Marty Brown
- Money over Everything: Charting Hip-Hop’s Cash Flow
(fall2015)
“Jay-Z’s call for a million more black Americans to join him amongst the upper class has echoes of Puff Daddy’s ‘Bad Boy for Life’ video. Puffy depicts members of the white upper-class unexpectedly embracing him on their own turf. Money buys him the house, yet his swagger charms the neighbors. Puffy’s post-racial utopia of Perfectown, U.S.A., may be ironic, but his and Jay-Z’s shared belief that wealth can buy a voice among the elite seems sincere. It’s a thoroughly capitalist approach to addressing racial inequality. ”
- Nothing's Been Authenticated: The Double Hustle of Rick Ross
(springsummer2011)
“In the 30-plus years since ‘Rapper's Delight,’ there have been plenty of MCs who have attempted to convince the audience that their on-record persona is also who they are in real life. And there have been plenty of MCs who take on characters for albums at a time—like Kool Keith, Shock G as Humpty Hump, or the cast of Prince Paul's movie-on-CD A Prince Among Thieves. But no one in hip-hop has attempted to do both at once, convincing one portion of the audience he's playing it straight while winking at the people who know better. ”