Examining the social attitudes and practical consciousness of young black American youth through an analysis of the 1999 rap song, "Bling bling," by the Hot Boyz, in this work, I review the oppositional culture hypothesis as it pertains to the black/white achievement gap, describe the current debate, and reinterpret the hypothesis within a structural functional reading that focuses on the social functional role that black underachievement plays for black youth in the American social structure of inequality. To this end, I argue that the achievement gap is a result of the role conflict brought about by the American postindustrial capitalist social structure of class inequality, rather than a racial or cultural understanding, "burden-of-acting-white," of group belonging. (Contains 3 footnotes.)