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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

The real problem with black on black crime

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Dec 30 2008, 3:36 PM ET Comment

It's clearly gangsta rap, or lack thereof. Seriously, I'm always amused by people who blame gangsta rap for black crime. Anyone who knows hip-hop knows that when the music was most conscious--late 80s, early 90s--the streets were insane. And when the streets were most sane--mid to late 90s--any fool who could gun-talk was going platinum. Proper Talks points us to this helpful graph.


cdsalesgraph.jpg


Whatever. I don't need no visual aids to tell me what I've known for years--niggers done loss their minds since Dre fell off.


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