Ben Simone 
Mini-Ethnography of 90s Gangsta Rappers Subculture 
Instructor Buno
May 11, 2022

The ‘Gangsta’ Rap subculture in the 1990s - How did it evolve and what did the 90s rappers rap about? 

I’ll never forget the first time I listened to a rap song. It was Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio, and JV. This is a rap song from 1995, and Coolio, a 23 year old rapper from Compton, LA, wrote it. Coolio raps in one verse:

I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the street
So I gotta be down with the hood team
Too much television watchin' got me chasin' dreams
I'm a educated fool with money on my mind
Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye
I'm a loc'd out gangsta, set trippin' banger
And my homies is down so don't arouse my anger.

This rap song is representative of a rapping style prominent in the 90s, called Gangsta (gangster) rap. Gangsta rap in the 90s was an important component to the integration of rap in mainstream music. In my subculture research paper I discussed: how rap evolved and what did the 90s rappers rapped about? In this essay, I will be expanding on insider viewpoints of famous 90s gangsta rappers to explain where their hardcore rap styles came from and how their background infused their rapper persona. As an outsider to this subculture, I chose to observe these topics because they led me to the core beliefs of the members in this community and as a fan of 90s rap music, who likes to rap as a hobby, I’d want to have that knowledge. Also, this paper highlights the correlation between the tough experiences prominent 90s gangsta rappers went through and their music and can educate other fans about what lies behind the lyrics and sounds they like. Insiders in this rap subculture are artists themselves or music producers, promoters, managers, or friends of artists. They are also gatekeepers because the personal information they publicized granted me access to explore this topic. 

The Hardcore Lyrics of the 90s Rappers-The World from Which they Emerged

The lyrics of 90s gangsta rappers are hardcore. They often talk about violence, drug-dealing, police harassment, in the most explicit terms. Like Coolio’s song above, other rappers used explicit terms. For example, in a 1991 album by Ice Cube: Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, he raps, 

It's time to take a trip to the suburbs
Let 'em see a nigga invasion
Point blank on a Caucasian
Cocked the hammer, didn't crack no smile
Take me to your house, pal
Got to the house, my pockets got fat, see
Crack the safe, got the money and the jewelry… 
I got hassled and gaffled in the back seat
I think back when I was robbin' my own kind
The police didn't pay it no mind
But when I start robbing the white folks
Now I’m in the pen… 

Ice Cube raps about his gangster activity and seems to promote violence. However, he also connects his criminality to a broader social issue: law enforcement ignoring black-on-black crime and only bothering to arrest African Americans when crimes are directed at white people. Lyrics in songs like these made me want to understand the life of the ‘gangstas’ that I was observing.  I wanted to collect information on the periods in rappers’ life that align most with hardcore themes expressed in their music. 

Iconic 90s rapper Tupac Shakur released an MTV special in 1995, titled Growing up Poor, where he recounted his early life. Tupac was switching from  “homeless shelter to a project” and dealing with “not enough food on the table.” Dropping out of high school to make ends meet, and not being able to live at his mother’s home because she was impoverished, depicts a constant fight for survival, which are all core elements in his music. In a different interview with BET in 1994, Tupac explained that he strongly believed that his audience “emphasizes with me because I show that raw and uncut emotion. Good and bad.” Tupac was being open about hardship through his music and in doing so with gangsta rap ushered in a music style unseen by the masses before. The interviewer characterized Tupac’s image as a personification “of his generation’s anger.”  Tupac agreed but said his gangsta persona in his raps showed a more “sensitive side” and because so many people followed him, his reputation as a rapper can control violence or in Tupac’s own words: “stop a confrontation before it happens.”  I believe that although Tupac’s mainstream image was of someone who could be considered a thug, he still was an example of triumph over systemic and social obstacles. 
 
In both interviews, I observed that the hosts brought up the views of some in the media and politicians that labeled gangsta rappers as violent people and outlaws. I was disturbed by this misunderstanding and insinuation that a gangsta rapper was a bad person inciting violence. In the MTV interview Tupac said he used to act in high school, and wanted to attend college but didn’t because he didn’t have the money. Tupac compared his hard life to college students who were provided for. Although “this might be presumptuous… I know a lot of people who went to college and they had their lives okay… Someone is paying for them to be there, they have somewhere to live.” A difficult background forced Tupac to find his own path.  Harlem rapper Big L, in his hit song Street Struck, echoes this point. He rhymes, 

 And some of my peeps are still in the game sellin ‘caine,
 If that's what you gotta do to maintain, go ‘head and do your thang. 
I’ve seen a lot of my peers give up their careers for some fast money..
 Aiyoo They used to be legit kids, now they are corrupt,
 they had dreams but gave em up cause they street struck.

Here Big L explains the types of choices his peers from inner-city slums can make. These lines suggest that those who are already caught up in dangerous street behavior do not have many choices except to keep doing “your thang,”  since they had to survive. Ice Cube also critiques social justice in America when he raps in a song from 1990  that there were more black people in cells than in college,

You wanna sweep a nigga like me up under the rug
Kicking shit called street knowledge
Why more niggas in the pen than in college? 

Snoop Dogg, another famous rapper from the 90s, pointed out in a 1994 interview that for rappers it's almost “a ritual to be from the streets -- to come from gang involvement.” It’s like a pattern. Just like Tupac and Big L, Snoop Dogg countered the view that gangsta rap worsened the conditions of the hood and promoted violence, by stating that these rap songs can actually help reduce crime by “bringing it to your face… So it can be understood what rappers go through.” This idea is likewise illustrated in a documentary by cable network A&E, which recapped the life of iconic rapper, The Notorious Big. The Notorious Big grew up in Bedstuy, Brooklyn in the 1970s-80s. He was attracted to the street life of crime as a way to make money. Biggie recalled that “you wanted the same life that they had because yours was bad.” They in this quote referred to drug dealers because in the inner-city, the first group of people that people saw who “wore the flashiest clothes and drove the nice cars were drug dealers.” Biggie’s friend Hurbert Sam also noted that, “Gangsta stuff was in his face so strongly that--that world showed you--you made money.” Biggie later remarked “after I got introduced to the drug game the only thing I thought I was going to be in life was a drug dealer…I know if I wasn’t rapping, I’d be hustling. There’s really no doubt about that because 9-5 ain’t me, I just can't see that… I just rap about what I know: The streets I was brought up [in].”  In this interview, he also mentioned briefly that Tupac “just seemed so angry but at the same time so charming.” 

Snoop Dogg explains in a 1994 interview on the Arsenio Hall talk show that the message of gangsta rap was to be real. “Being real is accepting the type of behaviors rappers had. It wasn’t nice.” Snoop Dogg wanted fans to learn from his experiences and use it as foresight if they ever intended to copy his former lifestyle. Both Tupac and Snoop Dogg felt that their raps about gangster life did not represent their entire character but rather a persona. They still had to produce music that would sell, and promoting the gangsta persona in their music helped them achieve fame and riches. Not all of their lyrics were about robbing or shooting people. Snoop Dogg believed that the gangsta persona was the consequence of being in “the forefront of the most violent record label in the world.”  In a radio show, The Notorious Big also emphasized that music still had to sell, so a song had to be good, whether it talked about violence or not. As he said, “you can rap as hard as you want on an album but make sure you got some joints. Good, friendly records that the girls is going to like, that the radio is going to like, help sell your album.” 	

A number of authors who researched 90s gangsta rap music speak to the same point of a rapper’s reality reflected in their music. In Music and Culture, co-author Nathan George notes that many raps are a byproduct of the rappers’ lives. “Tupac [and others] were artists who looked at the worst things in the world and reveled in describing their meanest dreams and grossest nightmares… Rap lyrics that describe violence are a natural consequence of a [violent] world.” (George, 142)  Similarly, Theresea Martinez notes that, “Gangsta rap is essentially a vocal critique of a blighted inner city Los Angeles whose poverty rate and joblessness deeply affected communities like Compotn and Watts.” (Martinez 274) Succumbing to street life was often unavoidable and gangsta rappers used their music as a form of “oppositional culture, bringing to light long perceived problems in our nation’s cities.” (Martinez, 268) As Robin D.G Kelly underscored, “when gangsta rappers do write lyrics intended to convey a sense of social realism, their work loosely resembles a sort of street ethnography of racist institutions and social practices, but told more often than not in the first person.” (Kelly, 190) Kelly also quotes Ice Cube who said it best: “‘we call ourselves underground street reporters. We just tell it how we see it, nothing more, nothing less.’” (Kelly, 190) 


Other Commonalities of the 90s Gangsta Rappers- Clothing and Lifestyle

In addition to exploring common themes in 90s rap lyrics, I looked at other commonalities in this subculture. Specifically, clothing styles associated with gangsta rappers and their fans included caps, baggy pants, and gold chains.  This clothing style was featured in their raps. For example, in the song Dress Code, W.C raps about trying to get in a club but his way of dressing is viewed negatively. 

Unlike you I couldn't afford to shop at Macy's or Penny's
So it's off to the swap meet for a fresh pair of Dickey's
So what you're tellin me, is now I'm a crook
Who wrote the book on how a kid in my position's supposed to look? …
I'm gettin sweated for my dress code 
(Alright, fellas No tennis shoes, no hats, no khakis, alright?)
And if you're sportin gold, then you gotta be a dope dealer

In other words, the rapper’s clothing styles resulted from inability to afford more expensive clothes. Rappers then popularized this style and also attempted to show status through it, for example by wearing lots of jewelry. Once successful, rappers did not stay living in the hood. They moved to affluent neighborhoods, drove luxury cars, and held expensive parties. 

Conclusion

I discovered that 90s gangsta rappers shed light on the problems of their communities through their lyrics. Specifically, on their poor living conditions, street crime, lack of education and job opportunities, and police brutality. Rappers are the products of their ghetto life. As Ice Cube raps in his song, The Product: My life is f***d. But it ain't my fault, 'cause I'm the motherfucking product. From the interviews I observed, a rapper’s violent lyrics were not intended to promote violence and they were unfairly criticized for promoting it. Rapping was a way out of street life. As Big L in his song Street Struck proclaims:  I started rappin and got nice as hell if it wasn't for this I might be doin life in jail. If they weren’t rappin, they could be dead. And even rapping couldn’t save all of them from that fate.  Biggie, Tupac, and Big L, all died from gang violence. 

Reflection

Through this essay, I intended to better understand the 90s gangsta rap music I like listening to. I also wanted to explain to anyone else who likes this music (or may not know anything about it) what makes this music genre so explicit. The process of working on the essay involved listening to interviews with major 90s gangsta rap artists, watching documentaries about this style, and looking more closely at lyrics. I also researched scholarly articles talking about the gangsta rap style. I had to make decisions as to how much to include in this paper, as there were a lot of resources that I looked at. The comments and meeting with my instructor were helpful as always. I learned, for example, that I must include a signal phrase before a quote, and I hope that in this draft I improved on this skill. In comparison to essay three, I tried to quote less too to have more space for my voice. I made a lot of changes from the first to the second, and final draft. I also appreciated that my instructor reviewed my second draft and not just the first one because her additional comments helped me make this paper better. Listening to interviews and documentaries, and doing additional research made me even more educated about this subject. While I thought that I already learned a lot about 90s rappers while doing the subculture essay, I realized when working on this essay that I had a lot more to learn. Hearing from the rappers directly about their upbringing was interesting and the part I liked most about this assignment. The process of doing this assignment helped me reach the goals of this course because it enhanced my “strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment.” I was also able to “practice using various library resources, online databases, and the internet to locate sources.” I would like to keep improving on these goals.