When rapper T.I. was arrested on federal weapons charges part of his release was doing 1500 hours of community service. He did the vast majority of it by going to a lot of high schools and middle schools in the Atlanta area. He gave student body presentations where he said, in effect, the gangsta lifestyle was BS and they're selling you a product. He essentially called BS on the entire way of life. He has tremendous credibility with that age group and the reception was astounding. Better than 10,000 hours of public service announcements. Others I've talked to in the know say the gangsta rap/lifestyle has become a caricature of itself and is in the process of playing itself out. Also been a very small but perceptible change since BHO became POTUS.

On the other hand, Bill Cosby tried a few years ago to do what T.I. did and pulled back a bloody stump for his trouble. He acquired a lifetime's worth of hatred and erased all prior accomplishments by giving one speech.

Schmedlap: Amen!