Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. Introduction: “Cruel Stack O’Lee”: Trickster Badness and the Fight against Subordination in African American Vernacular Culture 1
5. 1. Original Gangsta Culture: Fortune Economy and the Criminal Mediation of Black Entry into Urban Modernity 23
6. 2. Sin City Cinema: The Underworld Race Films of Oscar Micheaux and Ralph Cooper 51
7. 3. Hustlers in the House of Literature: Julian Mayfield, Chester Himes, and the Black Literary Ghetto 79
8. 4. From Up Tight! to Dolemite: The Changing Politics of Baadasssss Cinema 113
9. 5. Keeping It Reel: From Goines to Gangsta 149
10. Epilogue: Global Gangsta–Life in Death 175
11. Notes 183
12. Index 203