Gangsta Culture Summary

Rap is a genre in music that consists of rhyming or being poetic over a certain unique beat. The origin of rap is significantly different from any other form of music. The flow, change, subject of the music, and the instrumentals behind the rapping has all changed with time. Most people would underestimate the complexity of the music and the evolution it has undergone. The real roots of rap music began in the late 1980’s with the “Golden Age.” It was innovative and mostly based around the party scene. Gangsta Rap followed the Golden age and was very impactful on the young culture. After the Gangsta Rap era came the time in rap referred to as Crunk Rap which combined the country sound with the party lifestyle. Conscious

Violence is something that has always been associated with masculinity, particularly in the traditional patriarchal society. The strong expectations that are tied to masculinity frequently compel men to display certain attitudes and characteristics such as aggressiveness, power, and even vicious superiority over other men. Given the repression of African Americans, a significant amount of adolescent black men are suffering from a severe self-hatred and a frantic, consequential want to

Gangs of New York (2002), a bold and violent movie directed by Martin Scorsese takes us back to a New York without skyscrapers and modern-day lavishes that shows the rise of violent gang power and political corruption. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, the film features a personal struggle placed within the context of gang warfare between Nativists and immigrants, which is set in the larger context of the Draft Riots and the Civil War. It is a reconstructed historical narrative that uses interlocking events filled with gang violence and political corruption to show how the modern New York was born.

Nelson George states that “Gangsta rap is direct by- product of crack explosion. Unless you grasp that connection nothing else that happened in the hip hop’s journey to national scapegoat will make sense. This is not a chicken-or-the-egg riddle —first came rocks, then gangsta rap” (136). To prove his point he examines the connection between drug culture of the inner city areas and the hip hop music. The money collected from illegal drug deals spent on recordings of gangsta rap music. George says “Suspicion of women, loyalty to the crew, adoption of a stone face in confronting the world, hatred of authority—all major themes of gangsta rap-owe their presence of lyrics and impact on audiences to the large number of African-American men incarcerated in the ‘90s” (138). I agree with his statement that gangsta rap is a directed by- product of crack explosion, because social and racial issues for instance drug dealing influencing the lyrics of music and this explosion of heroin and crack in communities gave birth to gangsta rap.

At the start of the movie, there are two of the many gangs in the five points prepping for a brawl to see who would control the five points. Amsterdam Vallon walks with his father, the leader of the Dead Rabbits Gang, to Paradise square where the brawl would take place. Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, the leader of the Bowery Boys, leads his gang to the square. The fight ensues Bill has eventually killed Priest Vallon which ensured that the Bowery boys would control five points. Amsterdam is sent away, he returns years later from prison. He wants revenge for his father’s death years earlier, he knows he has to defeat Bill from the inside so he joins Bill as his assistant. Amsterdam falls for smart thief Jenny. Amsterdam tries to kill Bill, but fails and is wounded by Bill. Jenny nurses him back to health. Amsterdam publicly announces his return to five points by hanging a dead rabbit in the square, Bill sends a gang member to investigate and is killed by Amsterdam and hung in the square. In vengeance, Bill beats Johnny and puts him on a pike in the square forcing Amsterdam to put down suffering Johnny. Amsterdam challenges Bill to a duel in the square just as a riot breaks out, and the military is sent in to control the rioters, Bill is wounded from cannon shrapnel. Amsterdam kills Bill, Amsterdam then leaves with Jenny and they move together to San Francisco.

This book was different than other literature that had been produced, because Duran was able to get closer and inspect the deeper characteristics of gang life and gang members themselves. This is something that other researchers in the field are typically not able to accomplish. He took on the perspective of investigating what role racial oppression had with the development of gangs. His perspective and his ex-gang membership background allowed him to be more trusted by all the gang members that he interviewed for this research.

Picture Manhattan in 1860, a time before the city had been dolled up and gotten ready for the silver screen, before the glamour and allure took over. Amsterdam Vallan (DiCaprio) is a young Irish man that migrates to the USA at a young age. Amsterdam’s story takes place in Five Points District of New York, a filthy and dangerous part of the city before it was deleted form history. As a young boy Vallan witnessed his father’s murder at the hand of William Cutting or Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis) during one of their many gang wars. As Amsterdam’s story progresses along side The Butcher they become inseparable, but Amsterdam had ulterior motive. Ultimately, Amsterdam attempts to betray his new found ally in order to avenge his father’s death.

This week I read chapter 5 of American street gangs (old book) Tim Deleany mentioned 3 points of what happens inside a gang that many don’t know, the first point is the categories they have based on the age the recruits are, the second point is the categories they are placed in depending on the activities they are involved, the third point is the process that involves the recruitment, punishment, and leaving the gang. At the conclusion of the paper I would be providing an experience my uncle went through when he was leaving the gang.

Why is gang affiliation such an alluring, appealing lifestyle? Admittedly, the appeal is conceivable. Watching Boyz in the Hood or listening to hip-hip may cause some to think, “I can live that life,” but thought does not turn into action while others never formulate such a thought. This raises the question, why does Monster Kody Scott, consider devout gang membership as a sole objective despite constant contingencies of incarceration and demise? To answer this question, this paper will take the social disorganization position in its review of Monster: An Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member. In addition, this paper will use examples to show that social disorganization explains the behavior portrayed the book.

In “Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women”, McLune addresses the influence of hip hop’s choice of words towards African American women and females. McLune’s article is written in response to Powell’s opinions in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head”, along with various other hip hop artists, that black females are the leading cause of poverty and racism why black men undertake racism and poverty, as if women do not face these struggles from day to day. McLune disagrees with this remark and states that this is just one of many excuses that men use. McLune addresses an audience that is well educated along with informed with the

“You can hire half the poor to kill the other half.” Boss Tweed spoke these words in reference to the Draft Riots. It shows that you can easily turn the poor against each other, if you bring money into the situation. Gangs of New York is about the separation of the Irish and the Natives, which eventually led into larger conflicts. In this film there are two important characters, Amsterdam Vallon and Boyle McGloin, who were both Irishmen in the Five Points. Amsterdam was the son of Priest Vallon and he became a positive Irish Leader who was looked up to by many. Boyle McGloin was an Irishmen who was a Dead Rabbit, but later joined Bill “The Butcher” Cutting and became a “Native”. The character

bell hooks, renowned black feminist and cultural critic criticizes the lack of racial awareness in her essay, Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination (1992). ‘bell hooks’ is written in lower case to convey that the substance of her work reigns more important than the writer. From a marginalized perspective, hooks argues that sites of dominance, not otherness is problematic and critiques the lack of attention that white scholars pay to the representation of whiteness in the black imagination. Critical feminist scholars Peggy McIntosh and Ruth Frankenberg identify their own whiteness as a dominant discourse, but share a critical departure from hooks with the notion of whiteness as terror. hooks aim is not to reverse racism, but discuss her position to authentically inform readers about how she experiences racism. Furthermore, systems of oppression are manufactured by human thought and thus the site of the Other is always produced as a site of difference. Gender, race, sex, class, disability, and geography are situated differently in social structure, but dominant groups assume they share the same reality though they cannot experience it. In consequence, the Other cannot hold a singularized identity of their own and the binary structure succeeds in containing racialized bodies in place. What happens to those bodies when they cross boundaries of the binary? hooks recounts being routinely disciplined back into place when crossing the border; however, dominant white

Directed by the legendary director Martin Scorsese, along with splendid performances of the duo Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day - Lewis, Gangs of New York is an excellent film illustrated the chaotic peril of 1860s New York City based on actual historical events. Build upon the nonfiction novel by Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld, the movie depicted the conflict between the Americans and the Irish immigrants due to the rising wave of immigration to America. Although the movie is overall very intriguing, and gave an in-depth insight into the modern gang of New York City in the 19th century, it omits certain events in history for the purpose of entertainment.

Hooks asserts how stereotypes about African-American women are plagued within the feminist system, as many women of color endure a form of

Gang Culture has increasingly become a subculture for many teenage youths. Mainly minority teens, these social outcast are often have no real economic stability and no parental supervision or guidance. As a result, teenagers often rebel and seek comfort in gangs. These gangs provide what is lacking in their lives, a sense of belonging. Minorities are often stereotyped and criticized, especially minorities born into poverty. They are condemned simply because they are not of the same race or of the same class as the majority (often middle class whites). Before these minorities can even prove themselves equal, society already pushes them towards the subculture that has risen out of oppression and rebellion. Gang culture reinforces, and in