For fans and critics who intellectualize it, gangsta rap, or “reality rap,” is serious business. For them, the defining genre of West Coast hip-hop represents true stories from the ’hood as told by ...

Should 50 Cent be barred from Canada? Well, I don't know Mr. Cent. If I did, I could call him Fiddy. That's what his friends and other rap star/moguls call him. So my view on whether he should or ...

With “Dipset Anthem”, the Diplomats created an immortal song. For our latest Behind the Beat, Rsonist (of The Heatmakerz) tells Thomas Hobbs why we’re still listening to that “gangsta music” 20 years ...

If a rapper were only to be known for one song, it’s hard to beat “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Coolio’s signature No. 1 smash in 1995 was voted the best single of the year in the Village Voice’s “Pazz & Jop” ...

The most chilling words on a hip-hop CD this year are heard in the opening minute of Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Tha Doggfather” (Death Row/Interscope): “This is dedicated to the (African-Americans) who say ...

It’s a “G” thang. Once confined to the darkest corners of the hip-hop underground, gangsta rap has become mainstream America’s worst musical nightmare. At a time when gangsta rap has achieved ...

Memphis rap pioneers were celebrated at the RiverBeat Music Festival in Memphis. The concert paid tribute to the late Gangsta Boo, a prominent figure in Memphis rap. Memphis rap is enjoying a ...