Malcolm Gladwells Influence On Black Youth - 1944 Words

Ready To Outlie â€Å"Either you’re slinging crack rock or you got a wicked jump shotï » ¿.† A strong and profound message that resonated in the minds of black youth during the end of the 20th century. It meant that, as a black youth, you had to either be a successful drug hustler or an amazing athlete to live comfortable financially. Young Christopher Wallace, a boy growing up in Brooklyn, New York during the rise of crack, was set on becoming rich and this was his formula for doing so. He was far too overweight for sports and besides, hustling crack gave a much quicker payout (Coker). So if selling drugs was, in his opinion, the only means of hitting it rich, why is the above quote not being cited as coming from â€Å"Christopher Wallace: Drug†¦show more content†¦Though Gladwell is correct in telling us that opportunity is a key component to success, his emphasis on the importance of opportunity and less on a person’s own individuality and character traits, is abs urd. A person’s traits are important because they are characteristics upon which talent is dependent, and talent is no less an important factor to success than opportunity is. If a talent without opportunity leads to little to no achievement, then what kind of outcome does one get from opportunities without talent? The opportunities that Wallace received as Biggie Smalls were simple, and ones that Gladwell would most certainly agree with. Like hundreds of other black youths, Biggie grew up in the 1980s, during the golden age of hip-hop. Hip-hop, to young blacks and the recently paroled, was a means of leaving the streets and a life of poverty (Remembering the Golden Age of Hip-hop.). He took to rapping on street corners, which was also a popular thing to do at the time (Notorious B.I.G. Bigger Than Life). The biggest opportunity of his life was probably Sean â€Å"Puffy† Combs’ insistence that he be signed to a record deal. But why Biggie Smalls and not the cou ntless other young rappers, such as Chico Del Vec and Lonnie â€Å"Common† Lyn, who also rapped on the street corners of New York, given the same opportunity? Furthermore, how did he become so successful despite being an overweight, dark black kid with a lazy eye during a time when hip-hop was