Gangsta Rap: Fact Vs Fiction

How many fans of gangsta rap obsess about the 'realness' of the lyrics? my guess is quite a lot. Taking pride in bragging about gangbanging, murder and stealing is the main objective of the music. Millions of teenage boys idolise 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, The Game and many others for their 'true O.G.' image. But when it comes down to it, how many of us truly believe that these people have blood on their hands? The bodycount of men who died at the hands of Dr. Dre, despite his tough lyrics, is most likely to be zero. And thank god, as why would anyone hope their favourite rapper has killed another human being.

When young fans talk about keeping it gangsta, it's simply playing with fantasy. Rappers become idols like movie stars, in the mould of Arnie & Sly Stallone. Realistically if these people commited the crimes they rap about, we would have no respect for them. An example is Big Lurch. You've probably never heard of him but his short rap career was cut short when he killed and ate, yes ate, a young woman. Now in prison for life, his album "It's All Bad", wasn't much of a success. And as to be expected the man is taught of as scum.Compare this reality to a Game LP, his fans swear by his 'realness', but how many people would support him if he carried out real murders. He'd most probably end up like Big Lurch. Hated and imprisoned. When rappers do go to jail, it's for gun possesion. No dead bodies, no shots fired. Early videos of Tupac show his real nature as a sensitive member of the Baltimore school of the arts, while Dr. Dre (1st On Left) spent his days in Compton dressed like this:Of course a lot of rappers come from the streets and have a long list of felonies. DMX, T.I., 50 Cent amongst others have the jail time to back it up. But the heroes in gangsta rap always fall the victim and rarely the perp. Big.L, Proof, Biggie and Pac all died murdered. They go out like heroes, fallen to the game. Like Dead Prez say about gangsta rappers: "there just people with ideas, there just like me and you when the smoke and camera disapear".