For those who don't know, Stagger Lee (AKA Stacker Lee or
Stag-O-Lee) is a legendary folk hero. He appears in both
white and black folk ballads
(it's unclear which race the real Stagger Lee was), but has
probably been a more recurring figure in black culture, the
ancestor of all those
"bad motha -- Shut yo' mouf" figures in blaxploitation films
and gangsta rap.
The cover of Ice T's Home Invasion CD pokes fun at the
stereotype of the white suburban youth into gangsta rap,
surrounding him with, among other things, books by Iceberg
Slim and Donald Goines. Now both of these contain Stagger Lee
figures, men who take no crap and live life their own way,
even if they may eventually go down in a hail of
bullets.
But both Slim's and Goines's books are a couple of decades
old now. Depending upon which side of the Atlantic you call
home, Old School Books and Payback Press are publishing other
older black pulpish books.
So I'm wondering if there is a hardboiled literature
equivalent of gangsta rap. Are there more recent books of
this sort? I'm wondering if there are new examples of the
glorified gangsta. I know there are in the UK -- books by
Victor Headly and other books published by X Press, whatever
the name of that book by Q was and several of the books in
the Backstreet series. Are there US equivalents of the bad
motha? Or are US books in this setting more about making the
best of the bad living conditions of the inner city? For
instance, I see the books of Jess Mowry (especially the
incredible Way Past Cool) and Nathan Heard (Howard Street)
being more about people (kids in Mowry's books) trying to get
by while living in hellholes.
So, can anyone point me towards contemporary Stagger Lees or
has this folk hero outlived his usefulness, at least on the
written page, returning to the oral tradition of rap?
Mark
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