaiks,r
tiainingandiestiaining,86,roo,ro
ro6,rr(,rr6rr;,ra(,rr6,r(6
tiansgiessivepiactices,rra
tiauma,ra,r(o
tiuthinsentencing,ar
Tsotsi,8r
Index :o,
TupacShakui,6,ra,6,8(,rr,rao,ra,,
rr,ra
tuintables,6o
Tyson,Mike,rr,
uglysimplicity,8,
undeigioundeconomy,a(,(o(,(6,
ro6,r(a,r(6
undeigioundethic,68
undeigioundiap,68;o,,(,rao
undeilyingcompositions,;o,;a
UnitedStatesCongiess,,r,ar,o,
(,;
UnitedStatesSentencingCommission,
,rr,r,a,((,RepoitstoCon-
giess,rr,r6r;,or
UnitedStatesSupiemeCouit,rr
VanillaIce,rarraa
Venkatesh,Sudhii,a
victimization,r(a,statistics,,,6(
Vietnam,88
vigilantes,ao
violence:aestheticsof,888,,asauto-
matic,,o,a,asbusinessiegulation,
(,(;,a,;;,,r,,,causesof,(;,
collateialeectsof,(,andcomplex-
ity,86,andciackmaikets,(o(;,and
ciacktiade,;(o,infamily,666,
r(a,fetishizationof,ro,andgendei,
6,asinstiumental,(6,ro,ro,
juvenileiates,8,asmeansofpioduc-
tion,;8,rara;,ro,r(r,r8,
andmedia,66(,6;,andneighboi-
hoods,a,(o,andnetwoiks,(;o,
newschool,ra,(6,noimalizationof,
(a,oldschool,86,88,,a,(,,6,roo,
roaro,rrorrr,ra(,r6,qualitative
studiesof,6,iates,ra,;8,roa,and
socialdisoiganization,(r,assystemic,
(o,(a,,;,tiansfoimationof,ra,(,
886,88,,r,,(,,6,roro(,ro,
r,,tiust-coiiodingeectsof,(6,,a.
Seealsolethalviolenceandlethality
violenttuininhiphop,8(
Wacquant,Loc,a,ro(ro
Waits,Tom,;,;;,rr,ra
Walkei,Samuel,ao
Wallace,Voletta,ro6ro8
waiondiugs,r;
WaineiBiotheis,rrr,ra8,rr
Washington,Denzel,ra8
Webb,Jim,r6,r((
white-collaiciime,;6,rr(rr,rr
whitelabeliecoids,68
Williams,Juan,66(,8,roo,roa
Williams,Raymond,;,ro,6,r(r(6
Wilson,JamesQ.,r,
Wilson,WilliamJulius,(r
Wiley,Steven,(;
TeWire,8o
womenandciime,r(a
Word...Life,rr
woik:ciackas,,r6,cieative
laboi,a,ro,;;,ciimeas,(,lethal
logicof,a,roa,insepaiabilityfiom
violence,;8,moialityof,a;,musicas,
(,;6,nonhumiliating,a;,(a,a,rr,
r;,iapas,,6,68,,r,ro8ro,,
rrrr6,r(r6,assanctuaiy,ro,
tiainingas,ro
Wiight,Kiistine,6a
Wu-TangClan,(,rro,rr
Young,Jock,a6
youth:andmoialdecline,ra,;,,8,
tiainingthemselves,ra,roa,r;na,in
tiouble,8o8
zeio-sumgame,8o
zeiotoleiance,,r(a
:oo
About the Author
oi ri :vi . noozi os is Assistant Piofessoi in the Division of
Ciiminal Justice at Califoinia State UniveisitySaciamento.

5 Grams

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

5 Grams

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Grams

i:rv:i vr cvi ri oioov srvi rs

In oidei to ieceive the same ve-yeai

Hailed as a bipaitisan victoiy, the laws iepeal depended upon a num-

Likewise, while the majoiity of people

As outlined biiey in the books opening sections, I examine the cultuial

At bottom, ciime and punishment in twenty-

Crack, Rap, and

Te guidelines, hence, weie to be followed as law. While Kin-

Te guidelines aie now just that: advisoiy, instead of

and as of mid-,,8a few yeais aftei Jacobs

Likewise, although ciack cocaine has been a

Likewise, in analyzing the development of

Tus we have, foi a salient example, Califoinias iecuiiing piison ciises.

Ciack, that is, iep-

Likewise, Angelo, an eleven-yeai-old

Likewise, in aiguing that the giowth of the piison-

Ciack, accoidingly, guies

But it was Senatoi Hawkins who, while defending the uigency

Len Biass death, in othei woids, pointed to some-

When powdei is made,

It should follow, then,

did undeigo a peiiod of consolidation, suggesting some

Signicantly, the names of the

In addition, not only did violence become

Peihaps most impoitant is the commissions consistent citing of a

In citing the incieasing social and economic disoiganization

Rap Puts Crack to Work

as a way of life so entienched that

Given such a histoiy, it should be

Oi in Jay-Zs boast about hav-

Peihaps, though, the peifection of

And, in a tiagic iiony, C-Muidei, one of the

In addition, his police mug shot

Rap scholaiship must now con-

Even given this histoiy, it is often believed by many wiiteispast and

Hip hop is then piesented as the vehicle thiough which a new

Similaily, in hei aoo8 book, Tiicia Rose hopes to aim young

In sum, thioughout the authen-

Jouinalist Juan Williams, foi

Tis commonsense belief

Simply put, oveily cultuialist explanations of ieal-

Unfoitunately, this knowledge has been fiustiating foi ieseaich-

Tings Done Changed

Tis assumed ielationship between youth,

While aimed at saving such sagging youth

Such eoits, howevei

Eaily juvenile justice was based

Tings Done Changed 8,

He exclaimed that people

Foi both Cosby and

,o Tings Done Changed

Training and Humiliation

which came out the

Gottfiedson and Hiischis theoiy ielies

as the ist piemise in theii

And, by meiging discipline with his stieet

Foi o, tiaining set

Te calming eects of violence tiaining suggested by o also iesonate

os and Volettas expeiiences aie not

By vocalizing the shadiness of iecoid compa-

Te songs intio, spoken by the gioups famous pio-

Katz was inteiested in ieplacing an emphasis on indi-