See, here's where other issues in our communities tie in:
One of the biggest reasons we are like this from an early age is because we see different people with the shit we want in life. In white neighborhoods, the guy with the nice house, car, and clothes is likely a local businessman, well paid professional, or something to that effect. When you grow up in an area like that, the cats you see went to school, worked hard, an got to their station in life where those kinds of things are attainable. Your own parent may be like that so they impart the knowledge necessary to follow that path to eventual success so you can have those things too.
In our communities, more times than not, the guy with those things is a criminal. If you're a teenager, he's probably not much older than you and he has those things. When I was coming up, he was likely a drug dealer. This skews your outlook on life to where you see him and what he's doing as the way to get those things quickly. Your parents can both be working jobs making what we call "good money", but their money don't equate to a German ride, linen threads, a fat watch, and hoes on your arm; the criminal's way of life does. You probably look at it like "shit, if I do it my parents way I'll be 40 year old living check to check with an 20 year old Accord and a minivan in the driveway driving for Uber on the weekends to make spare cash, but if I do it like Maserati Rick over there I can have it all by the time I'm 20."
Which way looks more attractive to a kid? Have it all in a few years or possibly not at all?
The same can be said for rappers that come out of our communities. The vast majority of them never attain the level of success they rap about. Most of them don't own those cars unless the label is paying on the lease (which you have to recoup), the clothes and jewels are rented for the photo shoots and videos, and the hoes are rented too. The image they present is just as damaging as the image the local trap star does: They feign the appearance of fast wealth, and the kids latch on to it and they have that decision to make: Try to make it as a rapper and get all the flossy shit like in the videos, or work hard and possibly never be able to afford it.
(edit) forgot to add this: Even in predominately Black areas that are upper middle class to wealthy, the Black families still have to compete with the image of greater wealth as portrayed by drug dealers and rappers. Unless you grew up in a genuinely rich household, where dopeman money looks trivial, you're still going to have that way of life influence you in some manner.
