Based on a lyrical focus on the lifestyles of inner-city thugs, gangsters and criminals, gangsta rap is viewed as a subgenre of hip hop music. Driven by drum beats, keyboard effects, loops and rapping or "flowing" from the vocals, gangsta rap is very similar to hip hop.
The lyrics of hip hop music sometimes focus on crime and violence in the inner city, but prior to the rise of gangsta rap in the late 1980s, hip hop relayed the style of soul music of the 1970s. It was received as a positive music. However, when gangsta rap emerged, it praised the acts of criminals and violence in the streets.
The media attacks gangsta rap and some hip hop artists on a regular basis because of their relationships with crime, violence, homophobia, materialism and misogyny. However, through out the 1990s, gangsta rap was the most commercially successful branch of hip hop in America, and dominated the Billboard charts numerous times.
Tupac Amaru Shakur, a native of New York City, moved to Marin City, California when he was 17 years of age. He lived on the streets and began hustling for the next four years. After meeting Shock-G, the front man of Digital Underground, a successful rap group from Oakland, Tupac joined the group to get experience. Tupac became "2Pac" and was an unlikely martyr of gangsta rap. His debut album "2Pacalypse Now" in 1991 set the tone for his career and he was a highly recognized artist in the world of gangsta rap. However, he died following a drive-by shooting in September 1996.
According to the biography of N.W.A. on Allmusic.com, N.W.A. band membes are "the unapologetically violent and sexist pioneers of gangsta rap, and are in many ways the most notorious group in the history of rap." The five-piece group was born into the genre in the late 1980s and glorified the violence and hedonism of a criminal lifestyle. Their music consisted of harsh language with funky, bass-driven beats. Artists Ice Cube and Eazy-E were group members before departing in 1989. The group eventually fell apart in 1992 when producer Dr. Dre left for a solo career.