This is a good article by George Nelson on the rise and fall of rappity rap. I like Nelson since way back when he used to be on The Late Show on BBC2 explaining to white dudes what this new form of music was. He has been there and done it and I like the cut of his jib. He makes some good points here so why not have a look.
I hate gangsta rap. I won’t even acknowledge it as a genre. If ever there was “gangsta rap” it was born, raised and killed with Straight Outta Compton. The only people that use the term gangsta rap are old folk and the media. There’s either good hip hop or bad hip hop. I won’t approach one artist as representing a certain sub-genre just the same as I won’t approach a Dilated LP with the term backpackers in mind. If Gangsta rap does exist then it is in the form of a type of entertainment made by po’ black folks for middle class crackers who take some voyeuristic pleasure in the struggles of drug dealing and black on black murder set to music. It’s not hip hop. That said one of the finest albums this decade was just that “The Documentary” and was a masterpiece when I neither expected nor wanted it to be. The biggest reason, despite the Dre production was The Game himself. (more…)