Ice-T commented on the current state of gangsta rap during an interview with Unique Access. Considered one of the first gangsta rappers, the rapper turned actor talked about the transitions he's seen throughout his career spanning four decades. According to Ice-T, gangsta rap has produced no threatening artist since 50 Cent.
"To me, the last gangster rapper was 50 Cent, because to me, he embodied that image...you know, that 'I don't give a f***,'" Ice-T said. "50 Cent had you really believe you didn't wanna f*** with him."
Ice-T added that audiences are supposed to fear gangsta rappers and he doesn't see that from today's artists.
"I think now, the new trap rappers, you know, they convince me they can get high, they convinced me maybe that they can sell a little drugs, but they don't scare me," he continued. "I think if you a gangsta rapper, you scare me a little bit. I don't think there's no new people that do it."
He mentioned artists like Kendrick Lamar, "who keeps a nice little hood edge," but said the sub-genre lacks the shock value it once had. Using Ice Cube and Eminem as examples, Ice-T stated that audiences have become conditioned to gangsta rap's subject matter.
"We scared the world so quickly, but then when Eminem did it they were like, 'Okay,'" he said. "Now, people are kind of conditioned. It's not like when Ice Cube came out and said, 'Crazy mother****** named—,' what the f***?! Who are these mother******, like yo! Now, everybody's like, 'Okay, you're gonna Crip walk and dance and s***.' It's not as threatening now."
Immediately afterwards, Ice-T corrected himself and named Bobby Shmurda as the last gangsta rapper but added, "That's when keeping it real goes wrong...When I saw GS9, I said, 'These little n***** is probably the business. These little n***** look wild like that.' But they were bar for bar snitching on themselves."
Kommentarer