Misinterpretations and Realities of the West Coast: Background of the Attitude

Hip-hop dates back to 1979, but for me, it started in 1995, when I officially discovered hip-hop. I had been given a tape of Regulate…G-Funk Era, Warren G’s debut with the old West Coast anthem, “Regulators”. I fell in love with “Regulators”, “Do You See”, and “This DJ”. From there, I started listening to KSFM 102.5 in Sacramento, the local hip-hop station. Every day, I was treated to this whole new world of Dr. Dre’s production, Snoop Doggy Dogg’s smooth delivery, B-Real’s nasal tone, and this introspective gangsta rapper named 2pac. As with most things I become interested in, I instantly wanted to know all I could about this music. From there came interest in E-40 and Too Short, N.W.A, Dogg Pound, Cypress Hill, and everyone else from the West Coast’s illustrious history. And as I got deeper into the coast most known for gangsta rap, I realized that the term itself, “gangsta rap” is not what everyone thinks it is. Rather, painting such vividly violent and shocking pictures through hip-hop could actually move the establishment to act and do what they could to help the traditionally ignored neighborhoods known as the ghetto.

Taking a cursory glance at West Coast hip-hop, one would assume it was all palm trees, Impalas, AK’s, chronic, and 40s. For many West Coast artists, this was true. And yet, many MC’s squeezed classic material out of those topics. Of course, it wasn’t ALL about those topics that had formed into something called “gangsta rap”. With N.W.A having set the bar as far as what gangsta rap was, they, possibly by accident, created a completely new definition of what gangsta rap was. “F*ck tha Police” flaunted their First Amendment rights and let the powers that be know that they spoke for the economically underdeveloped neighborhoods when they said that they didn’t trust the police. The Rodney King trial and ensuing riots only served to bolster that belief. Police corruption ran rampant in California at that time, and those events helped bring it to the nation’s attention. With the nation’s eyes on the LAPD, investigations were launched, crooked cops were busted in such trials like the Rampart scandal, and the police force underwent sweeping changes to ensure that those events never repeated themselves. N.W.A had somehow used gangsta rap as way to raise awareness, an idea that former member Ice Cube took off and ran with on his ensuing solo albums.

Ice Cube’s sophomore album Death Certificate redefined gangsta to millions of hip-hop heads. Ice Cube saw the death and destruction of the gang wars and the drug problems in Los Angeles, and saw how people had labeled it “gangsta”. Cube saw that and decided to use this “gangsta” mentality, the no-holds barred fighting spirit, as a way to effect change. Instead of gangbanging on our fellow brother, reasoned Cube, we should be standing up and challenging the government, instead. With songs like “Color Blind” trying to ease tension and foster unity between rival gangs, Ice Cube sought to unite those who had been labeled as “gangsta” under one roof. With this following, he was able to turn their gangbanging against each other to gangbanging on the establishment, redefining gangsta as a reaction to circumstance that forced its creation. Now, “gangsta” is what happened because of social problems, anger, and hopelessness. Ice Cube’s greatest song, “A Bird in the Hand”, perfectly captures the dilemma of so many youth during that era. The ghetto was ignored (and some say created) by the government, prompting many in those conditions to turn to illegal means as a way to support themselves and their families. Turning the old adage of “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” on its head, Ice Cube argues that the youth are better off with birds in their hand (aka kilos of coke) than they are with President Bush and his policies. One of Ice Cube’s contemporaries, 2pac, was perhaps the most glorified gangsta rapper ever, and was also a gangsta in the Ice Cube sense of the word. One of his most famous lines, “We got money for wars, but can’t feed the poor” continues to resonate, even to this day. “Changes”, “Keep Ya Head Up”, and “Brenda’s Got a Baby”, for example, all highlight society’s ills that are only amplified in the ghetto.

Through the words of rappers like 2pac and Ice Cube, “gangsta rap” transcended its own label of being about blunts and 40s and became another channel for people to voice their displeasure with the powers that be. So the next time someone asks you why you listen to that “West Coast gangsta rap” and they say it ain’t nothing but G thangs and gin and juice, proudly proclaim your love of gangsta rap, the REAL gangsta rap, the gangsta rap of Ice Cube, 2pac, N.W.A, and all those who have come after them.