Unit 4 (Ch. 7/8: West Coast to Southern Gangsta Rap)

Listening to a "Tribe Called Quest"

"Excursions" Composed by Jonathan "Q-Tip" Davis 1991

BAY AREA/LA - Tupac Shakur (2Pac)

2Pac, unlike many other rappers at the time, who came from middle-class backgrounds 2Pac was raised in the "hood," the son of a Black Panther, Afeni Shakur 2Pac raised awareness of the plight of unwed mothers 2Pac use of "Thug Life" in his work represents his fascination with poverty and crime and the ways in which it relates to the urban poor, esp. African American poor. "Thug" has the potential to represent the thug-entrepreneur who works with the illegal economies available in order to lead a better life and the thug-activist who raises awareness of the social injustices on behalf of the community. Pac was raised by parents who were Black Panthers and have a strong political and moral conscience. His music represented a people who had been forgotten, especially the people of Oakland, who reflected his revolutionary spirit and disgust with oppression. Though Tupac Shakur lived in Marin City, he was born in New York City in 1971. He then moved to Baltimore, before Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother, who was a devout member of the NY's Black Panther Party, moved them to Marin City in 1988 Leila Steinberg (manager, educator, writer, and poet) met Pac at the age of 17, when she was just 25 years old, teaching a multicultural educational program in Marin City, in the spring of 1989, and convinced him to attend her workshop for young poets and musicians He became a brilliant artist, built on the dignity and vulnerability of his reportage to the precious ode of the Black female, in "Brenda's Got a Baby," "Dear Mama," and "Keep Your Head Up," not just upon rocking beats, or his virtuoso rhyme skills. six brief years-time, Tupac Shakur recorded twelve albums. Nine went either platinum or gold, and he also became a consummate actor that appeared in six major motion pictures. Tupac had an appreciation for language and learning new words through sound and rhythm, and projected his world through a visual and poetic reality of what he saw and felt life was ended at the age of just twenty-five, murdered, maybe due to a rap beef with upcoming rap star—Biggie Smalls, from Brooklyn, NY. The realm of living and representing the true gangsta life-style, now had its first martyr (since police have not discovered who killed him)

Garages (garage bands)

An amateur rock/pop band rehearsing in one of the member's houses, in the garage where the car can be housed/parked

Indie record labels

An indie or independent record label operates without funding from a major or national record company; usually a small to medium-sized enterprise

Bay Area Hip Hop History

Bay Area's early history in hip hop was centered in Oakland, which is the home of the Black Panthers;

Bay Area Hip Hop Movement: Too $hort, MC Hammer, E40, Paris, Digital Underground

Bay Area music scene from the 1960s-80s, was mainly funk and rock band icons, such as, Sly & the Family Stones, Larry Graham (who invented the slapping bass technique) and Graham Central Station, Tower of Power, the Grateful Dead, Elvin Bishop, Santana, Doobie Brothers, Con Funk Shun, Tony Toni Tone, and Timex Social Club (author's former group). There have been and still are numerous musicians in the Bay Area, maybe due to the free nature and liberational art spirit Pimp culture was also big in the West Coast, maybe due to the police allowing it to happen, especially in certain neighborhoods. Musicians like San Francisco's Fillmore Slim would double as a gigging guitarist and blues singer in the evening and a pimp in the after hours. Too 1. Too $hort, who was a Los Angeles transplant to Oakland in 1980, learned the city and lifestyle by cruising on BART (The Bay Area Rapid Transit) and began writing raps about a "pimpish" lifestyle. The black exploitation film "The Mack" was made in Oakland, and the city gave an image that pimping was an acceptable thing to do. $hort was determined to say what he wanted, and his records are very raunchy with sexually vivid details. Too $hort led the groundwork for hip hop in the Bay Area. 2. MC Hammer caught your attention with his dance moves (not necessarily his rap lyrics). Hammer had a funky club beat, a full show of dancers and singers, and created hit songs that were not hardcore or gangsta sounding. He was not necessarily the image of hip hop and wore a different look to accentuate his dancing routines. The pants he wore were tight at the waist and baggy on the butt and legs, and very African-centric. Given the name, "Hammer pants," He is a true performer and became hip hop's biggest pop star! It was generally the more-white conservative hip hop and pop crowd who followed MC Hammer however, Oakland Black folks are proud of him and are very loyal fans. 3. E-40 was influenced by Hammer and $hort but was a native of Vallejo, California, and not from Oakland. Earl Stevens rhymes in unique patterns very fast, has a forward-thinking approach, and developed more hip hop slang than any other artist. E-40 is different and unique but still very street and gangsta. 4. "Paris": the "Black Panther" of hip hop was Paris, who graduated from UC Davis with a degree, but never learned Black history or had even heard of Malcolm X. Through hip hop, Paris was introduced to self-knowledge and African history and decided to share what he learns with others through his conscious rap style, "each one, teach one." He was a gangsta with a purpose! 5. The Digital Underground (DU) hip hop group was P-funk reinvented, and the Bay Area had the largest collection of funk fans. DU was more of a novelty/humorous act—the Humpty character, a combination, of Benny Hill and George Jefferson, played by Shock G. The raps were funny but had explicit sexual content. The music had a phat P-funk infusion sound, but the group's greatest credit is introducing Tupac. First Pac became a dancer and roadie for the group, but eventually, they let him have four bars on the track, "Same Song," and the rest is history!

The Emergence of G-Funk (Dr. Dre)

Dr. Dre left N.W.A. assisted by businessman Marion "Suge" Knight, launched Death Row Records. Dre created the first "pop gangsta" album, taking a pop approach and wedding it to a ghetto sensibility that served for others to imitate. This musical style came to be known as G-Funk; from the funky grooves of James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, Kool & the Gang, and Parliament-Funkadelic G-Funk's piercing synthesizers, slow grooves, deep bass, fewer layers of sound, and liberal play with low and high frequencies reinterpreted the earlier funk format "G-Funk" Sound: Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg (G-Funk = Gangsta Funk) origin in Southern California, as well as drawing influences from the Bay Area-based Mobb music, initiated by Too $hort and E-40, in the mid-to-late 1980s. Unlike the Bay Area sound, the L.A.'s G-funk uses the portamento synthesizer and less live instruments. he rapper that became more associated and successful as a gangsta MC, was non-other than Snoop Dogg, who became the image to help popularize gangsta rap around the world.

Evolution of Garage Bands in Bay Area

Garage-bands were developed from garages in family homes, which was a keen design by the great architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, for houses in the West Coast suburbs; where many rock and funk bands began in the Bay Area

Summary of Gangsta Rap

Hardcore and Gangsta Rap: uses graphic, sometimes violent, imagery and language to portray the hard realities of urban life and the need particularly for African Americans to fight back against oppression, lack of opportunity, poverty, and racism. Performers: Ice -T; Public Enemy and NWA asserted strong messages that included celebrating the past achievements of the civil rights and Black Panther Movements The gangsta image grew as an outgrowth of Black folklore and popular culture. The gangsta movement brought rap to a new level of popularity and notoriety---raising new controversies in both African American and mainstream communities.

African-centric Themes

Rastafarian Themes—The Rastafarian movement proclaims that Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia represents a divine power whose domain is Zion and whose subjects are mainly Black people, hence, a Black God for the Black man. Black Feminist Spirituality and Values—Woman rappers through their music and lyrics have not only controlled the images and creative expression of women in the male-dominated hip hop industry but have turned the image of the woman from object to subject

Musical analysis of gangsta rap

The fact that the break beat is unpredictable, accidental and contingent as to when the "cut" is made is analogous to the cultural life led in the hood where life is similarly unpredictable. This rhythmic repetition is unlike the repetition of a "steady" job that leads to capitalist accumulation and growth, rather it is allowed to circulate freely.

Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., born October 1971, evolved under the tutelage of Dr. Dre, and was the guest featured MC on "Chronic," in 1992. Growing up in Long Beach and nicknamed by his mother, who thought he looked like Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon. Snoop developed his ear for music at the local Baptist church where he played piano and sang in the choir, before starting to rap in the sixth grade. Snoop got into trouble after high school, associating with the Rollin 20 Crips Gang, and was arrested for drug possession and served time in jail. He began to focus on his music career making tapes with cousin Nate Dogg and friend Warren G, who let Dr. Dre hear what they were doing, and Dre took Snoop under his wings. Snoop eventually left Death Row (1998) after falling out with Suge Knight, the label mogul, and signed with Master P's No Limits Records.

Responding to Gangsta Rap

Spiritual Themes—spirituality and religion are central to African community life. Many rappers draw from biblical scriptures and references to tenets of Christianity and Islam Lauryn Hill—is an artist who has been successful in promulgating a religious message through her music . A devout Methodist, Hill demonstrates her lifelong committed to God as the center of her life throughout the album—The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill—is her personal journey into the joy and pain of her life. Doo Wop (That Thing)" Composed by Lauryn Hill Peaked at No. 1 on Hot 100 and No. 1 on Billboard Rap Chart Programmer—Che Guevara

Song: "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A.

Straight Outta Compton is a genre-defining gangsta rap album; From LA-City of Compton;' Songwriters: Dr Dre / Young Andre Romell Performers: N.W.A., The original lineup, formed in early 1987, consisted of Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube, with DJ Yella and MC Ren joining later that year. The music is a blend of heavy-drum production, samples, turntable scratching, along with aggressive and obscene lyrics. The song was composed by Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Easy-E, MC Ren, and DJ Yella; and performed/recorded by Dr. Dre (vocals and production), Easy-E (vocals/rap), Ice Cube (vocals/rap), MC Ren (vocals/rap), and DJ Yella (production and turntable scratching). Ice Cube labeled their lyrical style on this record as "Reality Rap," topics that had not been explored on women, drug dealers, gang activity, and police brutality. The opening line of NWA's song, "Straight Outta Compton," "the strength of street knowledge," sets the stage and demonstrates the hardcore approach, amped-up sound, lyrical content, and gangsta aesthetic rap of the group. The rhymes delivered by each of the MC/rappers with unwavering intensity over soundscapes that are as relentless and rhythmically intricate, aligned with the group members' gangsta personas that shed light as a moral compass to the bleak realities facing Black youth from Compton and other similar inner-city communities. These rhymes that are references to homicides, sexual violence, guns, and personal threats, give the song a graphic nature, but not as metaphors. Each of the three MCs presented their own signature sound and aggressive flow, delivering menacing images but with a sense of urgency matched by their increasing timbre. The first verse is done by Ice Cube, who has a low range voice pitch, attacking his consonants, with a convincing agitated manner that makes you believe his rhymes, delivered with ease and rhythmic flow. The song's second verse is in the middle range of the male vocal field, rapped by MC Ren, who has a solid but slightly more subdued voice than the first rapper, Ice Cube, but Ren's lyrics are as violently themed. The third verse of the song by Easy-E has a high-pitched nasal sound, almost an octave higher than MC Ren, but spits his rhymes perhaps with the hardest level of intensity between the three MCs. The culmination of the voices moving from a low pitch, middle range, to high nasal tone, became a model technique for recording rap groups. The natural and smooth production work of Yella and Dre in manipulating their sampled material to create a new sound source, and the groups' MCs delivering vocally charged and infectious flows with an emphasis on street violence, permeated the most melodic hooks and danceable grooves in gangsta rap.

Pop Rap Goes Hardcore

The question of authenticity—or what Michael Eric Dyson refers to as "the art of Representin," expressed in the phrase—"keeping it real" Pop Rap stars such as MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice

LA Gangsta Rap Scene

Tracy Marrow, AKA—Ice-T; as a kid memorized the rhymes of pimp poet—Iceberg Slim, from whom he took his name Introduced to Afrika Bambaataa in the early 80s, to nonviolence, connected Ice-T to Afrika Islam, a member of Zulu Nation as well NY-City Spin Masters DJ Hen Gee and DJ Evil and formed the Rhyme Syndicate, a management company that produced Ice-T's first album Rap-metal (nu-metal or rap core) Song: "6 'N the Mornin'"—portrays a-baadman image Ice-T (Tracy Marrow) Song: "I'm your Pusher"

Women in Hip Hop and Rap

Women as Objects from a Male Rapper Perspective Women as Subject: Towards a Womanist Approach to Hip Hop

X-Rated Rappers

X-Rated: brand of rap music popular in the early 90s connected to Gangsta rap because of the slew of obscenities in the lyrics X-rated—booty rap, or dirty rap is mostly party music; origin- Miami, Florida Miami Bass—groove-heavy bass sound, releasing explicit lyrics 2 Live Crew—Some of the lyrical inspirations from sexy comedy routines of Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Rudy Ray Moore Too $hort of Oakland, CA; claims he built his career on the word "bitch" Most X-rated rap is designed for the party; however, the the gritty funky sound of the bass established the foundation for the southern sound

Ice-T: An Innovator of Early L.A. Gangsta Rap

born Tracy Marrow in 1958, on the East Coast in Newark, New Jersey, moved to the West Coast, Los Angeles (LA) area at a young age, went to live with his aunt in South Central, L.A. After being involved in the inner-city life of crime and hustling, Marrow focused on his passion of rhyming, and that probably saved his life from the streets. At first, Marrow wanted to be a break-dancer and party rapper, but his gangbanging friends convinced him to rap more about the lives they were living. taste in heavy metal music. During his years attending Crenshaw High School, gangs, particularly, the Bloods and Crips, became more prevalent. Although Marrow claimed to have never become a gang member, he was affiliated with the Crips, and became popular writing "Crip Rhymes." Name: reading novels by Iceberg Slim about pimping, then received the nickname, Ice-T. trying out as a DJ, but realizing early that he got more attention with his rapping, and to have a deeper perspective of the hip hop genre, he traveled back to the East Coast, New York, and was introduced to Afrika Bambaataa, and the philosophy of nonviolence. Bambaataa connected Ice-T to Afrika Islam, also known as the Son of Afrika Bambaataa, who was a member of the Zulu Nation, and to the NY-City Spin Masters DJ Hen Gee and DJ Evil E, and jointly they formed the management company, Rhyme-Syndicate that produced Ice-T's first album. vocal delivery style of Ice-T brought about from heavy-metal influences, which corresponded to his hardcore persona, is demonstrated from his intensively accented syllables and menacing personality, and set the stage for hardcore generations and rappers to replicate. He uses mostly a mid-vocal-range monotone throughout the song, occasionally changing to a high-pitched or sing-song rhyme style as a way of mocking challengers, who might want to battle him. Ice-T was able to create his own sound different from the East Coast, his rap album was given the first "parental advisory" label" that brought hip hop into an era of controversy and debate on its merit and impact on Black Americans. Ice-T formed his own heavy metal band, Body Count, in 1992, which became a precursor to rap-metal, nu-metal, or rapcore.

Los Angeles (LA) gangsta rap

most explicit example that illustrates the aggressive predisposition of Black urban youth toward living and dying. In 1992, when Dr. Dre debuted his multiplatinum album, "The Chronic," is cited, as the year gangsta rap was pivotal. Dre's featuring of Snoop Dogg, the G-funk sound, and his partnership with "Suge" Knight and the co-ownership of Death Row Records, were all strong in semblance to gangsta activity and behavior.

Conflicts with gangsta rap

some gangsta rappers claim that their struggles are mainly against white racism in America, however, this may be confusing and difficult to reconcile with the gang warfare, blatant misogyny against Black women being called "hoe" and "bitch," drug abuse, machismo, and a pimp-inspired identity, and the evoking a "*****" attitude mentality of gangsta rap. Practices such as boasting, toasting, signifying, and playing the dozens, which display a sense of verbal wit, and a sarcastic criticism to strengthen the psyche against the racist culture in Black people calling each other "*****s. The fantasy with the word "*****" emerged as a new master signifier in rap music and the gun emerged as the object with the power to decide between life and death.

White Rappers in the 1990s

In 1998, Dr. Dre presented his protégé Eminem, who helped change the image of the White Rapper and proved that a White rapper could master the rapping tradition. Eminem hit the charts after the tragic shootings at Columbine High School; played the role of this disgruntled, bullied misfit who was mad at the world.

How Rappers avoid copyright laws?

In Western music, a song is defined by a combination of harmony, melody, and lyric, which gave it legal protection. It was not copyrighted with timbre and rhythm qualities that became central to pop music and with the rise of recording techniques. This is probably why rappers are able to get around copyright laws with their samples. (

Issues Underscoring the Representation and Exploitation of Rap

In the era of Hardcore Rap, the narrative shifted as Rap songs with Positive Messages became less sellable and Harsh Street Tales and celebrations of Thug Life and Hustling dominated the scene Before gangsta rap developed as a sub-genre, "reality" rap—Ice-T's "^ 'N the Mornin" (1987); revealed gritty trustworthiness about survival, street life, and consequences for living "the life."

Ice-T Song: "6 N The Mornin"

"after hearing the rap single, "P.S.K," he was inspired to write lyrics for a gang rap song, "6 'N the Mornin'." Ice-T portrays a felon from the outlaw folk hero tradition or what Jamaicans call the "badman," and narrates candidly in his rap about the horrors of inner-city life and the troubling relationship with the L.A. police Ice-T compared the sound of the song to that of the Beastie Boys, and placed the song, as a B side of his single, "Dog'n the Wax." After the "6 'N the Mornin'," single was released in 1986 and became more popular than the A side, Ice-T was convinced to rap primarily about Los Angeles' gang life. The cadence and delivery of the opening line of "6 'N the Mornin'," is almost identical to Schoolly D's delivery of the opening lines to "P.S.K."

Summary: New Rap Styles

1990s saw the rise in popularity of hardcore rap that often featured themes of violence, misogyny, and anger at the continuing repression of African American youth The quest for authenticity spilled over into the long battle between rappers 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie Smalls), culminating in their murders. Hardcore rap was the dominant style, while other forms grew as well in 1990s, including R&B-rap and Jazz-rap fusions, and a new spirituality in Christian rap and the work on Lauryn Hill. Women rappers and White rappers were no longer treated as a novelty acts Authenticity in the millennium would not remain the exclusive domain of the urban poor, African American men - white rappers

Hardcore rap

A style of hip hop music marked by confrontation and aggression, whether in the lyrical subject matter, the hard driving beats, the gated samples, or the production. The musical style of hardcore is tough, streetwise, and intense.

Gangsta rap

A style of rap music recognized by its raw, edgy, raucous sound and explicit tales/lyrics about gang banging and criminal behaviors, in mostly poor Black and Mexican communities sub-genre of hip hop that evolved from hardcore music styles. It was popularized from the mid-to-late 1980s to 1990s and has become the most commercially lucrative style of hip hop. Gangsta rap has also caused the most controversy and criticism due to the accusation that it promotes violence, misogyny, substance abuse, profanity, homophobia, and a disregard for the police. And on the other hand, gangsta rap is criticized as analogous to minstrel shows, which when performed by African Americans in the 1890s, acted in a stereotypical manner to reflect ignorance and was used as a mockery of African culture by 1990, the center of attention in hip hop was gangsta rap, which was not born on the West Coast, but it was truly bred and exploited in "Cali."

Rise and Fall of Death Row Records (Dr. Drew)

By 1990, mostly all the distribution for major chain stores were controlled by six record companies: CBS, Polygram, Warner, BMG, Capitol-EMI, and MCA; but it was the independent labels (indie labels) that generated most of the sales for hip hop; major companies such as Time-Warner would buy the indie labels, allowing them to function somewhat autonomously, providing them with seed money, production resources, and mostly granting them access in their major retail distribution. This is how Death Row Records became a branch of Interscope Records, who was receiving 400 million dollars from Time-Warner in seed money and was able to keep their "hands clean" and reap the profits. As Death Row Records became too powerful in the music industry, and maybe due to Knight's gangster-like control, a series of violent incidents, impelled Dr. Dre to sell his share and leave to start his own label, Aftermath Records. At the fall of Death Row Records, a number of star rappers were killed, and all the owners except Dre ended up in prison; however, the creators of Interscope Records banked the money, selling half the interest bought back from Time-Warner to Universal/Seagram's for 200 million, and later formed Interscope Geffen A&M Records.

From Hardcore to Gangsta Style

By the late 1980s—Rap music had become a public forum for Social and Political Commentary as well as the expression of Inner-City Rage and Resistance Known as Message Rap in the late 1980s—through the social conscious and political lyrics of Public Enemy and KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions Street Reality Raps of Schoolly D, Ice-T and N.W.A. opened the door for Gangsta Rap throughout the 1990s

Religious Rap

Christian Rap—example-"Gang Affiliated" by West Coast rappers Gospel Gangstaz Rap and Judaism—Jewish rap gives hip hop fans a connection to the secular world in a different way, by taking secular music and using it to educate listeners and celebrate Judaism. Remedy's—"Never Again"

Jazz-Rap Fusion Movement in the 1990s

Common— Origins—Herbie Hancock's 1983 album Future Shock and hit single—"Rocket" Acid jazz New Jack Swing "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" - US3 Music credited to: Lyrics by: Performed by: Released 1993

What were the Harsh Messages of Gangsta Rappers

Crack cocaine epidemic made gang culture worse and changed the direction of hardcore music N.W.A. -Straight Outta Compton Rappers' lyrics can exploit and dramatize (ghetto) life experiences

From Gangsta Style to Gangsta Rap

During the late 1980s/early 90s rap music projected a critical voice that confronted the standardized education system's distorted histories, demanded justice, and urged social action. Chuck D explains, "part of making music is to sell out. Not keep your tapes on the shelf..." The idea is to get message out there to be heard! However, it is difficult how those messages are being heard Earliest Gangsta Rap---Schoolly D: "Gangsta Rap" (1994) and "PSK What Does it Mean?" (1995)

N.W.A (*****z With Attitude): The First Successful Gangsta Rap Group

NWA's "Straight Outta Compton" album cemented gangsta rap for a mass market, bursting into the scene in the late 1980s and stirring up controversy through their explicit and straightforward attitude on police brutality and white oppression in their lyrics. The group soon became the voice and face of the gangsta rap movement holding court in Los Angeles County. The five core members of the group were from Compton, California; Easy-E (Eric Wright, b.1964; d.1995), Dr. Dre (Andre Young, b.1965), Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson, b.1969), MC Ren (Lorenzo Patterson, b.1969), and DJ Yella (Antoine Carraby, b.1961). Later members included Arabian Prince (Kim Nazel, b.1965, Inglewood, CA) and The D.O.C. (Tracy Curry, b.1968, Dallas, Texas). The group was formed in 1987, by Easy-E, who was a high school drop-out and drug dealer, that used his street earnings to start his own record label, Ruthless Records, and partnered with seasoned music industry veteran, Jerry Heller. Easy-E recruited local writers for the label: Dr. Dre, DJ and musician from the R&B, disco-pop group, The World Class Wreakin' Cru, and a young talented lyricist, Ice Cube, from the rap group Cru' in Action (C.I.A.).

Controversy with Gangsta and X-Rated Rap

Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC): 1995 Tipper Gore founded the -"Tipper Sticker"—labeling of explicit lyrics on music Charges of Obscenity and Censorship Hip Hop: The first spark occurred in 1987, when a record store clerk was charged with a felony for the selling the album The 2 Live Crew.... To a 14 year-old minor 1994 Senate Hearings against Gangsta Rap: On Feb 23, 1994, the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice -arguments were made to censor Rap music --

Minstrel Shows or minstrelsy

The first indigenous American theatre and popular music genre made popular in1800s; variety showcases of black-faced crude stereotypes of Africans, singing, telling jokes about each other and playing instruments—violin, banjo, tambourine

East Coast-West Coast Rivalry: Not just Biggie and 2Pac

The rivalry between East and West Coast rappers developed over many years as side declared its superiority as the most "authentic" hip hop. Some credit Tha Dogg Pound 1995 single "New York, New York" as the dis rap that started the beef , but more telling was that by 1993 the West Coast rap scene was outselling the East Coast rappers by three to one. Sean "Puffy" Combs founded Bad Boy Records, in 1993 after losing his position at Uptown Records as vice president Notorious B.I.G. (aka. Biggie Smalls, Big Poppa) of Brooklyn. Biggie came from a middle-to-working class neighborhood, but fascinated by street game he dropped out of school to pursue selling drugs.

Earliest Gangsta Rap Track?

earliest recording of a gangsta rap track, prior to the commercialization of this style, was by Schoolly D (Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr.), in 1984, "Gangsta Boogie." However, it was D's single, "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" (1985), that brought him fame and immortalized his Philadelphia crew, the Parkside Killers, from their West Philly neighborhood. The "P.S.K. track was built on a simple drumbeat, on a tale about the metaphorically beating down of a rapper who tried to steal Schoolly D's style, while in the process of entertaining a female prostitute. D's rapping style has a lyrical, boastful, and thuggish feel that is relevant to the gangsta pop style of the 1990s-2000s, like 50 cent and Yung Joc.

PMRC: Parents Music Resources Center

early 1990s, private pressure groups began to attack and protest gangsta rap. One such group was the PMRC, Parents Music Resources Center, founded by Tipper Gore, wife of the 45th former Vice-President, Al Gore, in 1984. Tipper Gore, along with two other political wives, started the PMRC to get warning labels on so-called "offensive" records, and place age restrictions on hard rock, punk, and heavy meta PMRC focused its attention on this new musical style. Ice-T was the first, to have a parental advisory sticker placed on his album for sale, however, due to Tupac's attention and popularity through the media and film, he became a household name and the next target. A Black Christian civil rights activist, Dr. Delores Tucker, fought for the censorship of gangsta rap music and began to focus her efforts on Shakur. In the end, Tucker may have made Tupac a victim of free speech.