Baldwin (1999), "Black Empires, White Desires: The Spatial Politics of Identity in the Age of Hip Hop"

Baldwin (1999) argues that White America's outrage over hip hop's immorality is really about Black Americans taking pleasure in commodity. Baldwin (1999) sees this as a historical changing of the guard the represents a renegotiation of White cultural power. While White suburbia is defined by consumer culture, Baldwin (1999) argues that White Americans are not comfortable with Black Americans taking the same kind of pleasure in consumerism. Hip hop's conspicuous consumption can be read as a threat of Black Americans taking over White Americans' roles as consumers.