Gangsta Rap
At its worst, G-rap is itself racist, sexist, and glorifies violence, being little but a money-making vehicle that is part of the problem rather than the solution… [Yet] Rap music makes the listener painfully aware of the differences between black and white, rich and poor, male and female. Rap music brings to white audiences the uncomfortable awareness of black suffering, anger and violence…1
Of all the issues around Hip Hop, gangsta rap has the most power to ignite heated debate. There is even dispute over whether, as a sub-genre of Hip Hop, gangsta rap still exists in its original form. But to many young people today, this historic debate means nothing - gangsta rap is their music of choice.
Debates over gangsta rap just seem so ‘90s to me… from my vantage point, the ‘gangsta’ persona (a la classic NWA) long ago morphed into the gangsta-pimp-hustla persona (Snoop/50Cent/Jay Z etc) which is a different marketing trajectory…2
But for many of Aotearoa’s youth, gangsta rap tops their playlist. And they’re not alone. Gangsta rap – begun by groups like Niggaz With Attitude (NWA) and Dr Dre in the 1990's - set the scene for a huge feeding frenzy among the record labels who were keen to tap into the excitement that such ‘dangerous’ music was stirring in the listening public.
They [society] see it as street people, naughty people.3
Gangsta rap does its best to shock – it’s foul-mouthed and offensive on purpose. As Eazy-E explained in the introduction to NWA’s 1988 ‘I Ain’t Tha 1’: We try and make music to piss you off. That’s why we say bitch- bitch- bitch- bitch- bitch- bitch- bitch- bitch- bitch. And nigga- nigga- nigga- nigga- nigga- nigga- nigga- nigga- nigga. And fuck you if you don’t like it.4
To young people the world over – from kids in the ghettoes where Hip Hop started, to the white suburban middle class – gangsta rap is a way of rejecting their parents’ values, in the age-old tradition of Rock and Roll, and Punk.
It has been claimed that, for those young people living in the world from which gangsta rap sprang, it gives voice to the reality… ‘of young people living in the urban slums of the US. For some, their reality is gangbanging, alcohol and drug abuse. Should their voices be muted because they don’t live in an ideal world?’5
Does Hip Hop’s ‘Keeping it Real’ mantra give the go-ahead for continued exposure to gangsta rap? Is it possible we should be viewing gangsta rappers as ‘informal journalists reporting on the violent conditions of their communities’ as writer T Cunnington6 suggests? Or is there substance to the argument that the lives represented in gangsta rap have little to do with ‘real life.’
Black men put black women in videos and call them ‘bitches and hoes’, and promote drugs, sex, drinking and high-priced luxury items. If they were ‘keeping it real,’ they wouldn’t be able to afford these things, at least not in the St. Louis neighbourhood where I grew up… what is troubling now is the almost horror movie feel to it. Let’s be realistic. If a group of white kids saw 50 Cent and his G-unit walking behind them on a street, those kids would be as scared as if it was Jason wearing a hockey mask and carrying a chainsaw…7
Ifè Oshum writes, in a January 2001 article, 'Is it simply a twist of fate that the decade that saw the media criminalization of the African-American male also saw a record growth explosion within the American prison system?8
What is so frightening to me is that black children are imitating and emulating these negative role models. The anti-social behaviour they glorify is one of the reasons why more black men are in prisons than colleges… In reality, what we actually get from popular rappers is cartoon characters behaving badly and living down to the expectations of what mainstream society perceives black to be.9
An article in the online Rock and Rap Archives suggests that ‘part of gangsta rap’s lyrical appeal stems from its uncritical embrace of the youth abandoned by society. When Ice Cube spoke at Locke High School in 1993, he took the mike right after the principal had explained that only students who had shown “academic improvement” had been allowed into the gym. “I’m here to talk to everyone outside,” Cube said, “everybody who’s ditching school today”. On that firm foundation, gangsta rap is evolving into America’s most important voice for unity.’10
One thing is for sure - no matter how convincing some of these arguments appear, they are certainly not enough to stop the criticism. Community leaders and politicians, particularly in the US, have made moves to ban gangsta rap from radio and TV channels. With ‘scattered incidents of violence at rap shows receive[ing] the kind of attention normally reserved for the outbreak of war,’11 many venues have threatened to stop booking them.
‘To commercial radio, it’s just another thing you don’t play… too black, too aggressive, not enough guitars. To city councils in most major centres, it's pure vandalism; thousands of ratepayers dollars spent painting over graffiti that detracts from the apparent preferable aesthetics of pristine grey concrete.’12
As a result of the hype in the US over certain rappers and their lyrics, censorship issues in Aotearoa have also been raised. For the older generation, it’s often hard not to react when confronted with lyrics springing from our own backyard such as Erhmen’s ‘Back Um Up Kid’ – ‘Oi you cunt/what the fuck you want, you motherfucker?/Come here motherfucker/Oh, that’s it/I’m gonna Jake Heke your face…’13 and R.E.S.’s ‘Bad Muthafuckaz’.
We’ll look further at censorship in Theme D/Four. But it’s important to note some of the local reactions within our own community regarding gangsta rap. Some blame its continued success on doubtful morals within the record companies who exploit the fact that sex and violence sells.
The negative public perception of Hip Hop should be blamed on ‘money grabbing’ record companies, who actively promoted the more saleable gangster lyrics and thug images while ignoring some MC’s and ignoring the more positive and constructive (or conscious) lyrics of a host of others.14
Media Beat-Ups
Meanwhile, many within our local Hip Hop scene question whether all the negative arguments against gangsta rap are even valid. They feel it’s just a media beat-up – a way of trying to stifle something they regard as fun.
All those…old people…they reckon that listening to this makes you do this and like – so if you’re listening to some guy talking about killing a guy, you’re gonna kill somebody, but it’s not that, it just sounds cool…15
Like if you’re angry and stuff… it’s heaps better to listen to something that’s amping you up and you know, like can get it out than going and doing something. Wasting someone…16
I hate like how they have those things in magazines, and they’re like – if you play this game, you’re gonna beat up this person, or if you kill this guy on this video game… you do this in a rap thing… it’s not like that.17
The subject is huge and complex – and one that generates as many different points of view as the people asked to comment on it. Perhaps, for now, we should give our last word to Mike Ikilei, a youth worker from Glenn Innes, Auckland. He uses Hip Hop as a tool to open up young people’s understanding of Hip Hop culture, in order to understand their own cultures better. The youngsters he works with have little interest or knowledge of indigenous Hip Hop – their influences are strongly those of imported American gangsta rap.
Rather than fight it, Mike suggests, acknowledge it. Talk to them about what attracts them to the genre – what they like about it – and how it is relevant to the lives they lead… and then perhaps, by introducing some of the wider issues covered in our resource, they can move past the ‘posture’ and view their world through a wider lens.
Hip Hop culture is more than bling-bling, hoochie mamas, and baseball caps. Hip Hop is a lifestyle.18
- Who were some of the originators of ‘gangsta rap’?
- Why are some of the white suburban middle classes so drawn to gangsta rap?
- What is the Hip Hop mantra that helps support gangsta rap’s existence?
- What did Ice Cube mean when he stated he was talking to ‘everyone outside’?
- What types of incidents have prompted calls to ban gangsta rap shows?
- What is youth worker Mike Ikilei’s suggestion in relation to gangsta-rap?
Extend your thinking
Many people are convinced there is a link between what we watch, play and listen to, and our behaviour – whether by us becoming ‘de-sensitised’ (or immune) to the shocking consequences and images, or by people imitating such behaviours.
Do you think exposure to explicit violence or criminal activity affects the way you think or act? Do you think it’s possible for other people to be affected? Think about tragic incidents such as the shooting at Columbine High School in the US. Do you think multi-media images play any part in situations like this?
1 Best, S. & Kellner D. Spring 1999, ‘Rap, Black rage, and Racial difference’: ‘Enculturation, Vol 2, No.2. p12.
2 April Henderson, Lecturer, Pacific Studies, Victoria University of Wellington.
3 Owen, as quoted by Tamati S. 2004 ‘A window to our world’ ‘The Next – An Impression of Hip Hop Expression’ p55.
4 Shaw, W. 2000 ‘Westsiders – Stories of the Boys in the Hood’, Bloomsbury p 45.
5 Waiti, D. ‘Spotlight On: Angles on Global Hip Hop Culture’, in ‘The Next – an Impression of Hip Hop Expression’ p86.
6 Cunnington, T. 2002 ‘Implicit Racism in Lyrics’ Published online at http://www.politix.net
7 Bowling, D. ‘Hip Hop Forever’ MSNBC.
8 Oshun, Ifè. ‘Hip Hop Fridays: Big Booty Hoes (And Other Whack Rap Video Images) (Rap and Hip Hop Guide for About, the Human Internet) from ‘Flipping the Script’ resources – http://www.flippingthescript.net First published January 12, 2001
9 Bowling, D. ‘Hip Hop Forever’ MSNBC.from ‘Flipping the Script’ resources – http://www.flippingthescript.net
10 Rock and Rap Archives Number 111/December 1993 http://www.rockrap.com/archive/archi111.html .
11 Rock and Rap Archives Number 63/December 1988.
12 Grant Smithies – Pulp Magazine - 1999.refer to bibliograpghy for details
13 Erhmen 'Back Em Up Kid' on 'Samoans Part 2' 1998.
14 Grant Smithies – Pulp Magazine - 1999.
15 Interviewee from Tamati S. 2004 ‘A window to our world’ ‘The Next – An Impression of Hip Hop Expression’ p68.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Waiti, D. ‘Spotlight On: Angles on Global Hip Hop Culture’, in ‘The Next – an Impression of Hip Hop Expression’ p79.
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