inconspicuous.
In A Bout de Souffle, Michel Poiccard manages to not pay for his beer by ordering an entire meal.
It is one great example of how increased consumption does render us less suspicious. This and properly displayed signs of hurry make the respectable man.
Watch The Throne.
Gangster rap’s product is usually called ‚authenticity‘. Perhaps we do expect the more authenticity the stronger the emphasis on the spoken word. Daft Punk Justice and Trentemoller can hide themselves as much as words in their works are reduced to instrumental ornament.
We need to believe the rapping gangster that his words properly describe the artist’s way of life, knowing all too well that by buying his product, we alienate the producer from these illegal ways. Therefore I believe, the authentic core of the gangster rap message is very much the same of the royal family: We might be popular and rich but we are also sometimes jealous, get hungry and do pee and we will let you watch it happen. While for other celebrities, this kind of fame-marketing and identification-building is only a side effect of another product they have sold before or are currently selling, gangster rappers and the royal family’s only real merchandise is a mise en scene of their alleged life.
For both groups aristocrats and gangster rappers it is also true that, if we stop financing this very life-style, they might turn to their violent past and just take it from us.
This came to my mind when I found out about the work of Judith Deschamps who is selling certificates for an already cleaned up graffiti. While I initially thought this was quite gangster, my second thought was more to the point – that it was probably more of a gangster rap.