Bloods and Crips: How Gangsta Rap Became Mainstream

A very short report about Gangsta Rap most prominent pionners, those who were arrested, shot at, and ultimately killed.

Often linked with the likes of the notorious Bloods and the Crips gangs - gangsta rap, which originated in Los Angeles in the 1980's, rose to become the most lucrative of the hip hop subgenres.

The Evolution Of Gangsta Rap [1985 - 2019]

Hip-Hop Evolution Of Gangsta Rap, Best Rap Songs Of Each Year, Most Popular Rap Songs Of 2019, Best Hip-Hop Songs 2019.

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 hard rap into a distinct form, pioneered in the mid-1980s by rappers such as Schoolly D and Ice-T, and was 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 (if not most) gangsta rap artists openly boast of their associations with various active street gangs as part of their artistic image, with the Bloods and Crips 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.

Hip-hop has arguably been the best genre of music in the past two decades. As hip-hop maintains its title, a lot has changed about the genre, such as the lyrics. Hip-hop has two phases, old school and new school each of which give off a different vibe.

Old School “Hip-Hop” has music based prevalently on African American culture. Artists such as Tupac, Biggie Smalls, and Eazy-E often rap about the struggles of growing up in a racialized environment and the work they put in to get where they are today.

In popular songs such as “Changes” by Tupac and “Juicy” by Biggie Smalls, the artists explain how they went from “negative to positive” as Biggie put it.

Old school hip-hop is still popular today and is regarded as “classic” by many hip-hop fans.

“New school” hip-hop has different types of lyrics. Rappers from today’s generation sing typically about girls, money, and cars they have. Some even sing about how they do drugs, drink alcohol, and party which sets a bad example for some listeners. Some of these rappers today did not have it as hard as rappers back in the old days. Also Hip-hop artists now are racially diverse, so African American culture is not necessarily found in music today.

People who grew up listening to Tupac, Biggie, Eazy-E, and so on typically do not enjoy hip-hop in today’s era. Songs written when rap was introduced were lyrically better because rappers were able to tell a story using words that rhyme and flow.

Some songs are also more appealing to fans because they can relate to the struggles their favorite rappers faced.

People of this generation are used to listening to new school hip-hop which is the most played genre on the radio. These same fans reject old school Hip-Hop as a part of the music genre. There are even rappers who know nothing about the most influential Hip-Hop artists.

Growing up listening to Eminem has caused me to fall in love with him as an artist. He introduced me to Hip-Hop. But I noticed a change in the music industry. Artists wanted to be part of the mainstream industry and they had to change their music to fit into the mainstream category.

Because of new artists in hip-hop, many lessen known artists are rarely noticed. These artists are said to be “underground.” Underground rappers usually do not make it big because they have music related to the messages embodied by old school hip-hop artists would say.

Some people think old school Hip-Hop is better than new school Hip-Hop. And there are many people who prefer underground Hip-Hop to mainstream Hip-Hop. What do you think?

Source: Hip Hop Universe
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9xyJuY1Xt8

Ice-T - New Jack Hustler (video & lyrics)

Ice-T - New Jack Hustler

Lyrics
Hustler, word, I pull the trigger long,
Grit my teeth, spray till every nigga's gone.
Got my block sewn, armored dope spots,
Last thing I sweat's a sucka punk cop.
Move like a king when I roll, hops,
You try to flex, bang, another nigga drops.
You gotta deal with this cause there's no way out,
Why? Cash money ain't never gonna play out.
I got nothin to lose, much to gain,
In my brain, I got a capitalist migraine.
I gotta get paid tonight, you muthafuckin right.
[something] my grip, check my bitch, keep my game tight.
So many hos on my jock, think I'm a movie star.
Nineteen, I got a fifty thousand dollar car.
Go to school, I ain't goin for it,
Kiss my ass, bust the cap on the Moet.
Cause I don't want to hear that crap,
Why? I'd rather be a New Jack-----Hustler

Hustler
Hustler
Hustler
H-you-S-T-L-E-are hustler

Yo man you know what I'm sayin?
You got it goin on my man, I like how it's goin down.
You got the fly cars, the girls, the jewels.
Look at that ring right there,
I know it's real, it's gotta be real.
Man, you the flyest nigga I seen in my life!
Yo man, I just want to roll with you man,
How can I be down?

What's up? You say you want to be down?
Ease back, or muthafucka get beat down.
Out my face, fool I'm the illest,
Bulletproof, I die harder than Bruce Willis.
Got my crew in effect, I bought em new Jags,
So much cash, gotta keep it in Hefty bags.
All I think about is keys and Gs
Imagine that, me workin at Mickey D's (ha ha ha ha).
That's a joke cause I'm never gonna be broke,
When I die there'll be bullets and gunsmoke.
Ya don't like my lifestyle? Fuck you!
I'm rollin with the New Jack crew.
And I'm a hustler.

H-you-S-T-L-E-are hustler
New Jack, New Jack..........

Here I come, so you better break North,
As I stride, my gold chains glide back and forth.
I care nothing bout you, and that's evident.
All I love's my dope and dead presidents.
Sound crazy? Well it isn't.
The ends justifies the means, that's the system.
I learned that in school then I dropped out,
Hit the streets, checked a grip, and now I got clout.
I had nothing, and I wanted it.
You had everything, and you flaunted it.
Turned the needy into the greedy,
With cocaine, my success came speedy.
Got me twisted, jammed into a paradox.
Every dollar I get, another brother drops.
Maybe that's the plan, and I don't understand,
God damn----you got me sinkin in quicksand.
But since I don't know, and I ain't never learned,
I gotta get paid, I got money to earn.
With my posse, out on the ave,
Bump my sounds, crack a forty and laugh.
Cool out and watch my new Benz gleam,
Is this a nightmare? Or the American dream?
So think twice if you're coming down my block,
You want to journey through hell? Well shit gets hot.
Pregnant teens, children's screams,
Life is weighed on the scales of a triple beam.
You don't come here much, and ya better not.
Wrong move (bang), ambulance cot.
I gotta get more money than you got,
So what, if some muthafucka gets shot?
That's how the game is played,
Another brother slayed, the wound is deep
BUT they're givin us a Band Aid.
My education's low but I got long dough,
Raised like a pit bull, my heart pumps nitro.
Sleep on silk, lie like a politician,
My Uzi's my best friend, cold as a mortician.
Lock me up, it's genocidal catastrophe,
There'll be another one after me!
A hustler.
Hustler.
H-you-S-T-L-E-are hustler.

New Jack, New Jack......

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Tracy Lauren Marrow (Ice-T) / Alphonso Henderson
New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme) lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Reach Music Publishing

O.G. Original Gangster T-shirt and hat
available in Red or Blue if you know what I mean.

Ice-T - O.G. Original Gangster (video, lyrics & t-shirt)

O.G. Original Gangster
Ice-T

Ten years ago
I used to listen to rappers flow
Talkin' bout the way
They rocked the mic at the disco
I liked how that shit was goin' down
With my own sound
So I tried to write rhymes
Somethin' like them, my boys said,
"That ain't you Ice,

That shit sounds like them."
So I sat back, thought up a new track
Didn'T fantasize, kicked the pure
Facts. Motherfuckers got scared
Cause they weas unprepaired
who would tell it how it relly was?
Who dared?
A motherfucker from the West Coast
L.A. South Central fool
Where the Crips and the Bloods play
When I wrote about parties
It didn't fit
Six in the Mornin'
That was the real shit

O.G. Original Gangster

When I wrote about parties
Someone always died
When I tried to write happy
Yo I knew I lied, I lived a life of crime
Why play ya blind?
A simple look
and anyone with two cents
would know I'm
A hardcore player fromhe streets
Rappin' bout hardcore topics
Over hardcore drum beats
a little different
Than the average though
Jet you through the fast lane
Drop ya on death row
Cause anybody who's been there
Knows that life ain't sho lovely
On the blood-soaked fast track
That invincible shit don't work
Throw ya in a joint
You'll be comin' out feet first
So I blst the mic with my style
Sometimes I'm ill
The other times buck wild
But the science is always there
I'd be a true sucker
If I acted like I didn'T care
I rap for brothers just like myself
Dazed by the game
In a quest for extreme wealth
But I kick it to you hard and real
One wrong move, and you caps peeled
I ain't no super hero
I ain't no Marvel Comic
But when it comes to game I'm atomic
At droppin' it straight
Point blank and untwisted
No imagination needed, cause I lived it
This ain't no fuckin' joke
This shit is real to me
I'm Ice-T

O.G.

Two weeks ago I was out at the disco
Two brothers stepped up to me
And said
"Hey yo, Ice
We don't think you're down
What set ya claimin'?"
E drew the Glock, yo my set's aimin'!
Dumb motherfucker
Try to roll on me, please!
I'm protected by a thousand emcees
and hoodlums and hustlers
And bangers with Jeri curls
we won't even count the girls
Cause they got my back
And I got theirs too
Fight for the streets
When I'm on Oprah or Donahue
They try to sweat a nigga
But they just didn'T figure
What my wit's as quick as a hair trigger
"He's not your everyday-type
Prankster."

I'm Ice-T, the original gangster

So step to me
If you think that you're ready to
Got on your bullet proof?
Well mine's goin' right through
This ain't no game to me
It's hollow fame to me
Without respect frome streets
So I don't claim be
The hardest motherfucker on earth
Catch me slippin, I can even get worked
But I don'T slip that often
there's a coffin
Waitin' for the brother
Who comes off soft when
The real fuckin' shit goes down
Take a look around
all them pussies can be found
they talk a mean fight
But fight like hoes
I'm from South Central, fool
Where everything goes
Snatch you out your car so fast
You'll get whiplash
Numbers on your roof top
For when the copters pass
Gang bangers
Don't carry no switch blades
Every kid's got a Tec 9 or a
Hand grenade
Thirty-seven killed
Last week in a crack war

Hostges tied up
And shot in a liquor store
Nobody gives a fuck
"The children have to go to school."
Well, moms, good luck
Cause the shit's fucked up bad
I use my pad and pen
And my lyrics break out mad
I try to write about fun
andthe goodtimes
But the pen yanks away and explodes
And destroys the rhyme
Maybe it's just cause of where I'm from
L.A. that was a shot gun!

O.G. Original Gangster

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Tracy Marrow (Ice-T)
O.G. Original Gangster lyrics © Reach Music Publishing

O.G. Original Gangster T-shirt and hat
available in Red or Blue if you know what I mean.

BODY COUNT - Raining In Blood / Postmortem 2017 (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Sorry Slayer, but Body Count's version is better than yours.
Maybe it's because I've listened so much Slayer in my teenage years that I was due for a change?!




I must admit that the original sounds like a fuckin' ton of bricks.

Ice-T – Freedom of Speech Lyrics

The Iceberg/Freedom Of Speech... Just Watch What You Say!

The album was released after Ice-T had been encountering censorship problems on tour. In The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck?, the rapper states that "People had already told me what I could not say onstage in Columbus, Georgia. You couldn't say anything they called a 'swear' word. You couldn't touch yourself. They were using the same tactics they used on everyone from Elvis and Jim Morrison to 2 Live Crew".
The album's cover, featuring a B-boy with a shotgun shoved in his mouth, and two pistols pressed against each side of his head, reflected Ice-T's experiences with the concept of freedom of speech. "The concept of that picture is, 'Go ahead and say what you want. But here comes the government and here come the parents, and they are ready to destroy you when you open your mouth'".

"Shut Up, Be Happy" consists of a spoken word performance by Jello Biafra laid over a sample of the low, heavy, distorted guitar from Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath".  "The Iceberg" alternates between typical violent metaphor, outlandish boasts, and comical sexual situations involving other members of Ice's Rhyme Syndicate. "Lethal Weapon" tells listeners that the mind is the most powerful weapon:

“

"The Weapon power has been witnessed upon my page/From Martin Luther's dream, to Hitler's psycho rage."

”

"You Played Yourself" advises listeners to be smart and not let themselves "be played". "Peel Their Caps Back" is about committing a drive-by to avenge a slain friend. Unlike other songs where violence is a metaphor for the rapper's ability to defeat other rappers lyrically, this song is a stark depiction of what could lead to such an event. However, it contains two surprising elements: in the end, the main character is killed, and the whole event is written off by the media as just another gang killing.
In "The Girl Tried to Kill Me", Ice-T raps about an encounter with a dominatrix:

“

"Said she wanted to take me home to make love / Now that's the kind of rap that brothers dream of / I said, "Fast, slow, hard or soft, baby?" / She said, "All the above!"

”

"Black and Decker" starts off with Rhyme Syndicate members complaining about the media's portrayal of their work as meaningless violence. Ice wonders aloud what it would sound like if you drilled into someone's head with a powerdrill. After some gory sound effects, Ice says "Probably sound like that." "Hit the Deck" offers sincere advice to wannabe-MCs:

“

"But if it's in your heart, get a pen / Don't stop writing til the inkflow ends / Work and work and don't halfstep / Dog the mic every chance you get."

”

"This One's for Me" offers Ice's take on the rap scene and music industry. "The Hunted Child" is a first-person account of a scared young gang-banger on the run. The busy, multi-layered composition, with its scratched sirens and staccato drums, samples Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise".
"What Ya Wanna Do" is a 9-minute party song featuring several members of the Syndicate, including a young Everlast, who became famous as a member of House of Pain. "Freedom of Speech" was one of the first raps to focus on the First Amendment and in particular attacked Tipper Gore's PMRC with unmistakable venom:

“

"Hey PMRC, you stupid fuckin' assholes / The sticker on the record is what makes 'em sell gold / Can't you see, you alcoholic idiots / The more you try to suppress us, the larger we get."

”

The album ends with in "My Word is Bond", featuring Syndicate members telling one exaggerated story after another against a looped sample of Slick Rick saying "Stop lying" from his song "La Di Da Di".

Ice-T – Freedom of Speech Lyrics

Artist: Ice-T
Album: The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech
Song: Freedom of Speech

Intro

A-yo Ice, man. I'm working on this term paper for college. What's the
First Amendment?

Verse 1

Freedom of Speech, that's some motherfuckin' bullshit
You say the wrong thing, they'll lock your ass up quick
The FCC says "Profanity - No Airplay"?
They can suck my dick while I take a shit all day
Think I give a fuck about some silly bitch named Gore?
Yo PMRC, here we go, raw
Yo Tip, what's the matter? You ain't gettin' no dick?
You're bitchin' about rock'n'roll, that's censorship, dumb bitch
The Constitution says we all got a right to speak
Say what we want Tip, your argument is weak
Censor records, TV, school books too
And who decides what's right to hear? You?
Hey PMRC, you stupid fuckin' assholes
The sticker on the record is what makes 'em sell gold
Can't you see, you alcoholic idiots
The more you try to suppress us, the larger we get

Verse 2

[You have the right to remain silent]
Fuck that right! I want the right to talk
I want the right to speak, I want the right to walk
Where I wanna, yell and I'm gonna
Tell and rebel every time I'm on a
Microphone on the stage cold illin'
The knowledge I drop will be heard by millions
We ain't the problems, we ain't the villains
It's the suckers deprivin' the truth from our children
You can't hide the fact, Jack
There's violence in the streets every day, any fool can recognise that
But you try to lie and lie
And say America's some motherfuckin' apple pie
Yo, you gotta be high to believe that
You're gonna change the world by a sticker on a record sleeve
Cos once you take away my right to speak
Everybody in the world's up shit creek

Verse 3

Let me tell you about down south
Where a motherfucker might as well not even have a mouth
Columbus, Georgia, said they'd lock me up
If I got on the stage in my show and said "Fuck"
So I thought for a minute and said "No
I wasn't even gonna do a damned show"
Cos for me to change my words from my rhymes
Is never gonna happen cos there's no sell outs on mine
But I vowed to get those motherfuckers one day
They even arrested Bobby Brown and Cool J
Yo, they got their's comin', cos I'm mad and I'm gunnin'
Homeboys, and there's no runnin'
I'm gonna tell you how I feel about you
No bull, no lies, no slack, just straight fact
Columbus, Georgia, you can suck my dick
You ain't nothin' but a piece of fuckin' shit on the damned map

Verse 4

Freedom of Speech, let 'em take it from me
Next they'll take it from you, then what you gonna do?
Let 'em censor books, let 'em censor art
PMRC, this is where the witch hunt starts
You'll censor what we see, we read, we hear, we learn
The books will burn
You better think it out
We should be able to say anything, our lungs were meant to shout
Say what we feel, yell out what's real
Even though it may not bring mass appeal
Your opinion is yours, my opinion is mine
If you don't like what I'm sayin'? Fine
But don't close it, always keep an open mind
A man who fails to listen is blind
We only got one right left in the world today
Let me have it or throw The Constitution away

Outro (Jello Biafra)

What they're trying to do with radio, with this, uh, McCarran-Walter Act and a lot of other ways, is start by saying that they're protecting the public from wicked rock bands, or girlie magazines, or whatever. But, if you follow the chain of dominoes that falls down what they're really trying to do is shut off our access to information itself.

If they can't do it by law they know there's other ways to do it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iceberg/Freedom_Of_Speech..._Just_Watch_What_You_Say!

Ice T - Cop Killer

Ice-T - Cop Killer (Lyrics) - 1992




Ice T ready to fireback.

ICE T / BODY COUNT - COP KILLER LYRICS

This next record is dedicated to some personal friends of mine, the LAPD.
For every cop that has ever taken advantage of somebody, beat em down or hurt em cause they have long hair, listen to the wrong kind of music, wrong colour, whatever they taught was the reason to do it.
For everyone of those fucking police.
I'd like to take a pig out here in this parking lot and shoot em in their motherfucking face.

Cop killer.
Yeah.

I got my black shirt on
I got my black gloves on
I got my ski mask on
This shits been too long

I got my twelve gauge sawed-off
I got my head lights turned off
I'm bout to bust some shots off
I'm bout to dust some cops off

I'm a cop killer, better you then me
Cop killer, fuck police brutality
Cop killer, i know your family's grieving
(Fuck em)
Cop Killer, but tonight we get even.ha ha

I got my brain on hype
Tonight'll be your night
I got this long ass-knife
And your neck looks just right

My adrenalines pumpin'
I got my stereo bumbin'
I'm bout to kill me somethin'
A pig stopped me for nuthin'

Cop killer, better you then me
Cop killer, fuck police brutality
Cop killer, i know your mommas grieving
(Fuck her)
Cop killer, but tonight we get even
Yeah

Die, die, die pig, die

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police, yeah

Cop killer, better you then me
Cop killer, fuck police brutality
Cop killer, i know your familys grieving
(Fuck em)
Cop killer, but tonight we get even, ha ha ha ha, yeah

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police, break it down

Fuck the police, yeah
Fuck the police, for Daryl Gates
Fuck the police, for Rodney King
Fuck the police, for my dead homies
Fuck the police, for your freedom
Fuck the police, don't be a pussy
Fuck the police, have some motherfucking courage
Fuck the police, sing along

Cop killer
Cop killer
Cop killer

Cop killer, what do you wanna be when you grow up?
Cop killer, good choice
Cop killer, i'm a motherfuckin'
Cop killer!

Cop killer, better you then me
Cop killer, fuck police brutality
Cop killer, i know your mommas grieving
(Fuck her)
Cop killer, but tonight we get even

 THE REAL LIFE COP KILLER

Christopher Dorner

This is a live version of Cop Killer by Ice-T & Body Count. They were in New York City August 14, 1991




Ice T playing undercover cop Scotty Appleton  in New Jack City (1991)

Self-professed cop hater Ice T (Tracy Marrow) is also an accomplished actor who make a confortable living playing cops on screen.  Specially as detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola in Law & Order since 2000.

Body Count - Cop Killer live
Better sound than the above version.

Body Count, the eponymous album, is probably one of the most hardcore and explicit album I've never heard. Violent, brutal, sexual... Ice T's Body Count is A MUST for every metal and hip hop/rap fan around here. This album is a true classic for all serious metalheads in the world.

So grab a couple of dollars and buy this fuckin' album.  You cheap son of a bitch!