Summary: So far in the novel, the book has been talking about a handful of topics; like the development of graffiti and how some gangs used art to represent or express their feelings towards a certain situation they were in and to just sometimes get their message across to those who want to read it. There was also more talk about the death of hip hop and how the game was losing its flame in every one's hearts. New things started to arose like B-Boy dancing, more violence also came into the picture, and a whole new look for some rappers that wanted to change their image for the better. B-Boying had come into the picture for quite some time, but then it was somewhat overturned by the violence and suddenly everyone wanted to have that tough, "Gangsta" image. Instead of slow jams at parties, people wanted that "Rough" music about shooting this person or doing that for the hood and so on. Some people carried guns to parties and weren't afraid to use them; this reality soon also went to the big screen when the infamous movie "Boyz -N-The-Hood" came out. This movie highlighted the lives of some which made it easy to relate to. All of the fatherless gang affiliated, drug dealers and more were represented and could easily identify the movie as a piece of their life if they had ever saw it. The movie had influenced a lot of its fans and viewers just like rappers did when it came to "Gangsta Rap." With movies like Boyz- N-The Hood coming out and showing how they somewhat see their lives also gives ideas to little kids or the young adults that look up to them. It also creates or created tension between rappers in the industry, their was a whole East Coast vs. West Coast situation in which the East pretty much insults the West and defines their kind of rap as nothing compared to what they have rapped about. The whole conflict created a lot of controversy, some rappers in the West Coast wanted to change their image for the better because they felt that they had done everything and needed something new, while the East thought that they simply copied everything that they did, when in reality it was actually just "ashes from the 60s."
There was also a few more violent occurrences, from the black panther party to attacking the crips and even rapping.rapper activist attacking some leaders as well. A women by the name of Lisa Williamson from public enemy had a whole lot to say about Black on Black crime and used whites to show people how violence and gangs are only affecting us. She talked about how Black people kill each other and don't even focus on who's really hurting them; and how they also don't even think about killing white people and how she thought that maybe people thought that they were better. She went on and was completely right about everything, how African Americans and other cultures look at each other with some kind of bond and brotherhood/sisterhood but instead of working together to actually do something for the community, gangs are too busy killing each other and fighting over ridiculous things. And lastly there was another incident involving the police and well known West coast rapper Ice T. The whole situation was basically about a song Ice T did, i think called "Cop Killer" the police were nor fond of the message that rappers were giving out and used that song as ammo to "reverse unwanted scrutiny." They thought that rap should be banned because they felt as if rappers were sending out the wrong message and encouraging kids ti kill or fight cops because they weren't on their side or their always locking up "criminals" for no reason, or something along those lines. They were blowing things out of proportion and misinterpreted the song, because Ice T stated that the song was about anger and the community and how people get that way. The police were trying to bring the only way of therapeutic relief, but they were not going to let Hip Hop go down easily or not even at all.
Quote: Unfortunately, for white people, they think it's alright for out children to die, for our men to be in prison and not theirs." (Chang 395)
Reaction: This quote came from a woman activist named Lisa Williamson. This quote is very important and went perfectly with the book, because there is a lot of violence in this book, whether it's between gangs or violence between a race, or police vs a certain race, either way there is a lot of violence. However, the main one that seems to be the worse out of all to me would be the black on black crimes. Williamson was ranting and going on about how white people just sit there and watch as a baby starves, they watch the drugs go into the "Ghetto" and do absolutely nothing about it because they might think that its not their problem. And instead of Blacks coming together and doing something about that, they're too busy killing each other. With that being said, Williamson is basically showing that they know what is going on, but they don't want to do anything about it, instead shes sending a message out to all to show that they do not care, that they think that it is OK for Black children or any other race to sit and starve because it's one less mouth to feed or one less food stamp that you have to give out or a whole savings of unemployment checks. She's is showing how Blacks are being treated unfair, how they are thrown into prison, not given equal opportunities, while the white man is basically laying back. She's showing that the white woman never have to worry about their husbands going to jail and/or how shes going to find food for her children, or how she's going to afford to live without child support or any kind of financial income. I feel that Williamson is showing the separation of the races and how unequal we have it and that it is time to step up and do something because they don't care, and that they'll just keep doing what they're doing if someone doesn't stand up and show that any race is capable of doing anything no matter what obstacles, speed bumps, or tricks that people may pull just to see us not succeed or go beyond there (set) standards.
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