Trap Rap-The Bastard Child Of Gangsta and Mafioso

In 1973, one of the founding members of The Last Poets, Alafia Pudim, released a Spoken Word album titled Hustler’s Convention. The album tells the story of two Hustlers named Sport and Spoon and is filled with vivid descriptions of gambling, pimping, drug dealing, car chases as well as a shoot out with the cops. The album is considered the pre-cursor and blueprint to Gangsta Rap as we know it due to its accurate and gritty portrayal of the ghetto and the sense of an aural blaxpoitation film that presents itself throughout as the character “Lightning Rod” tells his story to the backdrop of a Kool & The Gang score.






In 1986 rapper Schoolly D released his self titled album that included the song P.S.K. What Does It Mean?. This song has been credited by Ice T as the inspiration for what is widely considered the first true Gangsta Rap song Six In the Mornin’.


Ice T-

“The first record that came out along those lines was Schoolly D's "P.S.K." Then the syncopation of that rap was used by me when I made "Six In The Morning". The vocal delivery was the same: '...P.S.K. is makin' that green', '...six in the morning, police at my door'. When I heard that record I was like "Oh shit!" and call it a bite or what you will but I dug that record. My record didn't sound like "P.S.K.", but I liked the way he was flowing with it. "P.S.K." was talking about Park Side Killers but it was very vague. That was the only difference, when Schoolly did it, it was '...one by one, I'm knockin' em out'. All he did was represent a gang on his record. I took that and wrote a record about guns, beating people down, and all that with "Six In The Morning".





In 1987 Eazy E released the single “Eazy Duz It” and in 1988 N.W.A. released the album “Straight Outta Compton,” which due to the contributing rock guitar driven production and accompanying excessively violent and shocking lyrics, cemented Gangsta Rap as a viable and commercially successful sub genre of Hip Hop.






In 1989, while N.W.A. was carving a path for Gangsta Rap on the west coast, east coast legendary rapper Kool G Rap released the album “Road To Riches”, whose title track is credited with founding the sub genre of Mafioso Rap. Mafioso Rap, like its west coast counter part Gangsta Rap, depicted gritty and accurate portrayals of urban city life with an Italian Mafia twist. Whereas Gangsta Rap portrayed the day to day hustle of the common gangsta, Mafioso Rap portrayed the braggadocios, self indulgent, materialistic, and oft dangerous life of organized crime with frequent references to the Italian underworld, mafia, and infamous mobsters.

Kool G Rap is credited with laying down the blueprint for such east coast artists as Nas, Jay Z, Wu Tang, AZ, Mobb Deep, and Notorious B.I.G. while ushering in the east coast era of Mafioso Rap. The previously mentioned rappers all adopted Mafioso related pseudonyms such as Nas Escobar, Frank White, and Wu Tang’s Wu Gambino monikers. The Mafioso Era of rap was one of expert lyricism saturated with mafia references and is responsible for numerous classics such as Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Reasonable doubt, Life After Death, Do Or Die, and It Was Written.




In 2003, rapper T.I. released the album Trap Muzik, which ushered in a new era and created a new sub genre of Hip Hop know as Trap Rap. The term “trap” is a southern colloquialism that initially denoted a crack house, whose boarded up windows and doors allowed for only one way in and out, thus literally trapping an individual inside if confronted from the singular doorway. The term was later expounded upon to include street corners of the ghetto where drugs were distributed, prior to being used as a synonym for the entirety of the ghetto itself. Trap Rap’s main subject matter revolves around the use, production and/or distribution of illegal narcotics as well as the monetary gain incurred and it is rather easy to take note of the influences that both Gangsta Rap and Mafioso Rap have had on Trap Rap as a sub genre from the gang life escapades found in Gangsta Rap, to the excessive materialistic themes and drug reference preponderance originating in Mafioso Rap.




Although seemingly a hybrid of the two elder sub genres, Trap Rap has received much criticism from even the founders of the above mentioned eras and is widely used as a scape goat for the lack of album sales and relatively watered down lyricism present within commercial rap today. Although Trap Rap initially involved a somewhat limited use of elaborate lyricism, it quickly became relegated to relying heavily on southern beats while implementing simplistic rhyme schemes, an attribute that as previously stated has caused a large amount of criticism for the sub genre.

When the histories and traits of all three sub genres of rap are laid down side by side, it becomes almost self evident that a great deal of hypocrisy is taking place in the current climate of hip hop as its followers are taking offense to the basic tenets of Trap Rap all the while defending Gangsta and Mafioso Rap, although the genre itself is a hybrid of both elder genres. There were no multi-syllabic rhyme schemes present within Gangsta Rap in its infancy, prior to the G Funk Era yet critics bash Trap Rap for its simplistic and oft times crude and rudimentary lyrics even though Gangsta Rap’s pioneers employed the same methods to much fan fare. Depictions of felonious deeds and narcotic distribution in the criminal underworld were as much of a part of Mafioso Rap as they are Trap Rap yet the prior seemingly gets a pass as it portrayed this “seedy realm of life” via poetic, illustrious, and elaborate literary techniques. Whether encased within romanticism or laid out bare for all to see…is drug dealing still not drug dealing?

Hip Hop’s followers are quick to attack a specific sub category of the genre but do so without realizing that rap has gone full circle. We went from simplistic terminology to complex rhyme schemes and now back to one dimensional language. Just as is true with any genre of music, hip hop is cyclic and will continue along this circular path soon enough, leaving the Trap Rap era behind it, once again replacing it with the lyricism that everyone so lustfully craves. The signs are there-within the music of J.Cole, Jay Electronica, Lupe Fiasco, Slaughterhouse and many many more…we just need to take the time out to quit complaining and notice it, before we become so submerged in our criticism that the entire second coming of lyrical rappers passes us by and we are once again awash in monosyllabic redundancy.