Hiphop and the Prison Industrial Complex

[Bruno]

I know at least one black person who agrees with this conspiracy theory. This is a guy who owns a security company that works mostly for music venues.

If it is true, I highly doubt it ever involved prison industry gangstas marching in to a boardroom with suitcases full of money. It was probably just some asshole in accounting noticed that "whenever we throw money down this hole, more money comes out this other hole over here."

I think if they want it to be effective, they should encourage not only the commission of high penalty crimes, but also being sloppy about it and easy to catch. I'm not personally familiar with the gangsta raps, so I don['t know if it does that or not.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

I suspect music in general, at least the stuff that charts, has some weird shit going on behind the scenes.
Maybe not THIS, but something similar.

Look at contemporary so-called country: Women singing about making the men marry them and behave even if it takes vandalism, kidnapping and/or murder. And the guy songs are mostly about trucks and beer, but without what Roger called "the underbelly of the american dream", IIRC. Just "work your ass off and get in the truck and drink, wahoo!".

[P3nT4gR4m]

Well I'm sorry I wanted to see if any bit of validity could be wrung from this.

Obviously I should just rely on first impressions in the future.

The letter has to be bullshit. Critique posted missed one important fact: Spooks don't have to narrow it down to 30 execs. Writer already stated he was one of three who stepped in to back up the first guy that got ejected. Which of these 3 retired from the music industry when he said he did? So he essentially just painted a fuck off big target on himself, while making a big song and dance about staying anonymous. Satire and cheap shots aside, it's highly unlikely someone that dumb would ever find his way into an executive position, let alone keep something secret for a couple of decades.

The premise? Did the SS invent gangsta rap to help fill prisons? I doubt it but, at the same time, it's the fourth reich we're talking about, exploding cigars, psychic spys... All bets are off, nothing can be ruled out. Supporting this rumour can only serve, to undermine the bastards. Like any good conspiracy theory there is an element of truth to it - Prison Industrial Complex. Is it really worth a seemingly impossible investigation to verify or refute? Does it really matter?

[East Coast Hustle]

It perpetuates a racist trope, namely "black people are simple-minded and easily manipulated through popular media to a degree that nobody would ever dream of applying to white people as a whole".

So, yeah, some people might say it matters.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Point. I missed the black-angle. Pretty easy for a white guy

In my mind black people are equally simple minded and easily manipulated through popular media as white people are.

[East Coast Hustle]

I feel like I brushed aside an important point, and I didn't mean to, which is that exactly who IS in bed with the private prison industry should be hugely interesting.

[Junkenstein]

I suspect music in general, at least the stuff that charts, has some weird shit going on behind the scenes.
Maybe not THIS, but something similar.

Somewhat of an aside, but chart music was and probably still is open to incredible levels of manipulation. Back when people bought CD's in shops, it was a fairly regular thing for HOT NEW BOY/GIRL BAND to come out of nowhere and get a string hit singles then disappear. Some stuck around and got quite big. How was that initial hit single obtained? Well A&R men would buy up every single copy of BAND's single and throw them in their boot. Then in a skip. Sales dictated how often you got played on the radio which was your key driver for further sales. It also allowed you to start promoting a tour which was where you could earn the real cash.

The music industry is a big fucking snakepit filled with all kinds of dodgy deals so it's not particularly surprising that something like this gets a bit of traction. The agenda as far as I can tell though remains unchanged: Make big stacks of cash through pandering to the lowest common denominator for the longest time possible. As soon as the act can't do it anymore: NEXT UP NEW YOUNG STAR GENERICA.

[Bruno]

It perpetuates a racist trope, namely "black people are simple-minded and easily manipulated through popular media to a degree that nobody would ever dream of applying to white people as a whole".

So, yeah, some people might say it matters.

Honestly, I hadn't thought about it from that angle. I just thought of it as another variation of product placement.

I remember watching something on TV about The Godfather (movie), and how it influenced mafia culture. No idea if it's true, but I thought it was interesting.

I think the private prisons are capable and willing to do such a thing if they had reason to believe that there would be a sufficient Return On Investment, and I think the biggest bang would come from encouraging sloppiness.

I don't believe that is within their power to have created Gangsta Rap, but they could be influencing it.

If they don't do it, it's probably only because they get a higher ROI on money spent influencing government rather than influencing criminals, which seems likely to me.

[East Coast Hustle]

And that's the most obvious part, isn't it?

Why go to the lengths to convince millions of people to act out criminally when you can just pay a handful of people to get more things criminalized?

[P3nT4gR4m]

And that's the most obvious part, isn't it?

Why go to the lengths to convince millions of people to act out criminally when you can just pay a handful of people to get more things criminalized?

This is a common flaw in a lot of conspiracy theory logic.

[von]

Stories similar to this crop up every couple months or so:

they tend to follow the form of:
"X shady entity did X shady action to influence early rap music in order to do X to X people-group in facilitation of X shady goal".

The most recent edition of it as I myself can recall was being spread around on paranormal/conspiracy type forums concerning a plot by some entity (I think it was the "alphabet soup" duo of CIA/FBI...could have been DoD iirc) who influenced early rap music specifically to weaken the black community and make them powerless in the face of an NWO takeover... it was spread around in the second half of last year via viral youtube videos featuring a bald guy in a suit claiming to be former DoD or something...turned out to be a viral ad campaign for a particular rap act.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And that's the most obvious part, isn't it?

Why go to the lengths to convince millions of people to act out criminally when you can just pay a handful of people to get more things criminalized?

ECH wins the internet.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

And that's the most obvious part, isn't it?

Why go to the lengths to convince millions of people to act out criminally when you can just pay a handful of people to get more things criminalized?

Bingo.

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

It perpetuates a racist trope, namely "black people are simple-minded and easily manipulated through popular media to a degree that nobody would ever dream of applying to white people as a whole".

Where did you get the insane idea that the media doesn't manipulate white people?

[The Good Reverend Roger]