(Non-YouTube Version of Same Video)
http://staplecrops.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/running.flv

As a result of my daily, rigorous cultural research (youtube, facebook & random RSS feeds) I was reminded of a re-occurring theme in Hip-Hop videos of the 1990’s: young brown men running from authority figures: police officers, security guards and other young brown men who posed as perceived or real threats. Did this theme come from the reality of an increased level of crime in the 90’s only to disappear in the streets and on screen in the next decade? A possible link to Freakonomics & Black Swan theories? Or was it just a Director’s aesthetic preference? In either case, what has this theme been replaced by and why? I have an idea of what it has been replaced by therefore, it follows that the artists involved in making these images today are either now very wealthy or no longer interested in reflecting their community’s reality.