Crack as metaphor
This week's Village Voice tells a disturbing tale: "an odd renewal of interest in all things crack-related."
"[In 20 years] Crack morphed into an adjective (most notably Kanye West's "Crack Music") and it became interchangeable with the enthusiast (Santana's "I Am Crack"); the tone moved from survival to sport. Everything felt bad morally and good aesthetically. Hustling went mainstream, with reality television star Damon Dash and the perma-suit-and-tied Jay-Z. And one wonders what Parent X said when Child Y asked why 50 Cent's autobiography was titled From Pieces to Weight. A few aisles over, one of the year's most talked-about books—Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics (William Morrow)—featured a chapter examining the inner workings of a crack gang that concluded with a simple question: "So if crack dealing is the most dangerous job in America, and if the salary is only $3.30 an hour, why on earth would anyone take such a job?"... We find ourselves at an interesting turn: That violent sliver of New York history known as the 'crack wars' has become a discrete historical moment, free for all kinds of post facto analysis and nostalgia. Twentysomething rappers have their uses for history; it's the 1980s again in the streets, all me-first, get-rich-quick flash. Upstairs, veterans of the war are returning home after 15- and 20- year stints behind bars; survivors survey what has become of the city, listen to the music that was made in their name, and decide there is room for their stories as well." Article.
posted by Jeremy Del Rio @ 1/19/2006 11:01:00 PM
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