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Gangsta Rap


In hip-hop's history, the ability to reinvent itself is something that has maintained hip-hop's popularity. In the 1980s, Los Angeles and Oakland emerged as newer sites and fertile grounds for the genre's continued development, as evident in the popularity of "reality rap," also dubbed as "gangsta rap," one of the genre's most controversial forms.

The style of hip-hop music for which the city was to become famous traces its development to a style introduced by Afrika Bambaataa and advanced by other 1980s electro-funk groups-influenced by Parliament-such as Zapp's classic " More Bounce to the Ounce " (1980) and Midnight Star's hit " Freak-a-Zoid " (1983). Early practitioners of hip-hop music in Los Angeles produced a hybrid of electro-funk and rap. Representatives of this style include Arabian Prince, The Dream Team, Egyptian Lover, Uncle Jam's Army, World Class Wreckin' Cru, among a host of others.

Skating Rink

Skating Rink

Among early sites for hip-hop in Los Angeles, some of the most important were skating rinks such as Skateland USA, World on Wheels, and clubs such as the Radio (renamed Radiotron in the film Breakin') and the Radio Lounge.

By the mid-1980s, the hip-hop sound heard at these venues was being replaced by a more funk-driven sound to which lyrics about gang violence, police repression, and drug lore (i.e., crack cocaine) were frequently added. The sound was known locally as G-funk or reality rap; commercially, it became known as gangsta rap. Because it describes street culture and lifestyle in the most graphic terms via a hypermasculine gaze, gangsta rap would soon represent what hip-hop culture defines as hardcore.

The rise of gangsta rap styles affiliated with the West Coast are usually traced to solo acts Toddy Tee, with his mix tape-underground hit, " Batterram " (1985), followed by rapper Ice T (dubbed the Original Gangsta) with his recording, " 6 in the Morning " (1985).

However, the credit for the prototype commercial recording of gangsta rap is often given to Philadelphia artist Schoolly D's " Gangster Boogie " (1984), followed by " PSK What Does It Mean?" (1985) and to Bronx artist KRS-One, of the group Boogie Down Productions, for his " 9mm Goes Bang Bang " (1987), all of which depicted figures from Black underworld crime culture.

Ice-T in 2019

Ice-T in 2019

Quincy Jones

I guess hip-hop has been closer to the pulse of the streets than any music we've had in a long time. It's sociology as well as music, which is in keeping with the tradition of Black music in America.

Russell Simmons

The thing about hip-hop is that it's from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized.