Thugged out....

Thuglife Worldwide
written by 4bars

I thought I wasn’t gonna have a post this week cause I’m in Puerto Rico (“Oh you mad cause I’m styyyylin on you…”) but my vacation has served as inspiration. Daddy Yankee recently made headlines with a surprising endorsement of John McCain in the upcoming presidential election but his video for “Pose” clued me into to something I wasn’t fully aware of: the hip-hop “thug” image has spread world wide.

I kind of ignored it before but the signs have always been there. During Wu-Tang tours in the 90’s, Method Man proclaimed that the Asian hip-hop fans were more down than those in the US. The domination of suburbanites on dance competitions like “Best Hip Hop Dance Crew” further shows the infiltration of hip hop but I always wonder how the lifestyle has not just been mimicked but also improved upon.

The “Pose” video has constant images of “gang members” united behind Yankee and the featured artists on the song. They all wear white tees, red tees, black tees; honestly if you mute it, it looks like you dropped Daddy Yankee in a Young Jeezy video with light-skinned extras, it blew my mind. My girlfriend remarked, “thug life Puerto Rico huh?” and all I could do is laugh because it honestly looked just like the “New York” video with Ja Rule and Co. from a few years ago. From the iced out chains, tats, dark shades, tees, doo-rags, right down to the stuntin on rimmed out 4 wheelers a la Ruff Ryders, my question is simply, is this healthy?

Rappers have clearly become worldwide stars allowing them to tour in places as far away as Nigeria. But has hip-hop had the same effect on foreigners as the constant bling images that are plastered on MTV have on suburban kids who have little or no interaction with African Americans themselves. Is this what the world sees as hip-hop? (sigh) I hope not. Bars

Daddy Yankee - Pose