HIp Hop and Gangsta Films

I think this can fall into both ends of the spectrum. Initially, and for the most part, these films and the music are making an effort to illustrate the atrocities committed in these economically poor, urban settings. In most cases, these movies and the music portray what others don't think about or hear about in other mainstream media outlets.

However, I do think that in some cases when this sort of thing gets into the hands of certain people, and industries a la Vanilla Ice, it does facilitate a behavior many people and scholars tend to critique. The idea of being "ghetto fabulous," and "gangsta" is something that can be marketed as a commodity in some way or form to people, despite the fact that it is something being critiqued or exposed in the gangsta films and in the hip hop music.

I think these two perspectives are stuck butting heads against each other, and it seems to come off as a paradox as both a behavior to be critiqued, and an art form/medium to expose the atrocities.