Nearly 50percent of America's prison population is Black, with the hip hop generation making up a  significant proportion of that population. As many as one third of all Black men spend time in the criminal justice system.

Upon re-entering society, many discover that, among other things imprisonment has robed them of their voting rights... According to 1999 joint study  by Human Rights Watch and the Sentencing  project, 1.4 million or 13percent of Black men are ineligible to vote  because of felony convictions.  

...One of the best indicators of the degree to which prison has been infused into Black Youth culture can be seen in the transformation of Black street gangs...imprisonment of gang members led to organized structures within prison... many of gangs were created in prison. 

Bakari Kitwana defines the relationship between prison gangs and street gangs. The relationship between  prisons culture, street culture, and Black youth culture. He talks about The Hip-Hop Generation  treatment of Black women. The high HIV/AIDS rate of this generation, and some of the reasons why.

Kitwana poses the question "what will be the long term effect of this warehousing of such a disproportionate number of young Blacks in the criminal justice system?"

He then address an eight point, very stark picture of the Hip hop generation sate of affairs.

1. Prison Culture's Influence on Black Youth Culture

2. Black Families in Transition

3. Increase Rift between Young Black Men and Women

4. Rising Rates of AIDS Among Young Blacks

5. Mental Health

6. Criminalized Image of Young Blacks

7. Decline of Black Political Power

8. Reawakening Black Political and Spiritual Consciousness

Very informative and strident, but not without offering some insight, to redress Hip-Hop culture issues.