GANGSTA RAP: EMERGENCE AND

CULTURE

What Rap Was

Not lyrical technique, rather good times

Will Smith, LL Cool J, Tribe Called Quest

Always urban, never violent

Emergence of Gangsta

Late 80’s, early 90s

Ice T, Beastie Boys, NWA,

Violence, profanities, sex, drugs Gangsta

FBI involvement NWA, Fab Five

Gangsta Rap Culture

A way of life Dress, language, ideas

Affected everyone, not just gangstas

Lyrics became real life actions

Trust me, I’m a Dr.

Born Andre Young

NWA (Eazy-E, Ice-Cube, Mc Ren, DJ Yella)

Producer Aftermath Entertainment

Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Eminem, Nas

RIVALRY

the action, position, or relation of a rival or rivals; competition

Sports

Yankees vs. Red Sox

Duke vs. North Carolina

Ali vs. Frazier

Federer vs. Nadal

Music is no different

Some slight differences…

No such thing as a playing field or court

Always game time

Career: Make or break

Improves quality of music

Drawbacks outweigh benefits

East vs. West (1991-1996)

Producers: Suge Knight and Sean “Diddy” Combs

Legends: Tupac and Biggie

Present Greats: Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z

Where do I stand?

Right in the middle…

Stay out of the hostilities, nonsense

Black on black crime

Keep it real, positive, and fresh

Don’t discriminate

East Coast West Coast Killaz

“Cacaphony of small talent rappers, claimin a coastover instrumentals, ain't got no real street credentials”- KRS-One

“While childish MC's battle over coastal fronts I come with no fronts and smash in monkey fronts” - RBX

Suge Knight

Born Marion Knight Jr Co-founder of Death Row Records (1991) Hometown: Compton, California Members of Death Row:

Tupac Shakur Dr. Dre Snoop Dogg

Producer, not a rapper

Death Row Diss

Where each side stands

West Coast• Changed the sound of hip-hop• Made music more universal• Once N.W.A. came on the scene, LA became new hot spot for West Coast rappers

East Coast• Credited with starting the music revolution that was hip hop• Hip-Hop started in the streets of NY• First record companies and rappers came to East Coast to perform

Diddy

Born as Sean Combs New York

Originally started at Uptown Records Started his own company- Bad Boy Records Signed the likes of

Notorious B.I.G. Craig Mack Faith Evans

Rapper Known as Diddy, Puffy, Puff Daddy

Didn’t Want This

Never wanted to feud His rappers = “Be above it” Saw it all coming, but still had to produce

music Since has collaborated with all artists

Death Row Diss (1:05) RIP Biggie

2Pac

Born Lesane Parish Crooks Born in East Harlem NY Grew up in Marin City California Started rapping (officially) in 1988 Signed with Death Row Records Shot in November of 1994 – accused Notorius

B.I.G. and Sean “P-Diddy” Combs of being involved in shooting

Started rapping against East Coast and Bad Boy Records

Murdered in September 1996 at age 25

The Shot Heard Round The World Biggest Contribution to rivalry, release of

song “Hit Em Up”

This was a response to Biggie Small’s song which was released months after 2Pac was shot in Biggie’s recording studio “Who Shot Ya”

Hit em up

Notorious B.I.G.

Born- 1972, New York, New York Died- 1997, Los Angeles, California Signed to Bad Boy Records 1992 Before rapping Drug Dealer At Quad Studios when Tupac was shot but

innocent

Also known as Biggie and Biggie Smalls

Sometimes Things Are Bigger Than You

“Who Shot Ya”= B side to “Big Poppa”

Originally supposed to be on Mary J Blige’s album My Life

Admittedly, it was a bad time to be released

Tried to listen to Puffy, but it was more than that

Hardly affected by Pac’s death

Snoop Dogg

Born Calvin Cordozar Bradus Jr.

Born in Long Beach California

Began rapping in 1992

Signed with Death Row Records in 1993

Snoop Dogg - Changing the Game Came out with “New York, New York” to call

out the famous home of Bad Boy Records Still rapping today Has since denounced the coastal feud

between East and West and has since collaborated with other artists who are outside of the West Coast

Performed at 2005 VMA’s with Sean Combs Snoop-Biggie Tribute

Jay-Z

Born Shawn Carter in Brooklyn, New York Started rapping in 1996 when he founded

Roc-A-Fella Records Associated with

Notorious B.I.G. Kanye West Beyonce

Jay-Z – Pay Your Respects

Relationship with the Feud Associated with Biggie Mentioned in west coast songs Two “diss” songs= “Brooklyn’s Finest” and “22

2’s” Barely classify

Now associates himself with both coasts Does a Biggie and Tupac tribute at each

live concert

The Aftermath