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What happened to good gangsta rap?

(cont'd) Aside from how aesthetic values have changed, there are deeper and more serious reasons for changes in gangsta rap. Namely, the impact of crack has begun to subside. Gangsta rap is a direct by-product of the crack explosion of the 1980s according to George. This is not a chicken-or-the-egg riddle. First came crack rocks, then gangsta rap. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy Web Site, crack use began to stabilize in 1997 and has since been on the decline. Therefore, the profession of black males selling crack is no longer as common as it was in the late 80s and early to mid 90s. For example, as a dealer, New York rapper Jay-Z financed his entire first and now classic 1996 debut album “Reasonable Doubt” and started his own label with funds obtained through hustling crack according to a Dec. 15 Rolling Stone article. This sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore because one has to be good, lucky or both at selling crack to not end up in jail, dead or crippled and also because of the decline in crack dealing. As Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah puts it in the song “Stay True” from his 2000 album “Supreme Clientele,” “The streets is rough out here. The crack game came and had its years. What is a man to do?” While it’s safe to say that the decline in crack dealing is a positive thing for society at large, it has certainly had a detrimental effect on the quality of gangsta rap.

Inherent in all of the classic gangsta rap albums is a general feeling of nihilism. It’s that “I don’t give a fuck” attitude that can be both cathartic and depressing. George states that this nihilism “wasn’t concocted by rappers, but it reflects the mentality and fears of young Americans of every color and class living an exhausting, edgy existence, in and out of big cities.” The level of nihilism has certainly died down a bit and is reflective in the increasingly less reality-based pop leanings of contemporary hip-hop, but it has certainly not disappeared because the social conditions that inspired the crack explosion and development of gangsta rap have not disappeared.

50 Cent is a great example of what is wrong with contemporary gangsta rap. The dude is hard. No one can really deny that. But, does getting shot 9 times make you a good rapper? Not quite. With ridiculous hits like “In Da Club” and “Candy Shop,” 50 Cent has shown that he has made himself completely socially irrelevant and has nothing to go on except for his hardcore reputation. Comedian Chris Rock commented on this topic in his monologue at the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards, “The 50 Cent album came out. I never heard a damn thing about the music. All I kept hearing was that he got shot nine times. ‘Well, who produced it?’ ‘He got shot nine times!’ ‘Well, what is on it?’ ‘He got shot nine times!’”

Considering the changing climate of the rap game and the decline in drug hustling, it’s safe to say that gangsta rap will never be as entertaining and subversive as it was during its late 80s and early 90s heyday. But, I still hold onto hope that mainstream hip-hop will eventually stop being so shallow and forgettable. Until then, I’ll continue to listen to “Ready To Die” and reminisce on what used to be.