Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappers flaunt associations with real street gangs, like the Crips, Bloods, and Black Disciples. Gangsta rap's pioneers were Schoolly D of Philadelphia in 1985, Ice-T of Los Angeles in 1986, and especially N.W.A in 1988. In 1993, via record producer Dr. Dre, rapper Snoop Dogg and their G-funk sound, gangsta rap took the rap genre's lead and became mainstream, popular music.
Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Much of Shakur's music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of activism against inequality.
Lorenzo Jerald Patterson, better known by his stage name MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the record label Villain Entertainment.
2Pacalypse Now is the debut solo studio album by American rapper 2Pac, released on November 12, 1991, by Interscope Records and Jive Records. 2Pacalypse Now is Tupac's commentary on contemporary social issues facing American society, such as racism, police brutality, poverty, black on black crime, and teenage pregnancy. It featured three singles: "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped", and "If My Homie Calls".
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people's sense of justice. Social commentary can be practiced through all forms of communication, from printed form, to conversations to computerized communication.
Gregory Edward Jacobs, known professionally as Shock G and by his alter ego Humpty Hump, was an American rapper and musician who was best known as the lead vocalist of the hip hop group Digital Underground. He was responsible for Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance", 2Pac's breakthrough single "I Get Around", and co-producer of 2Pac's debut album 2Pacalypse Now.
"Hit 'Em Up" is a diss track by hip hop artist 2Pac, featuring the Outlawz. It is the B-side to the single "How Do U Want It", released on June 4, 1996. The song's lyrics contain vicious insults to several East Coast rappers, chiefly Shakur's former friend turned rival, the Notorious B.I.G.. The song was recorded at Can Am Studios in 1996. A previous version of the song was recorded in October 1995.
Don't Go 2 Sleep is a compilation EP by American rappers Makaveli and Daz Dillinger. It has eight tracks. There are two other (bootleg) versions of the EP, but the original has only eight tracks. It was released December 24, 2001, on D.P.G. Recordz. The tracks were recorded at Death Row Records between 1995–96 for Tupac's and Boot Camp Clik's project "One Nation". Later when Daz left Death Row, he stole an unknown amount of Tupac's unreleased masters, some of which can be heard on this EP. The only track left untouched by Daz is "They Don't Give a Fuck About Us", all other tracks were remixed and Daz also added himself onto tracks he originally didn't appear on, despite Dillinger marketing the EP as an original collaboration album.
Live Squad was an American hip hop group and production team from Hollis, Queens, New York consisting of brothers Stretch and Majesty and DJ K-Low, best known for their early collaborations with Tupac Shakur.
Body Count is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Body Count, released on March 31, 1992, by Sire Records. The album's material focuses on various social and political issues ranging from police brutality to drug abuse. It also presents a turning point in the career of Ice-T, who co-wrote the album's songs with lead guitarist Ernie C and performed as the band's lead singer. Previously known only as a rapper, Ice-T's work with the band helped establish a crossover audience with rock music fans. The album produced the single "There Goes the Neighborhood".
Mutah Wassin Shabazz Beale, better known as Napoleon, is an American former rapper of Tupac's rap group Outlawz. He has since converted to Islam and is now a motivational speaker.
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry was a feud between artists and fans of the East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States, especially from the mid-1990s. Focal points of the feud were East Coast–based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. with Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur with Suge Knight and their Los Angeles-based label, Death Row Records. The feud culminated in the murders of both rappers in drive-by shootings. Although several suspects have been identified, both murders remain unsolved.
Randy Walker, of the stage name Stretch, was an American rapper and record producer, working in Live Squad. In the early 1990s, he joined 2Pac's rap group Thug Life. The November 30, 1994, shooting of Shakur led to their split. On November 30, 1995, exactly one year after the shooting of Shakur, Stretch was shot and killed at the age of 27.
"Who Shot Ya" or often "Who Shot Ya?" is a song by Brooklyn, New York, rapper the Notorious B.I.G., also called Biggie Smalls, backed by Sean Combs as the "hype man". Puffy's emerging record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, released it on February 21, 1995, on an alternate reissue of Biggie's single "Big Poppa/Warning," out since December 5, 1994. While this 1994 release climbed the Billboard Hot 100, its new B side "Who Shot Ya"—now Biggie's "most infamous classic," with an instrumental now iconic—revised some vocals of a "Who Shot Ya" track, rapped by Biggie and Keith Murray, already issued on a mixtape from a Harlem DJ earlier in 1995. Recalled as "menacing magic" that helps "define New York rap," "Who Shot Ya" was "controversial and hugely influential." Widely interpreted as a taunt at 2Pac, the single provoked a "rap battle" between the two rappers, formerly friends.
Political hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that was developed in the 1980s as a way of turning hip hop into a call for political and/or social action and a form of social and/or political activism. Inspired by 1970s political artists such as The Last Poets and musician Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy was the first predominantly political hip-hop group. The genre has helped to create a new form of social expression for subordinate groups to speak about their exclusions, injustices and lack of power. Political hip-hop is the use of hip hop music to send political messages to inspire action or social change or to convince the listener of a particular worldview. There is no all-encompassing political hip-hop ideology; rather, there are multiple perspectives that range anywhere from anarchism to Marxism to the values of the Five-Percent Nation.
Yafeu Akiyele Fula, better known by his stage name Yaki Kadafi, was an American rapper and a founder and member of the hip hop groups Outlawz and Dramacydal.
Charles Alan Philips is an American writer and journalist. He is best known for his investigative reporting in the Los Angeles Times on the culture, corruption, and crime in the music industry during the 1990s and 2000s, which garnered both awards and controversy. In 1999, Philips won a Pulitzer Prize, with Michael A. Hiltzik, for their co-authored series exposing corruption in the entertainment industry.
"HiiiPower" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, released on April 12, 2011, as his debut single. The conscious hip hop song also serves as the lead single from his independently released debut album, Section.80 (2011). The song was produced by fellow American rapper J. Cole and features additional vocals from late American singer Alori Joh.
"I'm Not Racist" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Joyner Lucas, released on November 28, 2017, by Atlantic Records. It features a heated discussion about race and society from the perspective of a white man and a black man. Lucas has said that the song's lyrics represent the uncomfortable race talk that people shy away from.
Hip hop music, developed in the South Bronx in the early 1970s, has long been tied to social injustice in the United States, particularly that of the African American experience. Hip hop artists have spoken out in their lyrics against perceived social injustices such as police brutality, poverty, mass incarceration, and the war on drugs. The relationship between hip hop music and social injustice can be seen most clearly in two subgenres of hip hop, gangsta rap and conscious rap.
