Chicago hustle and flow : gangs, gangsta rap, and social class / Geoff Harkness.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harkness, Geoffrey Victor, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gangsta rap (Music)--Social aspects--United States.

Gangsta rap (Music).

Gangsta rap (Music)--Illinois--Chicago--History and criticism.

Gangs--Illinois--Chicago.

Gangs.

Social aspects.

Illinois--Chicago.

United States.

Physical Description:

xvii, 244 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2014]

Summary:

Set in one the largest underground music scenes in the nation, Chicago Hustle and Flow takes readers into the heart of gangsta rap culture in Chicago. From the electric buzz of nightclubs to the sights and of bedroom recording studios, Geoff Harkness presents gripping accounts of the lives, beliefs, and ambitions of the gang members and rappers with whom he spent six years. A music genre obsessed with authenticity, gangsta rap promised those from crime-infested neighborhoods a ticket out of poverty. But while firsthand experiences with gangs and crime gave rappers a leg up, it also meant carrying weapons and traveling collectively for protection. Street gangs serve as a fan base and provide protection to rappers who bring in income and help to recruit for the gang. In examining this symbiotic relationship, Chicago Hustle and Flow ultimately illustrates how class stratification creates and maintains inequalities, even at the level of a local rap-music scene. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction. Welcome to the terrordome : Chicago's gangsta-rap microscene

Who shot ya : a tale of two gangsta-rap rivals

The blueprint : social class and the rise of the rap hustler

Bangin' on wax : recording studios as symbolic spaces

In da club : how social class shapes the performative context

Capital punishment : crime and risk management in the rap game

Conclusion. Rap hustlers or sucker MCs?

Epilogue. Six years later.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0816692297

9780816692293

9780816692286

0816692289

OCLC:

869140979

Publisher Number:

99961089117