Kaishawne,
A very bright student in my 2016 African Studies class, wanted more clarification on some of the aspects of today's assignment. There were some topics that were a little ambiguous and I will clarify them in a post right now...
1) The Concept of Cool,
This, in many ways, is exclusive to the Western Black Male. It is the Socio-psychic armour that a Black male learns to wear to protect himself from the 'slings and arrows' of a mainstream white society. It is 'staying cool' that protects him from reacting and over-reacting to negative situations that only Black males seem to end up in. A black male may need to stay cool when stopped by the police, confronted in an educational setting or in stores etc.
If the Black male reacts when these situations present themselves, whether they are in the right or not, they may find the situations turns negative fast. Many of these occurrences are triggered by the young man being nothing more than Black.
2) The Commodification of Black Male Death
Today's society seems to use the negative circumstance of the Black community as a money making venture. The amount of money many major record labels make and have made from the sales of 'Gangsta Rap' and it's secondary and tertiary properties is highly significant. They exploit 'Black Male Death' as the engine for their revenue. Most of these companies aren't Black owned and sell to up to 80% of their product to White college aged males. The music isn't really made by or for the Black community but has the greatest impact within it.
I hope this helps.
