Can Gangstas Grow Up

When I ask- Can Gangstas Grow Up? I really am asking a question that i want to know the answer to. I think the life span of a gangsta rapper in the music scene is one of the shortest. I think that's basically because  of the redundancy in this kind of rap; a gangsta rapper has put himself in a box of telling tales of his or his neighborHOOD's gangsta stories, and he can only re-invent how he tells those stories so much before people get tired of hearing them. That was the case with Snoop Dogg; he released a damn near classic with Doggystyle in the early 90s, but there has been minimal growth after that. Ofcos, he has since detached himself from that gangsta image, and now collabos with people like Katy Perry, but he can never top his peak from the 90s.



50 Cent is another example. Curtis Jackson (50 cent) hit the world with his bomb, Get Rich Or Die Trying in 2003, which went on to sell over 11 million copies worldwide. He was the new milleniun's gangsta rapper. He had been shot 9 times (or so he made the world believe), he had the whole G-Unit movement, and the gangsta persona with his physical appearance; but these type of qualities can only catch the attention of people for a while. 50 had his run with it, but now he can nolonger go platinum, or even get his label to support his albums. Gangsta rap has a very short life span, and the reason is because the artists that chose that sub-genre, refuse to be creative and grow out of it. I was watching TV the other day, and i saw a couple of new 50 cent videos where he was still doing the gangsta thing, and i was wondering why he feels he has to keep doing that. He lives in Connecticut, and has been away from that kind of life for a decade now, so why does he still protray that image?



Ice Cube, and the other old west-coast gangsta rappers are legends, but they can't drop an album today that would make headlines. In fact, this is the reason why West Coast rap is irrelevant right not, except from a few. So, i ask the question- Can Gangstas Grow up? Is there a way gangsta rappers can grow from maybe glorifying that lifestyle, to speaking on other ways of living? Most of them can't shake off that persona they created. Some try, but that would lead to a risk of losing who they were while they were at the peak of being a gangsta rapper, and also losing the fan-base they built up. I think some of them are getting wiser now. For example, i am happy for the success of Young Jeezy's new album- TM103. Technically, Jeezy is a gangsta rapper, but if you check the singles he has been dropping from this new album, you would know he is trying to downplay that old image of his- "I Do" and "Leave You Alone" are definitely not gangsta rap songs.



You have the gangsta rappers that mix finesse with their music; the ones that go the bragadocious way like Rick Ross that still have a chance for growth. I think any rapper that envisons growth and longevity in hip hop should never box himself in with that gangsta rap persona. If you pick rappers that have been relivant in hip hop for more than 10 years, they are rappers that bring more to the table than just hood stories. Jay-Z is the braggadocios type, and even if  he portrayed being a gangsta in the past, it was more of a don status, than a street corner type. To keep his music going and keep the albums dropping, he has to take the persona he created to higher heights, that's why he has to keep talking money and success.

Busta Rhymes came in the game with his commical style and crazy delivery, so this would still keep him going, because there is always some form of growth that can be achieved in that lane. Jadakiss is still here after more than 10 years because, even though he does gangsta rap, he has that loveable raspy voice, plus his punchlines are alwasy on point. Nas dropped his Illmatic album 18 years ago, and people considered it a classic. He told hood stories on it, but it wasn't really the stories, but the way he told those stories and his intelligence that made him so great that 18 years later, his album (Life Is Good) is being anticipated by people that werent even alive when he dropped his first album.