Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that portrays urban crime and violence. It has a large audience who relates to its lyrics about gang life, though they may not want to act them out. The genre helps white audiences feel like they can indirectly express racist attitudes. It uses provocative language and images of money, weapons, drugs, and violence to portray power and influence audiences. While some lyrics promote discrimination, the genre has significantly shaped popular culture through its materialism and messages that many people can connect with in their own lives.

1. By: Christina Hebert

2.  When one thinks ‘hip-hop’ they
tend to think of subgenres of hiphop, like; gangsta rap and
knowledge rap. We think of their
specific clothing style and their
presence. (Does the artist
represent inner city street’s, or do
they speak to more of a delegated
‘event setting’ kind of crowd?)
 Some may feel this is a way of
‘stereo-typing’ however, this
chapter does a great job of
explaining evidence based
knowledge. And how media and
history speak loudly.

3.  Hip-hop has become such a phenomenon because of
separate subgenres. All of these subgenres tend to
large audiences, especially the gangsta rap audience.
 The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gangsta rap
as; “Rap music with lyrics explicitly portraying the
violence and drug use of urban gang life and typically
expressing hostility towards whites, women and civil
authority”.

4.  The audience that gangsta rap tends to is very large.
They feel as if they can relate to the lyrics of gangsta
rap.
 This does not mean the audience wants to act out or do
EXACTLY what the lyrics are portraying. This is simply
the insinuation of the lyrics and how they can RELATE
to others.
 “F*** that N**** that you came here with”-Drake (huge
gangsta rap artist currently)

5. The audience often relies on the artist to indirectly
express a certain conclusion.
-Think about lyrics to a hip-hop song most often the
lyrics will bring images to your head (most of the time
very graphic or R rated).
“Hip-hop in general is a heavily visual genre, given its
presence in music videos, movies, fashion and our
everyday personal experience in public.” (Brummett, pg.
237)

6.  The reader applied to this chapter refers to ‘us’ or ‘we’
as white folks or those whom are not African
American.
 The reader say’s that gangsta rap is ‘permissible’
expressions. That it is everything we all know we
should not do or say.
 “Gangsta is the ‘permissible’ expression, verbally and
visually, of the kind of appalling racist attitudes that
we have all heard but know we cannot and should not
express. . .” (Brummett, pg. 238).

7. “ Gangsta invites
us to think that
whatever it says
and shows, it is
a bout African
Americans. The
audience need
not go out of its
way at all to
read the whole
genre as being
about African
American
culture, because
it presents
plenty of verbal
and visual signs
that say so.”
(Brummett, pg.
238)
Two of the most influential African American celebrities
Jay-Z and Beyonce

8. Vanilla Ice

9.  White folks- Our textbook says, “gangsta works in
racist ways, I think, because it helps its audience along
to replicate in their heads a number of racist
stereotypes, especially about African American
people.” (Brummell, pg. 238).
 Understand the concern is mostly for the white folks or
any other colors who have been influenced or have
similar desire to indirectly express their racist attitudes
through the gangsta rap life and lyrics.

10.  The ‘N’ word is a term used extremely often in gangsta
music and among African Americans themselves.
 The term, ‘nigga’ is mostly used in gangsta music.
Most African Americans say that it does not mean the
same as the historic use of the word ‘nigger’.
 This word is only socially acceptable among African
American’s. This is a great example of how this genre
of music was built by one group of people.

11.  In some cases groups take a term generally viewed as
derogatory and defuse it. For example, Those who
prefer the same sex relationships started proudly
referring to themselves as ‘queer’, this helps defuse a
word that has negative connotations and derogatory
meaning. –Queer Theory.
 To some degree this takes place among those who use
the ‘N’ word term freely.

12. Gangsta’s explicity explains itself through a rhetoric of the real. (Brummett,240)

13. Snoop Dogg
Jay-Z

14. 50
Cent

15.  These images of gangsta rap have their own messages
deep in the image. These artist want to be feared; their
money, visible weapons, drug use and violence in the
images give them power. And us as an audience also
gives them them power by finding relevance in their
music, lyrics and messages.
 If looked at through the Marxist perspective he would
say that the materialistic lifestyle of gangsta rap is a
key component that is defining our culture.

16. ‘Next time I stand tall I want
to be standing for you
And next time I spend I want
it all to be for you oh oh
Peaking, I'm peaking, wake
up with me this weekend,
weekend no oh
Guess whose it is?
Guess whose it is? Guess
whose it is?
It's yours’
-Drake (2013)
‘So yeah dad let's walk
Let's have us a father and son
talk
But I bet we probably
wouldn't get one block
Without me knocking your
block off
This is all your fault.’
-Eminem (2013)

17.  Even with the intent of violence and discrimination to
some level in these lyrics, there are still connections
the audience will make to their everyday lives.

18.  Just as many other types of text, the text of gangsta rap
has had a huge influence on its audience and anyone
else who has researched the topic.
 As a female in 2013 I can say that I am not offended by
the discrimination towards women, civil authority,
racism or the violence portrayed in gangsta rap. I think
this is because I am not sensitive towards the subject
like many others are.

19.  Image of Jay-z and Beyonce- "Google.” Jay-z. N.p., 2013. Web. 06
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Dec. 2013.
Image of gangsta rap, 1.st slide- "Google.” gangsta rap artist. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Image of Snoop Dogg- "Google.” snoop dogg. N.p., n.d. Web. 06
Dec. 2013.
Image of 50 Cent- "Google.” 50 cent. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Image of Tupac- "Google.” Tupac. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Brummett, Barry. Rhetoric in Popular Culture. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications, 2006. Print.
"Gangsta Rap." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web.
09 Dec. 2013.