Gangsta Rap!

When I think of gangsta rap I think of aggression, violence, sex, objectifying women…so more sex, and bragging. I honestly can’t say that I’ve listened to a lot of it. Ice T and Eminem are the only two that I’ve listen to full songs of. I would even argue that Eminem walks the line being considered gangster rap. I know that Dr. Dre gave him the “OK” to be a gangster rapper, but when songs like “The Real Slim Shady” would come on the radio, I always wondered if he still maintained the same level of gangster. I know he has plenty of violent songs to give him some “cred”, but really does “My Name is” help him out in that department?

            Anyways, before I moved to Utah I attended a school where I was a minority. Most of my friends there are black, and I want to apply Brummetts three false claims to them.

1-African Americans are violent. I can recall a fight or two that broke out at the school, but nothing that would support that claim. Most of them talked a big game, but really, not much went down.

2-  African American culture is overtly sexual. Okay, I did see some truth to this. A lot of truth to it actually. Afer being hit on quite a bit while I was there, I can definitely say it was a little more aggressive flirting than my white college-mates.  A lot of the guys actually had at least one kid, but that didn’t stop them. There was a constant contest going to see how many girls they could be within a week. It was pretty disturbing. They put up their scores on the wall and everything.

3- African American culture is crassly materialistic. Well, I don’t think they were necessarily more materialistic than people of any other race but they were very particular on their brands, and had strong brand loyalty. For instance, my best friend Levar would ONLY wear Nike shoes, and FUBU if he could help it.

All in all, I believe there is some truth to stereotypes in gangsta rap. Not necessarily a whole truth, but just a glimpse at the life of a self-proclaimed gangsta. I think that a lot of the lyrics related to struggle help them cope and elate to others in similar situations, and are probably true. I’m not sure about getting with all of the women stuff. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, but I still think men shouldn’t kiss and tell. I guess I’m not cut out to be gangsta.