Gangsta Rap

Negative Responses to Gangsta Rap

The growth of gangsta rap also fueled different social responses. Several journalists decried gangsta rap, arguing that it has a negative effect on today's youth. Similarly, in the 1990s former civil rights advocate and (then) president of the National Congress of Black Women, C. Delores Tucker, led a crusade against gangsta rap, arguing that it encouraged violence and misogyny among youth. This resulted in a series of court cases against record labels for distributing controversial rap albums.

Law enforcement also responded negatively to the commercial rise of gangsta rap. Many saw gangsta rap as a threat to mainstream U.S. values. In 1989, N.W.A. released their second album, “Straight Outta Compton,” which contained several critiques of the police. In particular, “Fuck the Police” described the inner-city black community's sense of alienation and frustration with local police and other institutions. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), however, did not see this song and others as valid social commentary. In the same year, the FBI sent critical letters to Ruthless and Priority Records about N.W.A.'s lyrics.

Some academics also criticize gangsta rap. Public health researchers argue that exposure to gangsta rap increases the likelihood one will engage in “risky behaviors” such as premarital sex, drug abuse, and other anti-social behaviors. Black feminists such as bell hooks argue that gangsta rap essentializes blackness by perpetuating the image of violent, oversexed, and misogynistic black men. Others criticize gangsta rap for encouraging youth to reject mainstream values, some linking black underachievement in schools to the negative values promoted in gangsta rap music. The underlying assumption is that gangsta rap socializes youth away from the mainstream and encourages them to adopt anti-social or oppositional behaviors.

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