originally posted 2008-03-11 06:23:57 --promoted for some intriquing analysis, cho

Anatoly Kirichenko
“Hip-Hop is Dead”

In recent years, rap music has become too well connected with the culture industry, and the politically charged overtones and meaningful messages are non-existent. Rap is not only selling albums, but also a lifestyle and a “culture” to its listeners. Essentially, rap music has been transformed into a form of marketing, encouraging young African Americans as well as whites and all other ethnic groups to purchase items that bring these groups more in line with the “ideals” of rap music. The industry has a goal of creating consumers rather than giving them something good to listen to. According to Michael Quinn, “Never Shoulda Been Let out the Penitentiary",

What is intriguing about rap is that it is the culture industry’s main strategy for bringing economically and culturally marginalized blacks into the consumer society. To this end, it is necessary that contemporary notions of black identity must be engaged by the culture industry itself. Quinn 81