Modern Gangsta Rap, what you know about that?

MangomanMangoman 549 Posts
edited June 2005 in Music Talk
Gangsta rap nowadays aint as dope as the Moderen Gangsta's of yester year:
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  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts












    you crazy man

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    i picked up a promo of the federation album the other week and i gotta say that listening to a clean version of it is kinda shitty

  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    you know this weekend i was having a similar conversation with my cousin (14). he asserted that the reason he liked 50 cent was because of how "gangsta" he was. i was like shit man go listen to some geto boys. now i appreciate what 50 did and i do think that I>GRODT/I> was a great gangsta rap record for this era, but it's just not the same. if i put on a 50 cent record would it offend my mom? probably not, or at least not to the extent bushwick, eazy or even pac (who i'd argue was probably the last of the classically great gangsta rappers) would. and what's a good gangsta rap record if my mom likes it?

    i think that has less to do with the general content (violence/drugs/misogony) than it does an across the boards dulling of the specific phrasing/imagery. "chop your head into 88 pieces" has far greater impact than just "spray your crib". the best hardcore rap writing creates an image of the dirt that's being done, it doesn't just involve announcing what's being done. in short, gangsta rap has gotten lazy and consciously (or perhaps unconsciously) restrained.

    really the only I>great/I> top to bottom lp of gangsta shit released in like the last ten years is I>the fix/I> (anybody got another example, i'd say that I>get rich/I> was really good, but not quite on thae level) and that's because face is a fuckin vet. he knows how to make graphic and emotional rap the right way.and even that was done with a certain restraint - face of '03 is a very different rapper from the face of ten years prior.

    there's also that whole duality where many of the classic acts (nwa, gbs) were more politically charged than most so-called political acts of today (kweli won't ever make anything as scathing and powerful as "fuck the police" or "fuck the war")

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    there's also that whole duality where many of the classic acts (nwa, gbs) were more politically charged than most so-called political acts of today (kweli won't ever make anything as scathing and powerful as "fuck the police" or "fuck the war")

    Which probably explains why the shit I was feeling the most in the last 3 years was Dead Prez, both "Let's Get Free" and "Turn Off the Radio."

    That shit is and talks about some realness, not just who's got the bigger balls.


  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    Which probably explains why the shit I was feeling the most in the last 3 years was Dead Prez, both "Let's Get Free" and "Turn Off the Radio."



    crutons on the futon

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    Which probably explains why the shit I was feeling the most in the last 3 years was Dead Prez, both "Let's Get Free" and "Turn Off the Radio."



    crutons on the futon


    sorry, nothing against them but...

    dead prez = not gangster rap

    mind sex does not offend noz's mom in the slightest.


  • Big_ChanBig_Chan 5,088 Posts



    sorry, nothing against them but...

    dead prez = not gangster rap

    mind sex does not offend noz's mom in the slightest.


    Word. These guys are on some political uplift the people type steeze right?

  • edpowersedpowers 4,437 Posts
    Gangsta rap nowadays aint as dope as the Moderen Gangsta's of yester year:

    you must be looking in the wrong places ...plenty heat out there

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    umm...I don't know what Crutons on the futons means, but I didn't say they were gangsta rap, I was replying to what Noz said:

    there's also that whole duality where many of the classic acts (nwa, gbs) were more politically charged than most so-called political acts of today (kweli won't ever make anything as scathing and powerful as "fuck the police" or "fuck the war")

    and saying that because it was the politically charged aspects of NWA and GB's that I appreciated, I therefore get more out of DP and their political stance (and "uplift the people type steez" makes them sound way less hardcore than they are, their politics are more militant than righteous, their approach is more NWA than Talib Kweli) than the modern Gangsta acts who only talk about gangbangin'. I don't see why this earns a litany of

    So, is Dead Prez not like "Soul Strut Approved" or something? I'm pretty surprised if headz on here didn't dig that shit when it was new, I thought it was pretty fuckin' rugged.

  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    umm...I don't know what Crutons on the futons means,

    http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/deadprez/get_free/mind_sex.prz.txt

    Pardon me love but you seem like my type
    What you doin tonight? you should stop by the site
    We could, roll some weed play some records and talk
    I got a fly spot downtown Brooklyn, New York
    Now I know you think I wanna fuck, no doubt
    but tonight we'll try a different route, how bout we start
    B>With a salad, a fresh bed of lettuce with croutons
    Later we can play a game of chess on the futon/B>


    probably the corniest two bars i've ever heard in the history of rap city.

    that's cool you like thier shit (well not really, but whatever) but let's stick to the script





  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    that's cool you like thier shit (well not really, but whatever)

    Whatever is right. Sorry I had the audacity to reply to your post, man.
    Oh yeah, Ice T ain't never had corny lyrics either, right?
    This place is a trip.

  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    that's cool you like thier shit (well not really, but whatever)

    Whatever is right. Sorry I had the audacity to reply to your post, man.
    Oh yeah, Ice T ain't never had corny lyrics either, right?
    This place is a trip.

    i'm not trying to beef, i'm just saying that dead prez are so far removed from what we are talking about that i was surprised to see them mentioned.

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    that's cool you like thier shit (well not really, but whatever)

    Whatever is right. Sorry I had the audacity to reply to your post, man.
    Oh yeah, Ice T ain't never had corny lyrics either, right?
    This place is a trip.

    Dead Prez playing to a room full of white people = revolutionary?

    Then tying on rags for "Righteous *BUT* Gangsta"*

    Shit is terrible god












    *What the fuck is that??? I'm righteous, but wait. I gotta do a drive by. Hold on. Let me pour a libation to the ancestors. I'm bout to ride on these slobs with the fury of Chango!!! I only buy fair trade hennessy, I buy AKs from the Taliban, but I had to stop wearing Chucks cause they were exploiting children in southeast asian sweatshops. I'm a gangsta, but I'm keeping it righteous, too.

  • ArchaicArchaic 633 Posts


    *What the fuck is that??? I'm righteous, but wait. I gotta do a drive by. Hold on. Let me pour a libation to the ancestors. I'm bout to ride on these slobs with the fury of Chango!!! I only buy fair trade hennessy, I buy AKs from the Taliban, but I had to stop wearing Chucks cause they were exploiting children in southeast asian sweatshops. I'm a gangsta, but I'm keeping it righteous, too.

    That is humanity though, full of contradictions that aren't supposed to fit into some perfect order. It's what makes Dead Prez worthy, that their music comes from raw enthusiasm, where ever it may go.

  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    That is humanity though, full of contradictions that aren't supposed to fit into some perfect order. It's what makes Dead Prez worthy, that their music comes from raw enthusiasm, where ever it may go.

    i think what paychecks is hinting at is not a simple as contradictions. it's the fact that their approach is so self defeating while at the same time so self glorifying as being a politically superior one.

    the most obvious example (and i know i've cited this here before) is that song with jay-z where they advocate robbing a pizza boy. i can understand the natural need to "get paid" that would be the driving force behind this action. but if they've actually given more than a cursory glance at the leaders that they so often name drop they would approach this differently. that pizza boy is on their side of the struggle. and i'm not saying that so called revolutionaries never did dirt like that. but mao, the panthers, et al. understood the importance of the message. the ramifications of every word, every image were delicately considered. and a message like "rob a pizza boy" is absolutely counter revolutionary.

  • ArchaicArchaic 633 Posts
    That is humanity though, full of contradictions that aren't supposed to fit into some perfect order. It's what makes Dead Prez worthy, that their music comes from raw enthusiasm, where ever it may go.

    i think what paychecks is hinting at is not a simple as contradictions. it's the fact that their approach is so self defeating while at the same time so self glorifying as being a politically superior one.

    the most obvious example (and i know i've cited this here before) is that song with jay-z where they advocate robbing a pizza boy. i can understand the natural need to "get paid" that would be the driving force behind this action. but if they've actually given more than a cursory glance at the leaders that they so often name drop they would approach this differently. that pizza boy is on their side of the struggle. and i'm not saying that so called revolutionaries never did dirt like that. but mao, the panthers, et al. understood the importance of the message. the ramifications of every word, every image were delicately considered. and a message like "rob a pizza boy" is absolutely counter revolutionary.

    "Rob a pizza boy" is reality though. I'd rather have that in its honesty than a perfectly consistent zeitgeist front.

  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    The reality is they aren't robbing anybody... except perhaps record buyers

  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    "Rob a pizza boy" is reality though. I'd rather have that in its honesty than a perfectly consistent zeitgeist front.

    but reality is counterintuitive to revolutionary ideology. you CANNOT be revolutionary and gangsta. something's got to give.

  • ArchaicArchaic 633 Posts

    you CANNOT be revolutionary and gangsta.

    Tell that to Angela Davis, Yomo Kenyatta, Ernesto Guevera, Toussaint L'ouveture, etc.



  • HAZHAZ 3,376 Posts
    That is humanity though, full of contradictions that aren't supposed to fit into some perfect order. It's what makes Dead Prez worthy, that their music comes from raw enthusiasm, where ever it may go.

    i think what paychecks is hinting at is not a simple as contradictions. it's the fact that their approach is so self defeating while at the same time so self glorifying as being a politically superior one.

    the most obvious example (and i know i've cited this here before) is that song with jay-z where they advocate robbing a pizza boy. i can understand the natural need to "get paid" that would be the driving force behind this action. but if they've actually given more than a cursory glance at the leaders that they so often name drop they would approach this differently. that pizza boy is on their side of the struggle. and i'm not saying that so called revolutionaries never did dirt like that. but mao, the panthers, et al. understood the importance of the message. the ramifications of every word, every image were delicately considered. and a message like "rob a pizza boy" is absolutely counter revolutionary.



    Somebody give these Folls a copy of Lenin for beginners.

    Workers of the world unite!!!

    h

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    No what I was hinting at was that their approach is calculated and corny. I guess they're the type of group that, if you want to believe them, you will.

    But for a bunch of revolutionaries they sure did shackle themselves on their last album... get away from sony, take meetings with every label under the sun, and then run back to sony when nobody would play on their ridiculous terms. Dudes had no grasp of how to "Control their destiny", word to BFAP!




    I just copped Black Mafia Life and Livin' Like Hustlers LPs within a weak of each other! SHIT YEAH!!!

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts

    you CANNOT be revolutionary and gangsta.

    Tell that to Angela Davis, Yomo Kenyatta, Ernesto Guevera, Toussaint L'ouveture, etc.



    And... Dead Prez? That's heavy company for a couple rappers who complain about getting pushed by female cops.

  • HAZHAZ 3,376 Posts

    you CANNOT be revolutionary and a stupid thug.



  • noznoz 3,625 Posts

    you CANNOT be revolutionary and gangsta.

    Tell that to Angela Davis, Yomo Kenyatta, Ernesto Guevera, Toussaint L'ouveture, etc.

    allow me to clarify - i'm talking modern standards of what is considered "gangsta" in the hip hop community, which is the territory that dead prez aims for with their "RBG" ethos. i'm talking rocking jewels, pushing drugs, black on black crime. parttaking in these things (or at least doing so on record) is counterrevolutionary.

  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    No what I was hinting at was that their approach is calculated and corny

    i can't argue with that either...

    I just copped Black Mafia Life and Livin' Like Hustlers LPs within a weak of each other! SHIT YEAH!!!

    nice!

  • ArchaicArchaic 633 Posts

    you CANNOT be revolutionary and gangsta.

    Tell that to Angela Davis, Yomo Kenyatta, Ernesto Guevera, Toussaint L'ouveture, etc.

    allow me to clarify - i'm talking modern standards of what is considered "gangsta" in the hip hop community, which is the territory that dead prez aims for with their "RBG" ethos. i'm talking rocking jewels, pushing drugs, black on black crime. parttaking in these things (or at least doing so on record) is counterrevolutionary.

    That's hogwash. Revolutionary means taking all rules, even yours, and dismissing them with the quickness. Whatever it takes, by any means necessary, guerilla warfare, etc.

    A revolution is about the ends not the means.



  • emyndemynd 830 Posts
    Just throwing this out there but, I've noticed that something that goes fairly unmentioned when talking about the efficacy of modern gangsta rap versus old gangsta rap is the production. I guess I'm wondering if we can say something about the change(s) in production and/or form over the years that has changed how we look at rap music. Is gangsta rap simply content driven or is there something we can say about its form that determines its effect too? Is there something musically about 50 cent that makes our moms and pops less likely to have a negative reaction to it than someone like NWA?

    It is my contention that a lot of the controversy around groups like NWA and Public Enemy (obviously not "gangsta rap" in the traditional sense) had a lot more to do with the abrasive, often-discordant, in-your-face production than people really give credit to.

    -e

  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    That's hogwash. Revolutionary means taking all rules, even yours, and dismissing them with the quickness. Whatever it takes, by any means necessary, guerilla warfare, etc.

    revolutionary action and revolutionary propaganda are two very different things. making records would fall on the propaganda end of the spectrum. and the message that dead prez presents on their records works against their cause. and thus, counterrevolutionary.

    A revolution is about the ends not the means.

    and exactly how does robbing the pizza boy equate to a means to an end of this revolutionary movement that exists in the minds of dead prez?

  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts

    you CANNOT be revolutionary and gangsta.

    Tell that to Angela Davis, Yomo Kenyatta, Ernesto Guevera, Toussaint L'ouveture, etc.

    allow me to clarify - i'm talking modern standards of what is considered "gangsta" in the hip hop community, which is the territory that dead prez aims for with their "RBG" ethos. i'm talking rocking jewels, pushing drugs, black on black crime. parttaking in these things (or at least doing so on record) is counterrevolutionary.

    That's hogwash. Revolutionary means taking all rules, even yours, and dismissing them with the quickness. Whatever it takes, by any means necessary, guerilla warfare, etc.

    A revolution is about the ends not the means.



    And guess what? Dead Prez STILL isn't gangster rap....back to the topic


    DJ Quik is STILL one of the great classic gangster rappers and he's got an album comin out in a month or so. YES!

    and Young MayLay?....maaaaan ya'll aint ready.

  • ArchaicArchaic 633 Posts


    revolutionary action and revolutionary propaganda are two very different things. making records would fall on the propaganda end of the spectrum. and the message that dead prez presents on their records works against their cause. and thus, counterrevolutionary.

    Your conception of revolution seems very square and textbook-derived to me. In fact it almost seems Communist in that you appear to be saying that MC's are only "revolutionary" when they are using their music within a strict parameter of utilitarian perfection. That's inhumane as far as I'm concerned.



    and exactly how does robbing the pizza boy equate to a means to an end of this revolutionary movement that exists in the minds of dead prez?

    That money could be doing all sorts of more productive things than lining the pockets of Domino's executives. A redistribution of income, yep.
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