Gangsta Rap

Throughout the rise of Hip Hop, emerged different variations of rap. Gangsta rap became the most popular form of rap during its beginings. Some mistakenly consider all rap - gangsta rap. Whether it is or it isnt, it was distintively separated in the earliest days of Hip Hop. Gangsta rap which developed after the popularity of the relationship between rap and the street attitude and lifestyle.

Gangsta Rap has always been a subgenre of Hip Hop linked with huge controversy and criticism because of its promotion of drugs, sex and violence in urban city communities. Rappers argue that they are not promoting the lifestyle they live, they are only trying to bring light to it.; to make mainstream America aware of the reality of inner city life. However, controversy or not gangsta rap is what sells so it remains a mainstream music favorite.

"Pop-inflected gangsta rap continues to be successful into the 21st century, with many artists deftly straddling the divide between their hip hop audience and their pop audience, such as Ja Rule and Jay-Z. The influence of West Coast gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur on the East Coast rap scene has also become increasingly apparent in the new century."

(Click on title of entry for information on Tupac Shakur's death)