No two eras are exactly the same, and there are many differences between "gangsta" rap and the minstrel show of the 1890s. And of course, rap music itself is a highly varied musical form, complex and subtle, with many different varieties and strains.

But both "gangsta" rap and the minstrel show share a fixation with money, and a sense of African Americans as money obsessed. This song, Money, was published in 1908

What is it that talks but doesn't make a sound? Money, Money
You may be crazy, you may be lazy, but then you'd like to know
What is the reason, keeps you from freezin, out in the hail and snow....
Money money money all the time...
money money money hear the people cry
you hear it when you're born and till you die

It's all about the Benjamins, what? I get a fifty pound bag of ooh for the mutts Five carats on my hands wit the cuts And swim in European figures Fuck bein a broke nigga

Minstrel show tunes generally depicted African Americans as lacking money, while modern gangsta rap lyrics often involve the rapper boasting to his rivals about his wealth. In each case, African American music tends to express values outside the mainstream middle class. For both black and white Americans, middle class values include hard work, honesty, dependability, thriftiness and self discipline. Both rap music and the minstrel show depicted the opposite--easy money, criminality, flashiness, undisciplined anger.

The assignment will require looking closely at material from the 1890s. An example follows

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