Gucci Mane has released a new album called “The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted.” I knew very little about Gucci Mane before a couple of youth that I am currently working with suggested that I pay attention to some of his lyrics. I have to admit that anyone with the name “Gucci” was unlikely to garner any positive attention from me on his own. I immediately imagined him to be a materialistic, aspirational, and perhaps even misogynistic rapper who would have nothing of interest to share with me. Yes that’s my own prejudice shining through… I should know better.

So Gucci Mane who is 30 years old just finished a 6 month jail term stemming from a parole violation. One of the young men who I am working with, I’ll call him Jerell, e-mailed over an article about his new album with a note suggesting that I post it on my blog.

First I find it so endearing that a number of the youth that I work with are taking such an interest in the blog. I am getting regular suggestions about what to write about next. I keep insisting that I am open to “guest” posts from them but no one has taken me up on it yet…

Anyway, I e-mailed Jerell back to ask him why he thought I should post the article or write about it at all. His response:

“Because I think that he is telling the truth about how hard it is to escape the life.”

There is so much in Jerell’s short response. So much in the struggle that he is waging within himself right now. So much in his ambivalence about what choices he should make in his own life. I am pleased that he finds something important in Gucci Mane’s experience to relate to.

I read the article that Jerell forwarded and was most struck by the final sentence that quotes Gucci:

“(Prison) is a real problem in hip-hop — it’s a struggle to let that culture go. You can’t let the ideology of the street get you in trouble,” Davis said. “I just wish I didn’t have to go to jail to learn that. But sometimes we have to sacrifice and be responsible.”

It seems that these words particularly resonated with Jerell. But I honestly don’t know what to make of the words for myself. Prison is a real problem not just in hip hop but in American culture. A recent book that I read deconstructed the idea of the “Big House” in the American imagination and what I learned from that is that prison has been and is ubiquitous in the American psyche. So I disagree with Gucci that this is a hip hop culture specific phenomenon. I do, however, sympathize with his struggle to overcome the ideology of street culture and I agree that I wish that he didn’t have to go to jail to reflect on the impact that street culture has had on his life.

What do you think? Is Prison a particular problem in hip hop? Or in American culture more generally?