Dr Dre once revealed the one music category he hated being put in
Business mogul and legendary producer Dr Dre has made all sorts of music across his 30-year career. However, some of his most notable work was alongside his West Coast peers as part of the collective N.W.A. The collective’s 1988 debut album, Straight Outta Compton, sent shockwaves throughout the US and put California firmly on the map concerning rap music.
The LA group was known for its raw and aggressive style, which reflected the crime-ridden neighbourhoods from which it came. However, as the ensemble’s primary producer and musical visionary, Dre didn’t like the media’s response to its music, especially when it was labelled as “gangsta Rap.”
The labelling of certain genres and artists has always been an issue in hip-hop. Whether it’s the term “stoner rap” or “mumble rap”, musicians don’t like it when critics attempt to put them in a box. However, in the 1980s, “gangsta rap” as a label stuck and led to an unfathomable amount of hysteria from older White Americans.
Not only was the term hyperbolic, but it wasn’t accurate. Many of the earliest MCs from the subgenre were merely surrounded by the activities they rapped of. Nevertheless, the name “gangsta rap” insinuated that its creators were all gangsters and heartless criminals.
It is unsurprising that Dr Dre didn’t like the term. However, the term continued to plague musical discourse for the next 20 years. But after the turn of the millennium things did undoubtedly ease up a little.
Over the years, many MCs have been called gangsta rappers. From 2Pac to 50 Cent and more, the term has come to mean a style of lyricism that focuses solely on criminal activity and murder. However, Dre during the 1980s, Dre knew that his intentions were pure when he made music.
The same has been said by many other artists. In a 2017 interview with Drink Champs, the godfather of the subgenre, Ice-T, stated, “It wasn’t gangsta rap. It was reality rap. It wasn’t everyone’s reality, but it was my reality. I was just rapping for the people in my area.”
During his interview with Kevin Hart for his Hart To Heart television series, Dr Dre explained, “I’ve never liked it being called gangsta rap. That’s never what we went in to do. We [were] just making hardcore hip-hop, that’s all. I don’t know what it got that title or who gave it that title.”
Figures such as Ice Cube and Ice-t have attributed the title to the fact that Los Angeles’ gang culture has always been normalised, widespread and potent for much longer than any other region of the US, so when the gangsters made music, they just labelled it “Gangsta Rap.”
According to many, in the modern-day, gangsta rap is dead, and many cite the 2007 sales battle between Kanye West and 50 Cent as the death of the subgenre with 50 Cent’s low sales showing the loss of its appeal.
That said, there has always been a pocket of hip-hop where violence takes centre stage, and much of the drill music from Chicago is evidence of this. However, for now, it appears that the culture wants meaningful and heartfelt projects from Kendrick Lamar.