This article traces the discourses that shape and influence hip hop including popular culture, prison culture, Black Muslim (“Five Percenter”) religion, and black books subculture. Building on John Jackson's notion of “racial paranoia,” I show how hip hop's alarmist and conspiratorial claims are meant to explain continued race-class disadvantage in an era of supposed color-blindness. Hip hop culture is theorized as “counterknowledge,” an alternative knowledge system intended to challenge mainstream knowledge producers such as news media and academia. The analysis draws on rap lyrics, news articles, and Internet websites to understand better the role of this prominent sub-theme within the contexts of entertainment and calculated identity politics. The article investigates how hip hop culture uses conspiratorial ideas to challenge racial inequality.
Specifically, it explores the production and circulation of conspiracy theories and other stigmatized knowledge in popular culture. This article contributes to existing research on knowledge production and popular racial discourse.