Gangsta rap

Gangsta rap (also called Gangster rap and reality rap) is a subgenre of hip hop that reflects the violent lifestyles of some inner-city youths. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word gangster. The genre was pioneered in the mid 1980s by rappers such as Afroman and Ice Cube, and was popularized in the later part of the 1980s by groups like N.W.A. After the national attention that Ice-T and N.W.A created in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip hop. Many people have criticized gangsta rap for allegedly promoting illegal activities such as assault, murder, and selling illegal drugs.