Chicago Hustle and Flow: Gangs, Gangsta Rap, and Social Class

by Geoffrey Victor Harkness

On September 4, 2012, Joseph Coleman, an eighteen-year-old aspiring gangsta rapper, was gunned down in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. Police immediately began investigating the connections between Coleman’s murder and an online war of words and music he was having with another Chicago rapper in a rival gang. In Chicago Hustle and Flow , Geoff Harkness points out how common this type of incident can be when rap groups form as extensions of gangs. Gangs and rap music, he argues, can be a deadly combination. Set in one of the largest underground music scenes in the nation, this book takes readers into the heart of gangsta rap culture in Chicago. From the electric buzz of nightclubs to the sights and sounds of bedroom recording studios, Harkness presents gripping accounts of the lives, beliefs, and ambitions of the gang members and rappers with whom he spent six years. A music genre obsessed with authenticity, gangsta rap promised those from crime-infested neighborhoods a ticket out of poverty. But while firsthand experiences with gangs and crime gave rappers a leg up, it also meant carrying weapons and traveling collectively for protection. Street gangs serve as a fan base and provide protection to rappers who bring in income and help to recruit for the gang. In examining this symbiotic relationship, Chicago Hustle and Flow ultimately illustrates how class stratification creates and maintains inequalities, even at the level of a local rap-music scene.

Paperback

First published July 1, 2014

Reviews

[FL · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit I just skimmed this, rather than reading it more "properly." But, it's still an interesting read when skimming, filling in a lot of details about how Chicago's oft-noted rap culture fits with more sociologically-theorized aspects of neighborhood structure. Of course, popular descriptions of rap culture fit with oversimplified notions of the city, and it makes a difference that a lot of Chicago is Latino, and a lot of Black areas are middle-class.

That said, there could have been more depth both in some of the musical discussion and in some of the portrayal of lower-class black rap. The setup of class and racial distinctions was more thorough than the portrayal of specific groups. And there was no mention of whether different rap social groups actually sounded all that different, and though that may have just been beside the point, the author does mention being invested in, say, record store culture, which makes the lack of music a tad surprising.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'Crabs in a bucket' is the phrase many used to depict interactions among members of Chicago's rap underground, and the city is often referred to as 'Haterville.'" (4)

"The rap-hustler blueprint held forth the promise that street smarts derived from criminal behavior, combined with the American-dream ideology of hard work and motivation, were a path to upward mobility. Were they successful at following this blueprint, gangstas could appropriate the dominant markers of elite status, upend existing hierarchies of social class, and give the finger to white America." (198)