By Sam Clemons.
Before crime was simply a starting point for mainstream rappers and before murder, extortion, and drug selling was just a staple in everyone's first verse, there were "gangsta rappers". The creation of the gangsta rap sub-genre can be traced back to the late 1980's and early '90's, officially started in Philadelphia by Schooly D and then perfected on the West Coast by the likes of Ice T and NWA. Now, don’t get all your khaki’s in a bunch, but when I say perfected I don’t mean that west coast gangster rappers were necessarily the best. I would just say that they hijacked the label and kept it through the rest of the 90’s, like real gangsters do.
Due to classic tracks like “Colors” and “Six in the Morning” Ice T should be the greatest gangsta MC in history, if it weren’t for the Hollywood chapter still being written right now. It could be said that storming Hollywood is the most gangsta move Ice ever made, but I can’t agree. I personally love Ice T, with all my heart, but he plays a cop for God’s sake, on a show created by Dick Wolf. That’s just not gangsta.
Ice Cube, while definitely one of the greatest rappers ever (up to 1993 of course, before “Are We There Yet” and his other late career bullshit) was just too political, to introspective in his post-NWA career to be simply labeled a “gangsta rapper” (although the media definitely did just that).
Personally, when I think of growing up in the golden age of gangsta rap, the voice I hear most prominently in my memory is Easy E’s. Easy was the first to popularize the idea of turning one’s crack money into rap money and really didn’t have any interest in being a rapper himself. But, as the legend goes, when the Rutheless Record’s signed group H.B.O. didn’t show up for their recordong session Dr. Dre suggested that Easy spit the lyrics to “Boyz-N-The Hood” himself, which he did, birthing a classic. But Easy didn’t write the lyrics, Ice Cube did, and he didn’t really write any of the lyrics he would go on to record in his career before having his life cut short by AIDS. You have to write your own stuff to really be in consideration for the “greatest”.
Someone I would like to briefly mention is the underrated Boss who was the toughest and most classic lady gangster rapper. I still to this day quote her 1993 song “Receipe For A Hoe” whenever my buddy Jose does something hard headed: “You gotta let a hoe be a hoe!” (the hoe standing in for the shortened version of the name Jose).
Boss also did the stand-out track from the “Strapped” soundtrack titled “I Don’t Give a Fuck!” which drops the f word at least a hundred times within three minutes. Boss ran into trouble early in her career when rumors started swirling about the media that she grew up very ‘un’gangster: private school and upper middle class upbringing. Regardless, I salute her for outgangstering many of the men at the time with her lyrics and delivery during the most gangsta of rap eras.
Now, our number one. This is of course one man’s opinion but I would be surprised if someone can come up with a better rapper or storyteller with a classic gangster twist than Kool G Rap. Coming up in the “true” golden age of the late ‘80’s with the Juice Crew, G Rap could really rap about anything and keep your attention due to his lisp, voice, and multisyllabic delivery. But the man born Nathaniel Thomas Wilson chose to dedicate his gifts to the tragic world of the gangster, where he not only painted vivid illustrations of the everyday struggles of your average street corner hustler, he also brought us into the world of the New York mafiosos where he brought stories to life like a studio Scorsese.
The stand out album for me is “Live and Let Die”, controversial for it’s cover art (a photo of G Rap and DJ Polo executing two undercover DEA agents), and genius for it’s lyrical content. Films play out in your mind in vivid color as Kool G Rap takes on the mantel of the noir era anti-hero. The sex and violence are relentless, backed by the flawless production of Sir Jinx (who also happened to produce Ice Cube’s best albums from that era). Not only did G Rap have an incredible influence on a generation of top tiered rappers (Jay-Z, Nas, and Biggie all cited him as an inspiration) he continued the rich legacy of American crime writing that, through him, spilled into rap as the updated version of what had previously been found in the books of Elmore Leanard, Jim Thompson, and David Goodis.
To close I’ll leave you with the lyrics from the third verse of Kool G Rap’s gangsta classic “On The Run” which only gives you an idea of the song; it must be heard to really be expierenced:
“The next thing I know, it was daylight
And I been sleepin in this motherfucker all night
I started pullin on my hoe
C’mon man what? wake up bitch, we gotta go!
Pulled out the alley, then I dipped
Looked down and picked up the nine and put more rounds in the clip
You know I’m headin south no doubt
And I don’t give a fuck where, as long it’s a hideout
Finally we crossed the border, I pulled into a station
To fill up the tank, and get a drink of water
Pullin over to park my ride
That’s when I noticed this limousine comin up on my left side
Then the sucker started rammin me
Then I looked, it was the luciano family
Looked at my bitch she started cryin, my finger on the trigger
I pulled it -- bullets started flyin
Now I’m hittin all them bastards
I’m droppin em fast, splashin blood out niggaz asses
Then I’m finally done and
I took em all out, but I caught one in the stomach
Now I’m lookin for survivors
So I ran up on the side of the car, and hit the driver
And then I laid low
The only motherfucker left was don luciano
So I snuck up the sucker
Put my gun to his head, whassup now motherfucker?
He said, wait, I want to talk
*five gunshots* I put his brains on the sidewalk
Another life I had to waste
He fell on his back, and then I spit right in his guinea face
He saw the barrel of the devil’s gun
Now I’m no longer on the motherfuckin run.”
-Kool G Rap
-12/29/12
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