What is the appeal of "Thug Life?"

superconor

What is the appeal of gantster rap? Would you think an artist has more appeal because they have been shot or have had a criminal past? To be honest i prefer a group that doesnt use gangster lifesyle to get respect, groups like The Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill.

What are your views on the subject?

Tha Gopher

TBH gangster links and all are more lyrical than literal. The amount of rappers who ever actually were involved in this type of thing is suprisingly low. Snoop Dogg(former Crip gang member done for cocaine dealing and once on trial for involvement in a murder)Eazy E,Notorious BIG and,of course now the most infamous thanks to that shooting,50 Cent,are practically the only rappers who lived lives which are majorly related to their music and lyrics. Though he is credited with the whole Thug Life thing taking off in the first place,in part thanks to his stomach tatoo and his involvement with the rap group Thug Life,in reality Tupac wasnt a true gangster. Its just that because of his violent death and lyrics he and gang crime have become interlinked.
The truth is that in their lyrics practically every mainstream rapper today has talked of selling drugs and gang membership and so forth,but in reality any of them with a bit of cop on will have no problem admitting that their pre fame lives werent quite so dramatic. Most rappers will in their past have had an arrest for something minor,but theyre young men like the rest of us and young lads find themselves getting into trouble sometimes. Thats life.
And not all artists paint themselves exactly with a gangster brush,even though they mention the lifestyle in their lyrics. Artists such as this include DMX and Eminem(more under the category insane bastards than gangsta)Nas(in that he is sort of half gangsta half conceincious rap)and the southern artists like Ludacris where having a good time seems to be the content of most lyrics.
In general fans will allow a bit of lyrical licence if you will,in that they couldnt care less if a rapper boasts of violent/illegal things he hasnt done as long as it is entertaining. But backlash against artists such as Ja Rule comes when they start to somehow think that they actually live this life litreally,when it is plain that they dont.
As for does a criminal past make a rapper more interesting,i dont think it does generally,but it nevertheless gets an artist more attention. 50 Cent is an almost stereotypical rap figure-a crack dealing musclebound ex con tatooed son of a murdered drug dealer who got shot 9 times? You couldnt make it up:D Eminem and Dre must have had a marketing erection when they signed somebody with a life story like that.

Makaveli

Ja Rule suffered backlash because he wrote about it in songs, and then released a long long list of, em, rap ballads.

Kold

Rap is poetry in which people portray aspects of life. Being a majorly afro-american artform in which their aspect of life deals mainly with poverty and overcoming adversity that covers a large deal of the rap coming out. It isn't really the gangster aspect of tupacs rap that makes it so appealing, it is the character of Tupac himself and the workings of his mind

red_ice

ill set you straight on 'thug life'

Although i dispise 2pac and all the muppets who shout thug life, the meaning is actually positive. Thug life is not about going around killin people and beating the living shyte out of them on the side it actually stands for

The
Hate
U
Give

Little
Infants
F ucks
Everyone

The message itsself is saying that if you treat kids bad when they are young, or beat them.. what ever.. they will grow to hate people and be very defencive, hence them all rappin about how they will kill you or what not and great they are and the money they have. Coming from a rough background and recieving 'thug life' and then turning out the way they are.

Yet again, i hate all that pants 'gangster rap'. thats not what HipHop is about, and i dont feel that its part of it.

Hope you got a nice lil lesson there

BigO

Its all a way of rebelling against the socio-dynamics of a race driven culture.

Being a "thug" is an extreme form of distrust and underminement to the social class barriers set out before you.

In laymans terms its about giving the system the finger. This distrust is evedent in tupac's ryhme

"wheres my 40 acres and a mule,
Fool."