5 Grams: Crack Cocaine, Rap Music, and the War on Drugs

by Dimitri A. Bogazianos

Overview

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed a law repealing one of the most controversial policies in American criminal justice history: the one hundred to one sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder whereby someone convicted of “simply” possessing five grams of crack—the equivalent of a few sugar packets—had been required by law to serve no less than five years in prison. In this highly original work, Dimitri A. Bogazianos draws on various sources to examine the profound symbolic consequences of America’s reliance on this punishment structure, tracing the rich cultural linkages between America’s War on Drugs, and the creative contributions of those directly affected by its destructive effects.

Focusing primarily on lyrics that emerged in 1990s New York rap, which critiqued the music industry for being corrupt, unjust, and criminal, Bogazianos shows how many rappers began drawing parallels between the “rap game” and the “crack game." He argues that the symbolism of crack in rap’s stance towards its own commercialization represents a moral debate that is far bigger than hip hop culture, highlighting the degree to which crack cocaine—although a drug long in decline—has come to represent the entire paradoxical predicament of punishment in the U.S. today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814787014
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2011
Series:	Alternative Criminology , #15
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Dimitri A. Bogazianos is Assistant Professor in the Division of Criminal Justice at California State University, Sacramento.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 Crack, Rap, and the Punitive Turn 15

2 The Invisible Hand Holds a Gun: Law and Policy in the Lethal Regulation of Crack 29

3 Rap Puts Crack to Work 53

4 Things Done Changed: The Rise of New School Violence 79

5 Training and Humiliation 99

6 Facing the Corporation 119

Conclusion 139

Methodological Essay 149

Notes 155

Bibliography 183

Index 197

About the Author 206

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is easily the best academic book on hip hop and finally one that will make sense to those who listen to and care about rap music." -Gregory J. Snyder, author of Graffiti Lives

Editorial Reviews

"This is easily the best academic book on hip hop and finally one that will make sense to those who listen to and care about rap music."

Gregory J. Snyder

"This is easily the best academic book on hip hop and finally one that will make sense to those who listen to and care about rap music." -Gregory J. Snyder, author of Graffiti Lives

From the Publisher