Hip-Hop Had a Dream

The new book out now by author Damien Morgan, "Hip-Hop Had a Dream" is an astounding after-thought of the American way of life versus hip-hop, through various climates. The author discusses the interpretation of the American Dream viewed by hip-hop and the strong correlation between the modern identities of the art and Hollywood's exploitation of our fascination of the underworld romance with the law. The bond Brian DePalma's Scarface shares with hip-hop almost places Al Pacino alongside some of the culture's biggest movers and shakers. The story of rags to riches has long been a platform for rappers to bridge common ground. Morgan peels back the sociological and psychological reasons for these trends to occur.
From gun-play to drugs, Morgan details the monumental stages of the culture in the same way rappers report their daily grind on their corner of the world's stage. The following extract of the book entitled, "The World is Yours" [Chapter 4.2 "The Iconography of a Gangster/Gangsta"] takes us into a reflection of the gun culture rap music plays such a pivotal part in. Does this genre glorify guns or has American society placed too much emphasis on firearms and therefore parental blame befalls them?

The Author's Contact Details

• Official Website: [CLICK HERE]
• MySpace Site: [CLICK HERE]
• Email: [email protected]
• Tel: +447943898162
• Facebook: [Facebook Wall]

• Places of Purchase:

• authorhouse.com
• amazon.com
• waterstones.com(or go to your local Waterstone's store)
• Barnesandnoble.com
• Blackwell.co.uk

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  [This is only an extract for the upcoming book.]

  [4.2] The Iconography of a Gangster/Gangsta

  Author, Pam Cook worked at the British Film Institute for 15 years and was associate editor of the leading film journal Sight and Sound from 1991 to 1994. She then joined the University of East Anglia as Senior Lecturer in Film before being appointed the UK’s first Professor of European Film and Media at the University of Southampton in 1998. Following her retirement in February 2006, she became Professor Emeritus in Film at the University of Southampton. In her 1999 book called The Cinema Book, Cook states how author Colin McAuther defies the basic iconography of a gangster film, which arguably can be related to Scarface. McAuther puts forward his argument loosely characterizing as follows:

  1] The physical presence attributes and dress of the actors and actresses and the characters they play.

  2] The urban milieu in which the fiction is played out.

  3] The technology at the character’s disposal, principally guns and cars. (Colin McAuther, cited in Cook, P, p89)

  Focus on McAuther’s second and third argument, ‘the urban milieu in which the fiction is played out’, and ‘the technology at the character’s disposal, principally guns and cars’. Apart from the ‘urban milieu’ that sets the environment or location of a gangster (either the ghetto or the underworld); it is guns that are arguably the most important factor. McAuther states that guns (as well as the urban milieu) are things that defy the basic iconography of a gangster film. As well as McAuther’s second argument, it is guns that are things expressed frequently throughout the Hip Hop culture, especially in gangsta rap, even if it is discussed politically or as an obsession. The gun culture that expresses violence is an important issue in America that is expressed in a gangster film like Scarface. But it is no different from a gun loving film featuring a white American hero such as John Wayne. There are arguably many reasons behind this; but one important and valid factor can relate to how ‘the people’ have the right to own guns in America. It can be traced back to the American Constitution’s Second Amendment that states that:

  ‘A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed’. (American Constitution)
  
  

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