Gangsta rap
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip-hop music which developed during the late 1980s. 'Gangsta' is a corruption of the spelling of 'gangster'. The genre was pioneered around 1983 by Ice-T with songs like Cold Wind Madness and Body Rock/Killers, was popularized by groups like N.W.A in the late '80s', and is as of 2008 one of the most commercially lucrative subgenres of hip-hop.
The subject matter inherent in gangsta rap has caused a great deal of controversy. Criticism has come from both right wing and left wing commentators, and religious leaders, who have accused the genre of homophobia, violence, profanity, promiscuity, misogyny, drug use, racism, and materialism.
Gangsta rappers often defend themselves by claiming that they are describing the reality of inner-city life, and that they are only adopting a character, like an actor playing a role, which behaves in ways that they may not necessarily endorse. Some commentators (for example, Spike Lee in his satirical film Bamboozled) have criticized it as analogous to black minstrel shows and blackface performance, in which performers – both black and white – were made up to look African American, and acted in a stereotypically uncultured and ignorant manner for the entertainment of white audiences.
Early Gangster themes
The 1973 album Hustler's Convention by Lightnin' Rod featured lyrics that deal with street life, including pimping and hustling. The Last Poets member Jalal Mansur Nuriddin delivers rhyming vocals in the urban slang of his time, and together with the other Last Poets members, was quite influential on later hip hop groups, such as Public Enemy. Many rappers, such as Ice T, have credited pimp and writer Iceberg Slim with influencing their rhymes. Rudy Ray Moore's, aka Dolemite, stand-up comedy and films dealing with his hustler-pimp persona also had an impact on gangsta rap and is still a popular source for samples.
