Gangsta rap
Gangsta rap is a genre of rap music that is violence-oriented and (in the meantime) clichéd describes the living environment of a gangster - in the sense of "member of a (youth) gang ". The term "gangsta rap" is usually reserved for the hip-hop of the West Coast and the southern states , while East Coast hip-hop , which is similar in content and style , is called hardcore rap .
Hip-hop originated in the ghettos of major US cities, and so the current social problems there such as violence and drugs were an important part of the song lyrics from the beginning. In the early stages of hip-hop, the texts were accepted very critically and with aloof, also because the content in soul production of the 1970s was already announced and not understood. Gangsta Rap, on the other hand, focuses exclusively on that criminal area of life and glorifies the individual aspects such as drug trafficking , pimping , murder , but also (social) injustice . The style , in whose spoken song usually the vulgar language plays a characteristic role, is the most commercially successful sub-genre of hip-hop and was the hip-hop sub-group that dominated the charts in the mid and late 1990s . It was only at the turn of the millennium that many artists turned away from gangsta rap and incorporated stronger elements of conventional pop music , just as they tried to build a more family-friendly image.
The gangsta rap controversy
The topics of gangsta rap have led to a large number of fierce controversies, which on the one hand increased the publicity and thus the sales potential of the genre, but on the other hand ensured that hip-hop was never recognized as the main style. The style criticized the glorification of violence, homophobia , misogyny , racism as well as the glorification of drug consumption and especially drug trafficking. The affected rappers themselves usually claim that they are only describing life in the US ghettos without embellishment. You yourself would not mean the messages as a person, but only take on an artistic role.
In view of the fact that the genre's audience consists predominantly of white middle-class young people, accusations have been leveled against the performers themselves that, similar to previous blackface representations, they were merely serving the cliché of blacks by calling them uncultivated and ignorant to the amusement of whites represented.
Origins
Schoolly D from Philadelphia is considered to be the founder of the genre , who released the single PSK - What Does It Mean? released from the album Schoolly-D . This inspired Ice-T from Los Angeles to write his song 6 in the Mornin ' (1986), which brought gangsta rap to the general public and thus influenced countless other rappers. Other artists such as Eazy-E , Kool G Rap or NWA made decisive contributions to the development of the genre. Other important influences were the political and aggressive style of Public Enemy , Ice Cube or Boogie Down Productions as well as the Iceberg Slim or Hustler's Convention, which celebrates a more poetic gangster style .
Although some of them came from the east coast, gangsta rap is seen as a phenomenon of west coast hip-hop , as the influence of Ice T and NWA in particular was formative. The later Mafioso raps were particularly influenced by Kool G Rap's style, as they were shown from 1995 in the publications of Raekwon , AZ or Mobb Deep .
Hip-hop moves to the west coast, gangsta rap becomes popular
Until the late 1980s, the east coast , especially New York City , had a major impact on the hip-hop scene. West Coast hip-hop was little more than a marginal phenomenon that came from dance-heavy electro with groups like Egyptian Lover or the World Class Wreckin 'Cru , whose members later emerged as NWA .
In addition to the nationally known electro hoppers, pioneers of hardcore rap like Ice-T gained recognition in the Los Angeles underground . An early scene spread that included Too $ hort (of Oakland ) and others from Compton and Watts (boroughs of Los Angeles), San Francisco, and San Diego .
Gangsta rap came out of the underground in the late 1980s. N. W. A's 1988 album Straight Outta Compton became nationally known and infamous. It was with him that the first public discussion of the topic began when the band received a letter from the FBI about the song Fuck Tha Police , which heavily criticized the track.
Gangsta rap in the 1990s
G-Funk and Death Row Records
Since the first success and controversy from N. W. A, the West Coast scene began to take off. In 1992, the former N. W. A member Dr. Dre The Chronic . The album was a success, expanding the success of Death Row Records and marking the beginning of the G-funk style. Intensive sampling of funk classics, especially by the bands Parliament and Funkadelic , G-Funk was multi-layered, but still catchy and danceable music whose anti-authoritarian lyrics helped to win many young people as fans.
One of the biggest stars of the genre became Snoop Doggy Dogg with his 1993 album Doggystyle . Originally from New York, Tupac Shakur became one of the biggest stars West Coast Hip Hop has ever had. Both released on Death Row Records, which Dr. Dre and Suge Knight belonged.
The rise of bad boy entertainment
East Coast Hip Hop began to take up the new style more and more. Black Moon ( Enta da Stage , 1993), Nas ( Illmatic , 1994), Notorious B. I. G. ( Ready to Die , 1994), Mobb Deep ( The Infamous , 1995) were new stars on the east coast. In particular, P. Diddy's Bad Boy Entertainment , on which Notorious B.I.G. also published, began to surpass West Coast rappers in the charts, while gangsta rap as a genre continued to expand commercially. The East Coast vs. West Coast , which escalated especially between Death Row and Bad Boy, finally ended after the murders of Tupac Shakur (Death Row) and Notorious B. I. G. (Bad Boy). Death Row did not survive the dispute, artists like Snoop Dogg left the label. Death Row itself faced a number of legal proceedings. Bad Boy survived, albeit ailing. Puff Daddy increasingly turned to a more mainstream-compatible, poppier sound and image.
Gangsta rap in the South and Midwest
Even after Notorious BIG and 2Pac were murdered, hip-hop remained successful overall, but the scene was in a state of upheaval. Important labels had to change their structures or went completely bankrupt. Other scenes from other areas began to become influential in the hip hop landscape.
Atlanta, Georgia established itself as the first new center with Goodie Mob or OutKast . Many artists from the Down South scene followed suit. Gangsta Rap remained the most commercially successful variant. Atlanta-born producer Jermaine Dupri discovered teenage rappers Kris Kross ( Totally Krossed Out ; 1992) and later other artists whom he recruited for his So So Def label. Although mostly specialized in pop and R 'n' B, this included gangsta rappers like Da Brat . The most successful gangsta rapper from the southern states was Ludacris , who was, however, under contract with Def Jam .
In New Orleans , No Limit Records from Master P and Cash Money Records established themselves . Both achieved respectable sales figures, although neither the critics nor the scene took them very seriously. No Limit began in 1994 with Master Ps The Ghetto Is Trying to Kill Me , Silkk the Shocker and C-Murder . It was only later that bands like Mystikal were able to improve the label's reputation because they were also taken seriously as artists.
Mainstream acceptance
Although already very successful commercially before, gangsta rap and hip hop were still generally perceived as a subculture and niche phenomenon that was outside the pop mainstream. But with the rise of Bad Boy Records in particular , the style of the music changed: the genre began to dominate the charts and become an integral part of the pop mainstream. Notorious BIG was one of the pioneers of this movement. He was the first to start producing albums that took up both the older dark tales and raps of gangsta rape and superimposed them on poppy, clean, and more danceable beats specifically tailored for the pop and club audience.
After BIG's death, Puff Daddy continued down this path. References to violence, weapons, drug trafficking and life in the ghetto remained in the lyrics, but the production was cleaner, often also less complicated, the massive use of samples was often replaced by cover versions of well-known pop hits, the music began to look more like pop Adapt the taste of the audience. Examples of these early productions were the last recordings of Notorious BIG ( Mo Money, Mo Problems ) or Ma $ e ( Feels So Good ). Other rappers who weren't signed to Bad Boy joined him: Jay-Z ( Can I Get A ... ) or Nas ( Street Dreams ). The special style became known as the shiny suit style after the suits that Puff Daddy wore at the time and that began to shine in the light.
Master and No Limit as well as the new label Cash Money Records in the southern states proceeded similarly . By the cash money rapper Lil Wayne , together with The BG , the phrase bling-bling became popular; Gangsta rap of this time no longer described the hard life in the ghettos, in which the rapper had to defend himself in principle against his surroundings, but glorified the material success he was able to achieve. Material hedonism and the offensive display of status symbols such as jewelry, gold chains, expensive clothing or women were part of the new style.
The time around the turn of the millennium, when the musical style was particularly successful, brought unimagined chart successes; Hip-hop enthusiasts don't like to remember her because she was hardly artistically productive. Simultaneously with the emergence of the shiny suit style, a strong revival of the alternative and underground scenes in hip-hop began.
The pop and hedonism influenced school has continued to be successful. Many artists like Ja Rule or Jay-Z are now trying to balance their hip-hop scene, which is rather critical of the style, and the mainstream audience. The influence of West Coast Hip Hop on the East Coast scene was also beginning to be felt.
Hardcore rap on the east coast
Although the softer, pop-influenced sound began to establish itself commercially, the harder version also continued to develop, particularly on the east coast of the USA. Originally from Baltimore , DMX built on records by Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan and 2Pac and brought its 1998 release It's dark and Hell is hot to number 1 on the charts, giving the New York hardcore rap scene a decisive boost.
By far the most successful rapper in the classic gangsta rap style is 50 Cent , who became a global superstar after signing a contract with Eminem's Shady Records before producing artists similar to Lloyd Banks or Game himself . Although not entirely free of concessions to the now prevailing pop sound, 50 Cent again released significantly darker and heavier productions, which nevertheless managed to regularly jump into the international chart top positions.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Who actually invented gangsta rap? at 90erhiphop.de, accessed on July 9, 2015
- ↑ Death Row - Bad Boy Feud in the Los Angeles Times, accessed July 9, 2015 (English)
See also
literature
- Wilfried Ferchhoff 2007: Youth and Youth Cultures in the 21st Century: Lifestyles and Lifestyles , VS Verlag
- Wolfgang Karrer, Ingrid Kerkhoff, Thomas Fuchs 1996: Rap , Argument Verlag
- Vladimir Bogdanov et al. 2003: All Music Guide to Hip-hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap & Hip-hop , Backbeat Books
- Jeff Chang 2005: Can't Stop, Won't Stop: The History of the Hip Hop Generation , St. Martin's Press