In his unfinished manuscript, James Baldwin created what can be
considered the premise of a complete and general theory of the re-
lationship between our new media, popular culture particularly, and
the structures of our domination. According to Marx, they who have
power control ideas.
Because, our times are not theirs, though many parallels can be
found, we must turn to them, who, poison our minds, and make all of
our lives unlike they should be. We must turn to them in all areas :
no matter if “false intellectuals”, or the false idols of our times.
In the times that are ours, and we cannot escape, unfortunately,
but they remain at all times the best times, we must bring ourselves
to confront what our days offer, and have to offer. “Money and hoes,
more money and hoes.”
In this case study, we turn to the particular taste- and idea-makers
of the constrained, though highly influential, strange, strange world of
rappers.