Eddie Griffin on Gangster Rap
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/18
I was doing some extra chores this evening at the ranch piling a gravel mound that got messed up, so I got it to look nice and organized. Then I had to blow some leaves and other gunk on platforms and gravel into a corner of a barn to be picked up and scooped into two wheelbarrows for dumping into the manure bin. I was reflecting, and a thought came to me on Eddie Griffin.
He was joking one time about rappers and gangsters, like urban street gangsters. The idea being a distinction between gangster, rappers, rap, and gangster rap. Griffin has a solid point. There are rapper, certainly, like Jay-Z. There are lyricists like Eminem. Both at the height of their particular craft, no doubt.
There is a legitimate and, as 50 Cent points out, a black art “without question.” Even though, he takes a turn stating that some had a hard time accepting that a white artist does it better than black artists, “It is what it is.” Yet, gangster rap, according to Griffin’s joke, isn’t a thing.
If you’re a gangster, the first rule is “silence,” according to Griffin. Then comes the true punchline, if you’re a rapper, “You talk too fucking much!” That’s a fair point.
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