Is Great Hip Hop Compatible With Broken Windows Policing? A New York Story
When you look at videos from the Golden Age of Hip Hop in NYC, whether it is from Gang Starr, MC Lyte Eric B and Rakim,and Public Enemy, or slightly later,Jay-Z, Nas, Wu-Tang or Biggie, you will see scenes of young Black man and women gathered in large numbers in streets, and schoolyards and in front of stores in ways which would never be tolerated in today's gentrifying New York. Gatherings of that size by young men and women wearing hoodies or thick jackets, looking fierce and defiant, would be broken up by police, whether in Red Hook, Harlem,Bed Stuy, Soundview or the Stapleton section of Staten Island. The Cypher, where MC's test their skills against each other in publc settings, sometimes in front of crowds, would have a hard time surviving the vigilance of Broken Windows Policing with a hugely expanded NYPD. It would also not find much of a welcome in schools which are far more heavily policed than they were 30 years ago, and where the model of zero tolerance disciplinary policies have spread from charters into many public schools
But that raises a question. Can you have great hip hop where young people of color can't gather in large numbers without being arrested or told to move by police? Where you can't have With A Brooklyn Accent: Is Great Hip Hop Compatible With Broken Windows Policing? A New York Story:
