When Rappers Had Day Jobs: The Rick Ross Credibility Conundrum

Rick Ross was a C.O. (at least, so says 50). So what? Why does it matter? Does the argument over Ross’ street cred have any relevance to the larger hip-hop nation? After all, hip-hop artists evolve from real people with real world concerns, like eating and keeping a roof over their heads. Real world concerns lead to real world jobs, like delivering packages, working construction, and, yes, getting on as a C.O. Not every rapper actually hustled on a corner in order to feed his daughter.

Hip-hop artists also evolve after hip-hop, right? AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted now makes family-friendly comedies. The Cop Killer is a cop now (or at least he plays one on TV). Flava Flav does whatever it is that he does. Uncle L is about to star in an “NCIS” spinoff. That’s a long way from Farmer’s Boulevard. And the stage personas of many rappers are characters any way, right? How many self-proclaimed macks are actually family men, especially in middle age? How many so-called gangsters have never seen Central Booking, or done a bid? So, why the uproar over Ross?

The answer is that, even as its messages became less "positive," even as it went through a period of cartoonish gangsterism and materialistic excess, hip-hop was consistent in one way. There was always an undercurrent of counterculturalism, and a critique of the criminal justice system. The critique was not always as well articulated as in "Illegal Search" or "Black Cop," but it was there. Biggin' up your man upstate, celebrating the dealers and the hustlers, and rapping about one's battles with the DEA or ATF all comment, to an extent, on limited choices, neglect of urban communities by the state, and violence perpetrated against those communities by the state. If the state is an antagonistic "other" in hip-hop culture, then the representative of the state, especially a representative of the "system," can’t be legitimately hip-hop. At least, so goes the theory.

Maybe it’s time to discard that theory. Just as it took hip-hop artists getting involved in the business side of the music in order for them to really get paid, maybe hip-hop heads need to be open to infiltrating The Beast so that change can occur there as well. Although he had his problems, the declaration of Kwame Kilpatrick as the "Hip-Hop Mayor" was an important statement about where hip-hop can go in terms of bringing about social change. Maybe we need more hip-hop mayors, hip-hop judges, hip-hop cops, and, yes, hip-hop COs.

- Horace Anderson

Forgeries: Canal Street to the Port of Miami

It looks like Rick Ross cannot keep himself out of the news. After the much over-hyped confrontation between Ross and 50 Cent, Ross now finds himself at the center of a "street cred" scandal. On the May 2009 Edition of XXL, Ross sports Louis Vuitton shades, prominently displaying the distinct LV logo.

It's no surprise that hip-hop artists are wearing fake glasses and sneakers. The money's seldom as good as the talk on the latest single, but what new questions are raised when an artist publicly flaunts forgeries? Is there a difference between wearing fake shades on the airplane or at an award show and wearing them for the cover of a magazine?

The LV folks didn't take lightly to Ross's stylistic decision. A lawyer for Louis Vuitton, Michael D. Pantalony, wrote XXL this letter:

Dear Editor:

We were dismayed to see the cover of the May 2009 issue of XXL Magazine, which features a photo of Rick Ross wearing a pair of sunglasses prominently featuring counterfeit Louis Vuitton trademarks. Because the photo has generated considerable confusion among your readers and Louis Vuitton customers among others, we feel it is important to clarify several points.

The first is that the sunglasses Mr. Ross is wearing were not made by Louis Vuitton, and in fact, are counterfeit. Louis Vuitton did not grant permission to Mr. Ross or to whoever did make the sunglasses to use our trademarks. The second is that no affiliation, sponsorship or association exists between Rick Ross or XXL and Louis Vuitton. The third is that counterfeiting is illegal.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to correct the confusion.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Pantalony, Esq.
Louis Vuitton Malletier

Copyright infringement with respect to handbags, sneakers, and clothing has long been a problem and although sporadic reports of crackdowns have surfaced, it seems the forgery market is alive and well. Canal Street, long the center of the forgery market, is but the beginning of the problem. In almost every major U.S. city you'll find places to purchase knockoffs so good they might even be better made than the originals. I recently spent time in South Florida, where the world's "largest swap shop" happens to be located. The vendors were stocked with counterfeit merchandise. Some of it looked good, some of it... well... didn't exactly make the cut.

The problem is prevalent and law enforcement seldom has the resources to track down ever corner store, tent, and flea market booth to find those profiting from breaking intellectual property laws. With serious crimes like murder and assault often large problems in metro areas, it's logical to see why IP violations fall by the wayside. Many would logically argue that fake Kate Spade bags don't cause double digit increases in a city's murder rate.

The problem does not stop at hip-hop. Suburban families purchase counterfeit goods, students (even law students) flaunt their illegal merchandise in classrooms and lectures. The irony of a law student sitting in intellectual property law, laptop encased in a fake Vera Bradley computer bag, a fake Dooney & Burke purse tucked neatly under a chair crammed full of Nutshell books, and fake Juicy Couture sweatpants on is not a foreign image. It occurs in colleges across the country on a regular basis. There comes a point where consumers will actually flaunt how accurate their forgery is as opposed to saving money to buy the genuine article. I've observed some of those conversations and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

How do we combat this sort of IP violation?

-- Nick J. Sciullo

(Canal Street photo by Jennifer Bodrow)