N.W.A. - C.I.A. - Cru' in Action

[undead]

It has made it possible that men no longer respect women.

Are you really going to blame that on NWA? Men "no longer" respect women? When did they respect women, generally? 30,000 years ago when everyone lived in Terence McKenna land?

[lucky]

apols if a little unrelated but the same time this music was coming out so was crack - which hit the black population to a massive degree however heroin that has been around for 100 years seems to be a white mans drug , certainly in the Uk where I have only met one black guy who used over a 30 year period.I was just wondering why this phenomena seemingly hapened/s

[norton ash]

I'm thoroughly convinced that the industry pushed bling-n-hos get-paid gangsta style to the detriment and obfuscation of the activist/revolutionary.

But then they've always given the people what they want, and sex and partying and flash clothes and violent street drama tend to trump ideas.

[vanlose kid]

. . .

And wondered. . .

Was NWA a "psyop"?

Think of the things that one band was able to change about the world we live in now.

It has normalized the use of the word "n**ger"

It has made it possible that women no longer look after their "chastity" (not that it's my business anyways).

It has made it possible that men no longer respect women.

All pro athletes are either "gangsta" or hellaciously Christian now.

Many a corporate spinoff has been made possible. (GTA series, former Anti establishment rap stars going on to play police on TV, etc)

Then thinking of all this, I decide to do a little "research". What was Ice Cube's first band's name? Well, it is there in the thread title: Cru' in Action.

CIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1665623

There is doubtlessly much more to be said on this, but I thought I would just throw it out there to see what others have to say.

And for the record, lest anybody accuse me of racism or something, Paris, Public Enemy and De la Soul in da house!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I11w-rl6 ... PL&index=4

*

[barracuda]

Whoa, 82_28, I think this guy here TOTALLY ripped off your OP. Like, thought for thought, almost. You oughta go hit him up for some royalties or something.

[JackRiddler]

.

It's the old question of the extent to which things you'd expect to happen, because of convergent political and socioeconomic trends reinforced by the commercial exploitation thereof, actually happened (also, or moreso) as a conscious psyop plan by deep state people who study trends and wish to produce the same results in the service of keeping the state strong and the people weak, divided, confused and hating themselves and each other. I usually tend to see the organic developments as predominant and psyops (if at all) as the booster within that. (We're having kind of a similar discussion right now around WL and control of the Internet: how much is convergent from the actions of different actors, how much is script?)

On the other hand, it's definitely also the old story of singling out and blaming one trend associated with a socially deviant group for the progression of a society as a whole. Which is what Ice Cube argues in the posted video "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It." I think class war and its adjunct drug war and the growth of a prison industrial complex have a lot more to do with the state of black America and with the state of the culture, white and black, than vice-versa.

Ice-T is a very interesting historical figure, in all his many stages from bank robber to mogul to "Fuck the Police" to Play the Police on TV.

.

[JackRiddler]

I'm thoroughly convinced that the industry pushed bling-n-hos get-paid gangsta style to the detriment and obfuscation of the activist/revolutionary.

But then they've always given the people what they want, and sex and partying and flash clothes and violent street drama tend to trump ideas.

Let's assume that the marketing study says you can make the same money either way with the same sound, whether it's pushing revolution or bling-n-hos. Which one is the record company going to prefer?

[norton ash]

Let's assume that the marketing study says you can make the same money either way with the same sound, whether it's pushing revolution or bling-n-hos. Which one is the record company going to prefer?

As multinational corporations? Why, revolution of course.

[justdrew]

Whoa, 82_28, I think this guy here TOTALLY ripped off your OP. Like, thought for thought, almost. You oughta go hit him up for some royalties or something.

Now that's the kinda link I wanted to post above. good find.

[kelley]

the first two schoolly d records, 'the adventures of schoolly d' and 'saturday night--the album', are the template for gangsta. he basically invented this shit, relying heavily on the blaxsploitation omnipotence fantasies of previous african-american writers like donald goines. this man is an incredibly important american artist. nwa did nothing that schoolly hadn't done years at least four years earlier.

by 1989, rap music had reached its creative peak. the west coast rappers like nwa et al were opportunists who recognized the commercial potential in the music of their east coast forebears. i don't see their success as a psy-op; i just see it as business. cube and dre, along with tupac, were fundamental in laying the groundwork that sold an aceptable version of this music to white suburban youth, which culminated in dre's record 'the chronic'. if anything, the real psy-op came when a terrified white corporate media pulled 'yo! mtv raps' off the air in favor of the fabricated phenomenon called grunge, and pushed hip-hop back into a cartoon version of 'the ghetto' from whence whites believed it sprang, a milieu characterized mainly by repetitive, humorless depictions of bitches and bling.

[82_28]

It could be as equally as "innocent" as that kelley, I do concede. However, let me say, quite the find there, cood. Fascinating. When I posted this OP months ago, I just couldn't help but run through the likely scenarios as to how this whole "urban culture" wound up landing in our laps.

[JackRiddler]

There is a strain of thought out there, well established, that political rap was intentionally killed by pushing the 'gangster' stuff. I don't have any links putting that forth atm tho...

Political rap was killed? Someone didn't tell Paris and Immortal Technique.

[justdrew]

There is a strain of thought out there, well established, that political rap was intentionally killed by pushing the 'gangster' stuff. I don't have any links putting that forth atm tho...

Political rap was killed? Someone didn't tell Paris and Immortal Technique.

of course i mean it's chartability and mindshare was killed (at the time, it's been a long time since then)

[MinM]

Skull & Bones' own Paul Giamatti is on board ..

Hollywood Reporter @THR · Paul Giamatti has closed a deal to star in Straight Outta Compton as the manager of rap group N.W.A. http://thr.cm/NgRLH3

[Wombaticus Rex]

the first two schoolly d records, 'the adventures of schoolly d' and 'saturday night--the album', are the template for gangsta. he basically invented this shit, relying heavily on the blaxsploitation omnipotence fantasies of previous african-american writers like donald goines. this man is an incredibly important american artist. nwa did nothing that schoolly hadn't done years at least four years earlier.

by 1989, rap music had reached its creative peak. the west coast rappers like nwa et al were opportunists who recognized the commercial potential in the music of their east coast forebears. i don't see their success as a psy-op; i just see it as business. cube and dre, along with tupac, were fundamental in laying the groundwork that sold an aceptable version of this music to white suburban youth, which culminated in dre's record 'the chronic'. if anything, the real psy-op came when a terrified white corporate media pulled 'yo! mtv raps' off the air in favor of the fabricated phenomenon called grunge, and pushed hip-hop back into a cartoon version of 'the ghetto' from whence whites believed it sprang, a milieu characterized mainly by repetitive, humorless depictions of bitches and bling.

Thank you.

All of this is an important counterpoint to the OP.