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Enter the Babylon System: Unpacking Gun Culture from Samuel Colt to 50 Cent
by
A docu-style investigation of our fascination with the gun, from the perspective of the hip-hop generation.
The 2003 shooting death of Toronto community-centre worker Kempton Howard put the spotlight on hip hop’s fixation with guns. Media and police soon blamed rap music and its tales of gang life on bullet-ridden US streets for the rising use of firearms in Canadian crime. ...more
The 2003 shooting death of Toronto community-centre worker Kempton Howard put the spotlight on hip hop’s fixation with guns. Media and police soon blamed rap music and its tales of gang life on bullet-ridden US streets for the rising use of firearms in Canadian crime. ...more
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Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
January 30th 2007
by Random House Canada
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Start your review of Enter the Babylon System: Unpacking Gun Culture from Samuel Colt to 50 Cent
Well researched book - it's like Glock by Paul Barrett but then with a totally different, unique and very well thought angle.
This was a great read and worth picking up if your interested in gun culture in Canada.
Feb 07, 2009
Max Maxwell
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anybody who objects to guns on a gut level but can't put their finger on why
Recommended to Max by:
Saw it plugged in Pound magazine
This wonderful Canadian book is so highly recommended. It was written by the editors of Pound magazine, which is, in my opinion, the best hip-hop magazine out there. The book explores gun culture, as the subtitle states, from its earliest inception all the way through to its current glorification in the media, particularly in rap music. It lays down the framework, describing the issues and introducing the makes and models of guns and their histories... Desert Eagle, AK, etc. Then it takes you on
...more
This book is written by a couple of younger folks involved in the hip hop movement who look at the gun violence issue from the perspective of hip hop artists, their experiences and how that is reflected in their music both promoting and challenging the gun violence in urban centers. While largely a book for hip hop insiders, which I am not, it does provide insight into the persepctive of those who live and work most closely to the "street" where much gun violence occurs. The only thing I wished
...more
Aug 27, 2011
Richard Crevier
added it
I found this to be a very interesting read on how hip-hop culture, accessibility to guns, poverty and street gangs are all strongly related to one another. In the end, it's all a very vicious circle; youths from broken homes integrate street gangs then a few become successful rappers claiming to represent their neighborhoods, celebrating the same violent culture they came from and thus becoming inappropriate role models...
Great book by some Canadian authors about global gun culture. Runs the full gamut from contemporary rap critiques to global capitalism to America's NRA. Well written in documentary style, I had this on the shelf for years and was glad that I finally breezed through it.
This book helped me consolidate my own feelings about the epidemic ofgun violence rampant in the U.S., which the first section of my book Cowboys and Bleeding Hearts explores further.
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