1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910817589603321

Autore

Bogazianos Dimitri A

Titolo

5 grams : crack cocaine, rap music, and the war on drugs / / Dimitri A. Bogazianos

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : New York University Press, 2012

New York, NY : , : New York University Press, , [2011]

©2011

ISBN

0-8147-2516-3

0-8147-2306-3

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (217 p.)

Collana

Alternative criminology series

Disciplina

363.450973

Soggetti

Drug control - United States

Crack (Drug) - United States

Sentences (Criminal procedure) - United States

Narcotic laws - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Crack, rap, and the punitive turn -- The invisible hand holds a gun: law and policy in the lethal regulation of crack -- Rap puts crack to work -- Things done changed: the rise of new school violence -- Training and humiliation -- Facing the corporation.

Sommario/riassunto

"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 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."--