Also you have the origin of the gangster meme wrong. Gangster was originated by White people. The term first referred to organized criminals who were glorified in movies made by White Hollywood in the 60s-70s. Urban youth were inspired by this imagery because they could relate to the desire for a rags to riches story that involved people operating outside of the mainstream of American society. Some rappers identify with gangster more than others but they will all tell you it was something they saw White people be first in the movies. Watch the 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted video by 2 Pac… it’s just throwing those images right back at White America. You should not post about things you obviously do not understand.

What, are you serious? How many hand signs get thrown in the non-gangster hip-hop or urban music scene? Hand signs of a certain type are emblematic of gangsterism (unlike, say, flipping someone your middle finger or flashing a ‘peace’ sign).

This is about as representative of gangsterism as you can get with a plush toy for children (at least until the flashing-gang-signs-Elmo comes complete with a toy MAC-10).

that’s like me refering to a commercial featuring coutry music as repping meth dealers/ trailer parks.

Also, I’m not too comfortable with the way that the terms ‘hip-hop’ and ‘urban’ are almost being used interchangeably with ‘gangster’ here. After watching the clip, I’m not sure how gangsterism or any sort of criminal activity got dragged into this, quite frankly. Yes, the commercialization of hip-hop (and everything else) is painful–but you can still find good hip-hop, just not on tv.

I hope the kids understand that if they start flashing the Elmo signs from Sesame Street while they’re in Mr. Roger’s ‘hood they might make Mr. Mcfeely go postal and end up getting whacked. Then the Sesame Street crew would have to unleash Drive-By-Shoot-Me Elmo and PBS will end up a violent crime infested wasteland.

Oh, and in reference to #1 of the evolution of the gangster meme, don’t forget to add in the intentional flooding of poor inner-city neighborhoods with cocaine and then crack (along with heroin in the early 70’s, and again today). Nobody grows coca in the U.S., after all, and all the info about how the whole corrupt-from-top-to-bottom system works is available to anyone willing to look. It’s more sordid than most people can imagine.

Also, the movie Crips and Bloods: Made in America should be required viewing for… everyone. Well, except children. It’s rather intense and tends to make people’s hair stand on end.

I can’t help but think that the mainstream glorification of a social malfunction such as gangsterism might just encourage more of the logical result of gangbanging: Criminal behavior. And that can only be good news to the shareholders of private for-profit prisons and youth detention facilities.

I wonder just how connected the people pushing the gangster trend machine are to the people running the private prisons? It’s funny (well, not really) that “urban” culture adopts practical realities of prison life into fashion trends; pants with no belt sagging halfway down their ass is a way of showing solidarity with their gangster brothers cooling it in the jug. Cops love that trend because it makes running away extremely difficult, lol, but the point is that in one way or another prison is on a lot of people’s minds most of the time, and that can’t be good for anyone. Except those shareholders, of course.