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Spike is onto something here. There is a self-defeating process going on with young African-Americans, and it needs to be recognized for what it is, and not idolized.
There is nothing wrong with rap music. In many ways it's simply a mirror reflecting the reality of life for many young black men and and women. However, it's the idolization of the gang-land lifestyle that is nothing short of destructive to those same young people.
Where does this come from? Is it life imitating art? Does that happen? We have a small black population in Canada (compared to the US), but our aboriginal population face many of the same issues and in many ways it's worse. They are a small minority of the general population, but a significant percentage of the prison population. They have little economic power and many young adults expect that their lives will be nothing more than short breaks between prison sentences.
Why is this? In Canada, most aboriginal people can attend university for free. Yes, you read it right, for FREE. But, the utilization rate is low. Frustrating. They fought for the right to self govern, but the result is highly corrupt family dominated reserves that have money to burn, but 99% of the people live in abjest poverty while a small ruling class live a lavish lifestyle.
Back to the "Rap" topic, I think one destructive message is that the only way out of poverty is the short-cut of professional sports or rap music. The white kids loo at Eminem and the black kids see Fifty-Cent as role models. What they never think about is that for every Marshall Mathers that becomes wealthy, there are 10,000 (or 1,000,000?) kids that don't make it.
I saw an interesting interview with Kid Rock. There is a line in one of his songs where he wishes to trade places with a "normal" fellow that works on an assembly line. He was questioned about the validity of the line. He explained that if he could go back in time and have a decent middle class childhood and adult life, he would take that ahead of a childhood of poverty and abuse with an adulthood of riches. I hadn't thought of it in those terms before.
The one fresh breath that Spike brings that differs from many speakers on the subject is the role of self responsibility, and the need for the community to take it on.
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