Word: gangstas
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Fact: In my junior year of high school, I remember there was a big brawl in the school parking lot between some cowboy boot wearing hicks and a group of gangsta-wannabe thugs. If that’s not cultural diversity at its most potent, then I don’t know what...
...preppy soccer players and the black-clad, black-nail-polished kids (for whom I feel a nostalgic pang every time I pass the Harvard Square T station) who haunted an alcove by the soda machine; another gulf lay between those Goths and the swaggering boys who affected a gangsta style. Each of the major clothing-based castes was further subdivided; the school’s social structure was as well-ordered as any ant colony’s. In retrospect, it seems odd that 2,000 suburban high school students believed themselves so splintered by ideological differences that they required...
...chemistry, they all note in unison, was undeniable, enriched by the fact that each member brought his unique style and background to the League. Owusu-Kesse clearly shows his influences from the lyrical prodigy Jay-Z, with his low-slung staccato rhymes; Terry brings the in-your-face gangsta excitement with wit to spare; Barnes utilizes a Jamaican accent and silky vocals to represent a dancehall flavor with straight-up “ragga” delivery; and Deleon rocks a style that merges the playful, smooth lyricism of underground acts like De La Soul with the rapid-fire flow...
...introducing outsiders to something revelatory. The first thing to notice about Def Poetry Jam is that the audience is engaged more directly and passionately (shouts of assent or murmurs of sympathy after each line that connects) than any other on Broadway. The second thing to notice, especially after the gangsta-posturing insult raps of 8 Mile, is how empowering, often funny and always life affirming the words...
...Streets revels in his London accent and phrasing at least as much and to greater effect as any American East-side gangsta. In his skinny-whiteness and mix of braggadocio and self-mockery, he is reminiscent of another white rapper known for his originality and his crudity. Original Pirate Material’s “Too Much Brandy” sounds a lot like, say, “Drug Ballad,” or possibly “Lounge...