Dark Alliance: The Story Behind The Crack ExplosionTuesday, September 20, 2011 11:43
http://www.narconews.com/darkalliance/drugs/start.htm


FOR THE BETTER PART of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street

gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central

Intelligence Agency, a Mercury News investigation has found.
This drug network opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los

Angeles, a city now known as the "crack'' capital of the world. The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack

explosion in urban America ? and provided the cash and connections needed for L.A.'s gangs to buy automatic weapons.


Narrated and executive produced by Ice-T, this VH1 documentary explores how crack cocaine had a major impact on popular

culture, especially the evolution of hip-hop. Twenty five years after the drug ravaged many American cities, Ice-T talks

honestly with several of the dealers who became rappers, transforming contemporary music. The film candidly shows how

hip-hop reflected the crack epidemic, with frank interviews with such survivors as Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill’s B-Real, and

Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA. Using rare footage and creative animation, all set to iconic beats, Planet Rock also examines how

crack changed this country politically and socially, especially because of the hysterical media reaction to the crisis.

After the screening, our panelists will assess all the changes, from music to fashion, engendered by the crack

revolution.


Twenty-five years after crack cocaine ravaged American cities, a new VH1 Rock Doc explores how the drug also transformed

popular culture