Tupac or Biggie

[itvnetop]

All this talk about gangster rap is irrelevant today. "Gangster" rap has been dead for close to a decade. The current rappers who came from that genre have moved on to more dance-oriented tracks- Snoop, Dre (who produces more than raps anyway), etc. The "mainstream" acts like BEP and TI aren't even on the same skill level as cats back in the 90s (including gangster rappers)... and the content is all about partying and making it rain, anyway. The popular representatives of new school hip hop (like Kanye and Lupe Fiasco) are resonating with suburban kids... also a lot of hipster acceptance, if you will. Most of the stuff I listen to is considered "underground"- and none of those emcees are talking about killing people and dealing drugs.

And back when the 90s introduced the "gangster" genre, what would you have young black men from inner-cities rapping about? Jane Austen novels and tupperware parties? You may not like or even consider hip hop a legitimate form of music, but its longevity (when people were saying it was going to die out like a fad back when it started) and current dominance in the music world has proven otherwise. Gangster rappers, like any other rappers or singers, are artists of varying degrees. And artists- whether they're composing songs, writing books, shooting movies or designing a web site- express themselves by singular experience.

The "game" was the only thing some rappers knew. Pretty interesting that many parts of America had no idea what went on in the inner cities (gangs, corrupt cops, cycle of violence) before "Boyz N' The Hood" and "Menace II Society" hit the big screens. Do you think those movies shouldn't have been made either? It's pretty much the same thing- movies, music, and literature all bring a slice of life to an audience that can both relate to its content and those that are just now being introduced. Not all art is meant to be positive and uplifting. We can start heading down a slippery slope with video games, too (GTA, anyone?).