Gangsta rap or gangster rap is a style of hip hop characterized by themes and lyrics that generally emphasize the "gangsta" lifestyle. The genre evolved from hardcore rap into a distinct form, pioneered in the mid-1980s by rappers such as Ice-T, and popularized in the later part of the 1980s by groups like N.W.A. After the national attention that Ice-T and N.W.A attracted in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip hop. Many gangsta rap artists openly boast of their associations with various active street gangs as part of their artistic image, with the Crips and Bloods being the most commonly represented. Gangsta rap parallels other indigenous gang and crime-oriented forms of music, such as the narcocorrido genre of northern Mexico.
Mainstream hardcore, mainstyle or newstyle hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore techno. The essence of mainstream hardcore sound is a distorted bass drum sound, overdriven to the point where it becomes clipped into a distorted square wave and makes a recognizably melodic tone.
Hardcore hip hop is a genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Run—D.M.C., Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, it is generally characterized by anger, aggression, and confrontation.
Alec Empire is a German experimental electronic musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot, as well as a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ. He has released many albums, EPs and singles, some under aliases, and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk. He was also the driving force behind the creation of the digital hardcore genre, and founded the record labels Digital Hardcore Recordings and Eat Your Heart Out.
Digital Hardcore Recordings (DHR) is a record label set up in 1994 by Alec Empire, Joel Amaretto and Pete Lawton. Most of the music is recorded in Berlin, though the label is based in London where the records are mastered and manufactured. The funds for setting up the label came from the payment which Atari Teenage Riot received for their aborted record deal with the major UK record label Phonogram Records.
Hardcore is a subgenre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands from the emergent raves/gabber in the 1990s. Its subgenres are usually distinguished from other electronic dance music genres by faster tempos, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music.
"Gangsta's Paradise" is a song by American rapper Coolio, featuring singer L.V. The song was released on Coolio's album of the same name, as well as the soundtrack for the 1995 film Dangerous Minds. It samples the chorus and instrumentation of Stevie Wonder's 1976 song "Pastime Paradise".
Jerome Young is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by his stage name New Jack. He is best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he became notorious for his willingness to take dangerous bumps and his stiff hardcore wrestling style, often taking high risks and "shooting" on opponents. He is also known for having his theme song play throughout his matches in ECW.
The Gangstas was a professional wrestling tag team and stable, consisting of New Jack and Mustafa Saed in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The group originally started as a three-man group with D'Lo Brown in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), before evolving into a four-man group with Killer Kyle.
Jamal Mustafa is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Mustafa Saed. He is best known for his appearances with Smokey Mountain Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the 1990s.
Webster Gradney, Jr. who performs under the mononym Webbie, is an American rapper, songwriter and actor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He's been signed to the independent Trill Entertainment label since 2003. In 2005 he came into the hip hop scene with "Gimme That" featuring Bun B. His songs "Bad Bitch" and "Swerve" were featured on Gangsta Musik, his 2003 group album with Lil Boosie, and in the 2005 movie Hustle & Flow. Webbie's second album, Savage Life 2, was released in early 2008 with the hit single "Independent" featuring Lil Boosie and Lil Phat.
Patrick van Kerckhoven (born 1970, alias DJ Ruffneck, is a darkcore or gabber DJ and producer, originating from Alblasserdam, Netherlands. An active DJ since 1985, Kerckhoven has also been involved with various record labels. In 1989, he and Jayant Edoo formed 80 Aum Records. When that closed in 1991, he went on to form Ruffneck Records and its imprints Ruffex and Ruff Intelligenze.
Deadly Verses is the 1995 album by Memphis gangsta rapper, Gangsta Pat. In this album, Pat's style has dramatically changed into a quick pace, hardcore flow. But, like most of Pat's albums, he couldn't translate the support into national sales. Pat, would again, move on to another label after the release of his next album.
Lewayne Williams, is a rapper from South Park, Houston, Texas and a member of the South Park Coalition, which he cofounded in 1987 with Houston rapper K-Rino. In 1992 he released his debut album South Park Psycho. This record also help put the South Park Coalition name on the map due to world wide distribution from Rap-a-Lot. He also wrote the Geto Boys hit "Chuckie". NIP stands for "Nation of Islam is Powerful" he is also a part of The Nation of Islam. Williams is also looked at as one of the creators of the horrorcore rap genre.
Alternative hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses the wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as follows: "Alternative rap refers to hip hop groups that refuse to conform to any of the traditional stereotypes of rap, such as gangsta, bass, hardcore, pop, and party rap. Instead, they blur genres drawing equally from funk and pop/rock, as well as jazz, soul, reggae, and even folk."
Beverly Hills Cop III is the soundtrack to the 1994 film of the same name. It was released on May 10, 1994 by MCA Records and consisted mostly of R&B music with some rock and hip hop. Like the film, the soundtrack was not well received and only made it to 158 on the Billboard 200 and 66 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Three singles found minor success on the charts, "The Right Kinda Lover" by Patti LaBelle, "Luv 4 Dem Gangsta'z" by Eazy-E, and "The Place Where You Belong" by Shai. The song "Mood" which is performed by Chanté Moore also appears on her second album A Love Supreme. Nile Rodgers also covered Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F" in a breakbeat hardcore version.
Chastity Daniels, known professionally as La Chat, is an American rapper from Memphis, Tennessee. She is best known for her period as an artist on the Hypnotize Minds roster, and made regular guest appearances on many releases by other associated acts such as Three 6 Mafia and Gangsta Boo while she was with the label. La Chat is one of the relatively few female rappers whose lyrical content has consistently revolved around hardcore gangsta rap themes.
The Outside Agency is a Dutch hardcore techno duo composed of DJ/producers Noël Wessels and Frank Nitzinsky. The pair operate out of two studios based in Goes, Netherlands. They also run two record labels: Genosha Recordings and its sister label Genosha One Seven Five.
