Gangsta Rap 101
With this assignment we begin our second textbook, Eithne Quinn’s Nuthin’ but a “g” thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap.
Reading
- Quinn, 1-40
Listening/Viewing
- Bird in the Hand (Ice Cube 1991)
- St. Ides commercial (Ice Cube 1993)
- St. Ides commercial (Ice Cube and EPMD 1991)
- St. Ides commercial (Notorious B.I.G. 19??)
- Boyz in the Hood excerpt (John Singleton 1991)
- Niggaz for Life (NWA 1991)
Reading/Listening Guide
“The general thrust of this study is that gangsta’s very real political energies lay in the struggle to come to terms with an age in which there was a dramatic decline in popular protest politics, precisely for a community that had a vital protest history” (Quinn 30).
Chapter 2: Gangsta’s Rap,” is subdivided. A great study technique is to summarize in your own words the major ideas presented in each section:
- Introduction
- “Gangsta and the Burden of Representation” (19)
- The Rap on Gangsta: History and Poetics” (22)
- The Rap on Gangsta: Politics and Culture” (27)
- Gangsta’s Rap: “Why do I Call Myself a ‘Nigga’?” (32)
- Gangsta’s Rap: “Vernacular Theory” (38)
Discussion
Please don’t try to answer all of these questions in your first posting. Instead, use them as a way into your own thoughts about the reading and the music.
- In what ways does 1990s gangsta rap continue to influence contemporary hip hop?
- Are gangsta rap and/or its descendants valuable? Why?
- Which of the four approaches outlined by Quinn is closest to your own ways of thinking about the music (19-20)?
