Gangsta Rap

George ^[1] discusses the connection between the drug culture of the inner city areas and the hip hop music that it spawned, identifying how the civil rights movement of the sixties had enabled black Americans (both working and middle class) to be able to choose where to live. This led to an exodus from the gang and crime ridden areas of the inner cities. The withdrawal of affluent people only assisted in the further degradation and increasing drug-related crime in these areas.

With the end of the Vietnam war black GIs returned home, some as heroin addicts and some with large amounts of heroin to sell ^[2].This heroin explosion was associated with a new, more vicious type of black gangster who competed against existing organised crime syndicates for territory. By the 1970s large African-American drug cartels supplying both heroin and cocaine had sprung up all over North America. The availability of cocaine in the 1970s and later the highly addictive 'crack' in the 1980s, led to a drug explosion in the inner city ghetto areas. In the 1980s a decline in the use of heroin saw other narcotic drugs taking its place. Angel Dust or PCP, a hallucinogenic drug that can cause the user to suffer severe psychological trauma (resulting in an uncontrollable violent reaction) became popular as a creative stimulant within hip hop culture. By 1992 it was estimated that as many as 150,000 people were employed in the drug industry in New York city:

Gangsta rap (or reality rap or whatever descriptive phrase you like) is a direct by-product of the crack explosion. Unless you grasp that connection nothing else that happened in hip hop's journey to national scapegoat will make sense. This is not a chicken or the the egg riddle first came crack rocks, then gangsta rap^[3] .

Eazy-E (b.Eric Wright) founded Ruthless Records allegedly using money he had made from illegal drug deals. He attempted to build a rap empire by building a roster of successful rap artists, and enlisted Dr. Dre (b. Andre Young) and Ice cube (b. Oshea Jackson) to write lyrics for 'HBO' ^[4]. The group rejected Cube and Dre's 'Boyz-n-the-Hood', which promoted Eazy-E to record the song himself. Under his direction the three started working together as 'Niggaz With Attitude' (NWA). NWA and the Posse was the band's debut release, but since they only performed on four of the tracks, their second album Straight Outta Compton can be viewed as their first major release ^[5].

NWA capitalised on Public Enemy's earlier success, but ignored Public Enemy's message of revolutionary change on racial and social issues and instead celebrated the violence and hedonism of criminal life, capturing it all with blunt, profane language. Songs such as the 1989 'Fuck tha Police' from the Straight Outta Compton album, led to a threatening letter from the FBI to the group's distributor, Priority Records. This set a precedent for numerous legal actions against the band. In 1990 Ice cube and NWA manger Jerry Heller had a dispute over royalty payments which was eventually resolved in an out of court settlement, but led to the departure of Ice Cube from the band.

With the departure of Ice cube who, according to Larkin is 'arguably the most inspiring of the rapping crew', the band fell out of critical favour. In June 1991 the group made history again, even in the face of strong criticism from politicians and bannings from some retail chains, Efil4zaggin (Niggaz 4 Life backward) reached #1 on the pop charts. The recording went further than Straight Outta Compton album by addressing the issues of gang rape and pedophilia The lyrics, described as 'ridiculously violent and misogynist' ^[6], provoked outrage from conservative watchdogs, but only served to increase the group's popularity with its predominately white suburban male audience.

In early 1992 Dre left the group over financial disputes to form Death Row Records. With the release of his solo album 'The Chronic he established the sound of hip hop and gangsta rap (which was now established as the most popular form of 1990s hip hop) and made himself the 'premier hip-hop producer of the mid-1990s ^[7] .

After leaving NWA Cube moved to New York and formed 'Da lench Mob'. Working with Public Enemy's production team (the 'bomb squad) he released his debut solo album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. in 1990. Although the album was an instant success (reaching gold record status within two weeks of its release) the lyric content was dubbed to be too 'violent, homophobic and misogynist' by community watchdogs and the rock press ^[8]. Even amid such controversy, the production and Cube's rapping skills were praised, with the album hailed as a 'groundbreaking classic' within hip-hop and establishing Cube as an individual force in the genre.

Ice Cube Released Death Certificate in 1991 - an album which was more political and vulgar than its predecessor. 'No Vaseline' (a vicious attack on Jerry Heller, NWA's manager) was perceived as anti-Semitic and the song 'Black Korea' interpreted as taken as a racist invitation to attack all Korean-Americans ^[9]. The album provoked public condemnation from the trade publication Billboard- the first time an artist had been singled-out by the magazine for such a reprimand. Although the album received a large amount of bad press it still reached #2 in the pop charts. Cube's following album, Predator (1992) became the first album to debut at #1 on both the R&B and the pop music charts.

In the late 1990s Ice Cube concentrated on his acting career - with roles in several Hollywood hardcore street films. His acting exposure, combined with his work as a producer for a variety of rap performers, made him one of hip hop's most prominent 1990s gangsta icons.

Ice T (born Tracy Marrow, 1958) is described by Larkin ^[10] as one of the most outspoken rappers on the west coast of America. He was born in Newark but after both his parents were killed in a car crash was raised in the crime-stricken Los Angeles district of South Central. While attending Crenshaw High School in South Central Los Angeles, he became increasingly interested in Iceberg Slim, a pimp, novelist and poet. His fascination with Iceberg Slim's poetry led him to adopt the pseudonym Ice T.

Ice T. released several recordings (including 'The Coldest Rapper', 'Reckless' and 'Killers') making him the first west coast hip hop recording artist. Held under contract for several years, his recording career stalled and he was forced to rely on crime and roles in several low budget films about the hip hop scene (including Rappin', Breakin', and Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo) to survive.

He finally signed to a major record label in 1987 and released Rhyme Pays which was made with the help of his production team of DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam, and considered to be 'mainly a party-oriented recording' ^[11]. The record reached gold record status and paved the way for his lyrically-stronger second album Power which earned him strong reviews and a second gold record.

In 1989 Ice T released his first book The Iceberg / Freedom of Speech ... Just Watch What You Say, a strong, politically-charged book which made special mention of the censorship that surrounds hip hop. Diversifying into acting, he starred in the 1991 blaxploitation film New Jack City, recording 'New Jack Hustler' for the film's soundtrack. The song also appeared on his 1991 release O.G.: Original Gangster, which has been his most successful release to date. The album also contained a track by his newly-formed heavy metal band Bodycount.

The following year Body Count released their self titled album. This would prove to be a major turning point in Ice-T's career. The song Cop Killer ignited a national controversy after the LA riots, 'provoking 60 congressmen to sign a letter of protest pronouncing the song 'vile and despicable'' ^[12]. Time-Warner Records (Ice T's Record company) initially supported him, but eventually released him from his contract and refused to release his new rap record Home Invasion (using concerns over artwork for the album cover as an excuse).

Outraged, Ice-T became an increasingly visible public figure, speaking against censorship in the media and on college campuses and penning a book about his ordeal^[13].

Ice T has continued with his acting career, appearing in several movies and television shows. In 1993 he was finally able to release Home Invasion followed a year later by the second Body Count album, but neither have generated the attention that his earlier recordings received.