ABSTRACT
In 1992, Stuart Hall posed the question, “What is this ‘black’ in black popular culture?” (1996, 465). More than one decade later—amidst head-locking identity politics, postfeminist powergrrrl puffery, and an ambiguous “keepin’ it real” credo; amidst the fallout from yet another explosion of Black panache in entertainment media; and amidst the continued struggle for cultural hegemony, which according to Hall, is “waged as much in popular culture as anywhere else” (1996, 468)—I pose a similar question. What is this gangstressism in popular culture?
