In "Hip-Hop Generation," Bakari Kitwana states that black people born between 1965 and 1984, who entered the job force during the 1980s and 1990s, did so during a period marked by falling wages, worsening conditions for unskilled workers and growing disparities in income and wealth between America's minority rich and majority poor. Gangsta rap lyrics depict this social, economic and cultural reality.
The term gangsta rap was largely created in the media. It refers to hip-hop that depicts street life and violence. In "Queens Reigns Supreme," Ethan Brown suggests that as a result of gangsta rap, terms like "keeping it real" became most important in hip-hop. Many hip-hop fans believe the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. contributed to the genre's negative image.
According to the "Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip-Hop Culture," while Southern California is often thought of as the birthplace of gangsta rap, the first acknowledged album came from Philadelphia rap artist Schoolly D, who independently released "PSK (Parkside Killers) -- What Does It Mean?" in 1985. However, the South Central Los Angeles group N.W.A. and rapper Ice-T are most synonymous with the genre's commercial popularity.
Most gangsta rappers talk about poverty, street crime and police surveillance. Robin D.G. Kelley in "Kickin' Reality, Kickin' Ballistics" argues gangsta rap lyrics convey social realism and loosely resemble a street ethnography of racist institutions and social practices, told more often than not in the first person. Artists in this genre often portray gangsters or hustlers located in the American inner city ('hood) telling a narrative that is often referred to as street journalism.
Some people find gangsta rap offensive. As the "Rap Basement" states, critics of the genre come from both right wing and left wing commentators, and religious leaders, who have accused the genre of promoting homophobia, violence, profanity, promiscuity, misogyny, rape, street gangs, drive-by shootings, vandalism, thievery, drug use, racism and materialism. Gangsta rappers, on the other hand, argue their music describes the reality of inner-city life.