The Evolution Of Gangster Rap Culture

Has there ever been a time when you were judged based on the color of your skin or because of the way you looked? Or has there ever been a time when you saw someone and “naturally” put up a protective guard. Imagine casually walking down the street and noticing the disgusted or scared facial expression that someone has made because of seeing you, and then crossing the street so that they do not have to walk beside you. These are a few of the various incidents that happen because of prejudgments. In society stereotypes are developed, causing people to view groups of people with similarities as being the same. Society creates a general perception for different races depending on the modern and historical culture. The African American culture
Since the creation of gangster rap, blacks began to be viewed as thugs because of the lyrics used in raps. Rappers were also viewed as thugs because of the trending clothing styles. According to Holsey (2013), gangster rap is, “a subgenre of hip-hop music that evolved from hardcore hip-hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner city youths.” Holsey’s quote states that gangster rap comes from the experiences of frustrated black youths that live in the ghetto. Maultsby (2006) states, “Hip-hop became a popular symbol of urban black life to the wider American society, embodied by the young black male seen as exotic, dangerous, and feared, yet simultaneously appealing and marketable (pg. 362)”. These are the qualities that the black males were expected to have in order to be signed and to receive record deals. The stereotypes that society created were the stereotypes that these black males had to follow in order to rap because violence and gangs were the things that sold. Because of the continuing violent lyrics within the gangster rap, these stereotypes were created. Until the late 1980s and early 1990s gangster rap was not popular. According to
Society views Africans Americans as dangerous individuals who are always doing illegal activities. McWhorter (2003) states that, “Today, even as television and films depict blacks at all levels of success, hip-hop sends the message that blacks are . . . uncivilized.” The frequent portrayal of guns in rap videos may be a reason that African Americans are the main targets of stop-and-frisks. One example of a rap music video that gives African Americans a negative portrayal is a song called “Hot Nigga”, a song made by rapper Bobby Shmurda (Rae). In the video, Bobby Shmurda surrounds himself by people who are apart of his gang and is shown to form gun motions with his hands during various parts of the video..In many major cities, such as Chicago, New York, and Las Angeles, racial profiling and police corruption is seen daily. Police officers would pull over a group of black men in a car just because the first though that comes to their heads is that they are gang members. Officers also conduct illegal searches inside of cars because of society’s view of the average black male is that he will have guns and drugs on him. Rap videos also add to the fear that other races have towards blacks. For example, if a black man was to cross the street, he may hear cars lock their doors. There has also been cases in which people would walk the opposite way from black males as well