5 Grams : Crack Cocaine, Rap Music, and the War on Drugs Paperback / softback

by Dimitri A. Bogazianos

Part of the Alternative Criminology series

Paperback / softback

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks

Description

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 â€œsimplyâ€ possessing five grams of crackâ€”the equivalent of a few sugar packetsâ€”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 symbolic consequences of Americaâ€™s reliance on this punishment structure, tracing the rich cultural linkages between Americaâ€™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 â€œrap gameâ€ and the â€œcrack game." He argues that the symbolism of crack in rapâ€™s stance towards its own commercialization represents a moral debate that is far bigger than hip hop culture, highlighting the degree to which crack cocaineâ€”although a drug long in declineâ€”has come to represent the entire paradoxical predicament of punishment in the U.S. today.