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Gangsta, in French
www.freewilliamsburg.com ^ | November 10, 2005 | DAVID BROOKS

Posted on 11/19/2005 4:03:27 PM PST by neverdem

After 9/11, everyone knew there was going to be a debate about the future of Islam. We just didn't know the debate would be between Osama bin Laden and Tupac Shakur. Yet those seem to be the lifestyle alternatives that are really on offer for poor young Muslim men in places like France, Britain and maybe even the world beyond. A few highly alienated and fanatical young men commit themselves to the radical Islam of bin Laden. But most find their self-respect by embracing the poses and worldview of American hip-hop and gangsta rap.

One of the striking things about the scenes from France is how thoroughly the rioters have assimilated hip-hop and rap culture. It's not only that they use the same hand gestures as American rappers, wear the same clothes and necklaces, play the same video games, and sit with the same sorts of car stereos at full blast. It's that they seem to have adopted the same poses of exaggerated manhood, the same attitudes about women, money and the police. They seem to have replicated the same sort of gang culture, the same romantic visions of gunslinging drug dealers. In a globalized age it's perhaps inevitable that the culture of resistance gets globalized, too. What we are seeing is what Mark Lilla of the University of Chicago calls a universal culture of the wretched of the earth. The images, modes and attitudes of hip-hop and gangsta rap are so powerful they are having a hegemonic effect across the globe.

American ghetto life, at least as portrayed in rap videos, now defines for the young, poor and disaffected what it means to be oppressed. Gangsta resistance is the most compelling model for how to rebel against that oppression. If you want to stand up and fight The Man...

(Excerpt) Read more at freewilliamsburg.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: france; hiphop; rapmusic; riots; sixpackfersure; tupacshakur

1 posted on 11/19/2005 4:03:28 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem
hip hop and rap is one American "intrusion" I would applaud the French for trying to keep out.
2 posted on 11/19/2005 4:04:58 PM PST by CzarNicky (The problem with bad ideas is that they seemed like good ideas at the time.)
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To: neverdem

BTTT


3 posted on 11/19/2005 4:07:42 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Tagline Repair Service. Let us fix those broken Taglines. Inquire within(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: CzarNicky
Lil Jon expresses his heartfealt agreement.
4 posted on 11/19/2005 4:10:15 PM PST by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
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To: neverdem

"American ghetto life, at least as portrayed in rap videos, now defines for the young, poor and disaffected what it means to be oppressed."

Silly me, I always thought it portrayed lazy, illiterate fools to dumb enough to take advantage of the opportunities available to every American.

Who knew?


5 posted on 11/19/2005 4:12:22 PM PST by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
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To: neverdem

'wretched of the earth'????? Oh, hellO. Of those who work against civilization, perhaps that. Of those who thumb their noses at the establishment, prefering to deal drugs and etc. to an honest day's labor, perhaps. Of those who seek to make their marks by outward defiance rather than by being quality humans, perhaps that. But 'the wretched of the earth'???? Oh, just SPARE ME.


6 posted on 11/19/2005 5:45:08 PM PST by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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To: taxed2death

haha, you are right -- lazy illiterate fools.


7 posted on 11/19/2005 5:45:55 PM PST by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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To: Gordongekko909

Every other word from Lil John consists of: "Yeah! What?! O--Kay!"


8 posted on 11/19/2005 7:30:58 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (JOE WILSON IS A MUTHAFAKING LIAR)
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To: neverdem
Straight from the Gangsta rapper's web site...Notice what he has in his hand...


9 posted on 11/19/2005 7:37:22 PM PST by sit-rep (If you acquire, hit it again to verify...)
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To: sit-rep
Notice what he has in his hand...

I can't make it out. What is it?

10 posted on 11/19/2005 7:41:23 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

well, if they're $100 bills, could be 10 to 20 grand...


11 posted on 11/19/2005 7:46:21 PM PST by sit-rep (If you acquire, hit it again to verify...)
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To: sit-rep

BDA is hard to do.


12 posted on 11/19/2005 7:51:42 PM PST by patton ("Hard Drive Cemetary" - forthcoming best seller)
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To: neverdem
He has a wad of bills in his left hand and a booty in his right hand.

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

13 posted on 11/19/2005 8:06:11 PM PST by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
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To: neverdem

Durr, I are stoopid. Other way around.


14 posted on 11/19/2005 8:07:15 PM PST by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Precisely. He is a very agreeable person.


15 posted on 11/19/2005 8:07:42 PM PST by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
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To: patton

Then hit it again anyway!!


16 posted on 11/19/2005 8:16:20 PM PST by sit-rep (If you acquire, hit it again to verify...)
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To: sit-rep

Shot, over.


17 posted on 11/19/2005 8:18:37 PM PST by patton ("Hard Drive Cemetary" - forthcoming best seller)
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To: sit-rep; Gordongekko909

Thank you. I noticed the pawing of flesh in one hand, but I was expecting some hardware in the other.


18 posted on 11/19/2005 8:40:32 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem
American ghetto life, at least as portrayed in rap videos, now defines for the young, poor and disaffected what it means to be oppressed.

Uh...yeah. Whatever.

19 posted on 11/20/2005 10:38:07 AM PST by rickmichaels
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