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Gangster Rap is Dead!
Or so proclaims GQ Magazine magazines in their man of the year issue.
And who are these Gangster Killers? Why no other than GQ’s Man of the Year: Drake, Wale and Kid Cudi.
After getting over the shock of GQ having three black men on the cover of their magazine – I will say they might have a point. From GQ:
”Have you been listening to hip-hop this year? If not, we’ve got good news: The gangster persona is finally dead, and these are the kids who killed it. One song at a time, they built a new era in which duct-taped kilos, exotic firearms, and freaky girls are out and real life is the focus.
That can still mean trumped-up egos and battle raps, but it also means family, drama, vicious hangovers, and regular chicks who will make good love to you, then stomp out your heart. (Weed? Weed is always in.) Wale is as famous for his live shows as for the slick-witted lyricism of his debut, Attention Deficit.
Oh…and there’s more:
Kid Cudi is the cutup who scored with the stoner anthem “Day N Nite” and his album Man on the Moon. And then there’s Drake, who found himself turning down multimillion-dollar offers after his single “Best I Ever Had” exploded. (It helps that the girls like Drake. A lot.) Drake’s debut, Thank Me Later is easily the most anticipated album of 2010 So what do these underdogs thing about being cast as gangster slayers?
“The dope boy is going to be a fixture of black culture as long as “thug” is a legitimate option alongside a job” Drake says. But I’m not going to rap about how much crack I’ve sold.” Cudi also laughs at the idea of talking tough. “Anybody from cleveland will tell you I wasn’t in the streets” he says. “Ask them! They’ll say, ‘Scott was the goofy class clown.”
Like I said, GQ has a point. I’d argue however that Drake, Wale and Kid Cudi are not the original “Gangster Killers” however. They have just benefited from the success of the original “Ganster Killer” Kanye West.
West blasting on the scene as the college educated (albeit dropout) from a middle class family rapping about all of his middle class/college angst with his loud, colorful and incredibly artistic videos, reminded the world (again) that you didn’t have to grow up in the projects, sell crack and do time to be a “real” rapper.
With the introduction of Kanye, Wale, Drake, Kid Cudi and others, what you see is hip hop going back t it’s roots – it’s diverse roots. Once upon a time DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, 2 Live Crew, Arrested Development and N.W.A. could all coexist in the same musical genre. But as the majors bought the independent labels in the early 90’s rich withe men they decided the only music worth pushing involved some combination of bitches, hos, drugs and guns…throw in the late 90’s era of unchecked materialism and you have the last 20 years of hip hop music.
So I’d say we are well past the time for a change in hip hop. A Back to the future if you will. So here’s to the Gangster Killers, Kanye, Drake, Wale and Kid Cudi. Cheers. Now if we could just find some misogyny killers hip hop would be doing something.
I grew up with early 90s crack rap so I’m always gonna like the occasional shoot out in my rhymes, but as an adult I’m not too disappointed that the music is easing off gangster mode. The whole lowest common deniminator gun talk started getting tired like 10 yrs ago.