The Glory in Drug-Dealing?
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mattmatical donte...@try.it
One thing that always bugged me about rap music was the prominent position drug-selling holds in it. I grew up being taught that people who sell drugs (meaning heroin, cocaine, etc.) are absolute scum, vultures who feed on the mysery of others, who prey on young people trying to make them addicts. That's not just what teachers and your parents would like to make you believe, it's also something you eventually realize yourself.
Personally, I'm facing the problem every day as I live in a 'downtown' area where junkies often buy and consume their dope. Countless measures have been undertaken by the authorities, but even after 20+ years of witnessing various policies (from the hard to the soft approach), it's not an uncommon sight for me to walk past a slumped figure early in the morning, or female addicts prostituting themselves in the evening, or to see a young man shoot heroin into his ankles in broad daylight. In what still is one of the wealthiest countries on this planet, Switzerland. I've known several peers who became addicted and haven't been heard from again or are still on the long road to recovery.
I've seen the havoc drugs can wreak and never ever would that lead me to believe that there's anything fancy in selling drugs. Very often, fiends are dealing drugs amongst themselves, making a visible pusher a likely junkie.
Yet again, tales of drug sales is one of the main recurring themes in the music I listen to, and an alleged personal history of drug selling is something that is worn proudly on the sleeve by many rappers.
Now I understand that selling drugs is a conceivable means to survive under certain conditions, but its ongoing glorification in rap music has gotten completely out of hand. I'm wondering what is so damn spectacular, brave, and demanding in selling something to a completely dependable addict? Isn't it true that any drug-seller has to suck up to a supplier? That drug charges are likely to put you behind bars for a long time? That dealers who spend too much of their money too soon are likely to get caught? That drugs destroy families and communities?
So I wonder what's so particularly cool about being a petty drug dealer.
Matt "I don't train for sprints, I train for marathons." (Evidence)
Timid Timid...@hotmail.combed
yo money...it's the shoes.
Timid
buggzy ...@comcast.net (Buggzy)
What's the glory in bragging about going to jail? Or even the glory in bragging about being ghetto? It's not just in the music anymore either. I was in line at a mall store during shopping season, and these teenagers behind me, probably around 15 or 16, were talking about where they live and how ghetto it is. And they weren't saying it with disgust, they were saying it with pride, like it was a badge. Not to mention that the places they were describing were hardly 'ghetto'.
Also notice how every time a 'serious' interview is done with an athlete, the topic inevitably becomes how the athlete grew up in a bad home in a bad part of town, with drugs all around, etc.
It's just become the calling card of the hip-hop culture. "I live in danger. I'm a dangerous person. I'm a baaaaaaad man." Don't get me wrong, I listen to my share of gangsta rap. It's just that lately it seems to get embellished and bragged about to an overwhelming point, and it's extending past the music and videos now...or maybe I'm just getting older and noticing the stupidity of it more.
Buggzy
"truplaya611" truplaya...@comcast.net
Nothing. It all revolves around various media hyping, which them leads to brainwashing, trend setting...etc.
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rocksha ...@aol.commonsense (Pizon)
It's pretty ****ing disgusting, to be honest. I know people who are financially well off but decide to deal drugs in an attempt to gain "street credibility." Unfortunately, people tend to buy into it and "respect" these cats because they "hustle." It's pathetic.
Get at me, Pizon http://www.lascalaentertainment.com
--
My mentality is "what, kid?"
"truplaya611" truplaya...@comcast.net
....I agree, my thoughts exactly....
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alcove leg.alcove....@themind.ca
pssst....Does anyone around here need anything ????
^alcove^
Timid Timid...@hotmail.combed
gimme some disco music and i can "hustle" too.
Timid - staying aliiiiive iiivvvvee iiivvee
sirhi ...@aol.comet (Sir)
There's nothing wrong with being a "hustler." But if your only hustle is drugs, then you are kinda one-dimensional. A hustler should have many hustles. I look at the defintion of a hustler and a drug pusher as very different things...maybe that's me, but they conduct business in diff manners, and all too often get thrown together because everyone wants to call themselves hustlers, when in reality they are curb riding dime bag slangers.
Sir...
"Lana" lhel...@pravo.hr
Timid...maybe he should change his music genre...
;)
tyler ...@hotmail.com (Dredg)
So what? You act like a million $ isn't a big deal just because some foreign cartels are making more than that. Good for them. I don't care how much some of those cartels make, making $1 million in a year by yourself without getting caught is pretty damn impressive and significant. I grew up with someone who has done it, had several states under control, had 8+ cars at one time, etc. but he was stupid and now he has nothing to show for it (which is usually what happens, people are rarely smart enough to get out while they're ahead and keep what they have) and is now doing a long jail sentance for non-drug charges and might never get out. If you look in High Times there are plenty of people in there who have done it as well. You better believe all those people that post pictures of their grow rooms that have 3-4+ 1,000 watt lights are millionaires (just do the math), and aren't even ****ing with a "hard" drug or a lot of customers (probably only 1 if they're smart).
block at a >time. This is just as ridiculously stupid as your ***ertion that people you >know "did what they had to do..but they weren't bad".
Imo, most of the fools that rap about it most and try to come off hardest were probably small timers selling $10 bags on the corners and never made shit. They just like to exploit the image and stroke their ego. People who actually did live that life and know the stress that comes with it, e.g. not knowing who to trust and who will set you up, always looking over your shoulder and thinking you're being followed, wondering about that white van that's parked down the street, etc. I don't think the legit people brag about it, or at least keep a balanced view by showing the negative aspects of it as well (like 2pac did, Jay-Z and Clipse too but your hatred of them is probably too strong to see it). The real people see past the glamorized image because they know the reality is quite a bit different.
You definitely can win in that lifestyle, a lot of people have proven that. It isn't even difficult if you know what you're doing (see earlier high times reference). However, it's a stressfull life and the odds of success are a lot lower than more traditional routes, like education or hard work.
No, it's not hilarious, because the illegal activity in question should not even be illegal in the first place, and the cops who deal with this shit every day should know by now that the war on drugs is morally wrong and also counterproductive. If they can't figure that out from being a police officer and seeing this shit every day then they're just flat out stupid and should find a new profession (like McDonalds, they could probably handle the fryers).
The war on drugs does WAY more damage than drugs EVER did. It's not even close. We created our "drug problem" as we know it.
I believe it's irresponsible to glamorize it when they know little kids are listening and will be influenced negatively by what they say.
However, I can see where they're coming from. Those police officers, DEA agents, politicians etc. have made their lives miserable and tried to take them down and give them 15 year sentances-- basically end their lives, and there was nothing they could do about it then because it's the law vs. them. All those cops, DEA task forces, listening devices, phone taps, prosecuters, etc. versus one person? Not even a fair fight. These people are their bitter enemies and who they hate more than anyone in the world. Now that the rapper has managed to avoid getting caught and also make it in the music business they want to get their revenge. They feel like they outsmarted the authorities and now get to flaunt it in their ****ing faces knowing there's nothing they can do about it now. They have millions of dollars and they even have DEA agents' kids listening to Clipse and singing "I'm your pusher", talk about sweet revenge. Personally, I think it's more about revenge and giving the government a big middle finger than it is about being proud of having sold drugs.
Honestly, it makes me crack a smile when I see a Clipse video on MTV blatantly talking about selling drugs because I can just imagine the look on Cheney, Ashcroft, Bush, and the Drug Czar's faces when they see that stuff. I realize the negative aspect of it when it comes to kids, but my hatred of the government and the war on drugs is so great that part of me enjoys seeing it on MTV or BET.
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