Outside of a few independent artists, I don’t typically care too much for rap and hip-hop. This Denver Post write-up, though, makes this PBS documentary about hip-hop and masculinity look pretty interesting. Certainly, there’s a strong connection between rap culture and macho masculinity. Where else in modern pop culture is pure aggression so highly prized?

I think there’s more to it, though, especially amongst the middle and upper middle class suburban kids who’ve popularized rap and its various derivative subgenres. A lot of it has to do with the fact that, in an odd way, it’s rebellion music. Now that rock has become the domain of aging boomers and sensitive emo nerds, rap one of the few musical genre that has any hint of danger left in it. Now, in its MTV form, pureed and watered down for mass consumption, it’s not too dangerous—but it’s got just enough edge to make it a little bit thrilling for ornery teenagers.

The way it produces that edge is, I think, what’s so interesting. Yes, you can talk about the violence and misogyny of the lyrics, and no doubt, that material is there. But mostly what mainstream rap sells is a sort of self-obsessed, luxury hedonism. It’s about guns and drugs, sure, but it’s often just as much about clothes, sex, cars, money, and conquering rivals, as if what these guys really want is to be gun-toting, moneyed yuppies. It’s that sort of flagrant narcissism, I suspect, that makes the rap image so appealing to its suburban and exurban fan base.

Update: A reader reminds me of this YouTube classic, which makes a similar comment on the yuppie-rap connection (and is somewhat funny, if also totally obnoxious).