We can go back and forth on academic papers on the subject. Though i think its powerful that it is a topic often discussed within the black community amongst themselves, as well as being a point of speech by the previous president and the largest name in hip hop - jay-z I would suggest Thomas Chatterton Williams book Losing My Cool which touches on the subject as well
>"Growing up, Thomas Chatterton Williams knew he loved three things in life: his parents, literature, and the intoxicating hip-hop culture that surrounded him. For years, he managed to juggle two disparate lifestyles, "keeping it real" in his friends' eyes and studying for the SATs under his father's strict tutelage-until it all threatened to spin out of control. Written with remarkable candor and emotional depth, Losing My Cool portrays the allure and danger of hip-hop culture with the authority of a true fan who's lived through it all, while demonstrating the saving grace of literature and the power of the bond between father and son."
"Not helpful to whom?"
To everyone, and especially the community being terrorized by killers who can continue to kill with impunity
More people need to read this book. Black America has got to wake up!!
http://www.amazon.com/Losing-My-Cool-Literature-Escape/dp/0143119621