“Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” is the first single off of Ice Cube’s upcoming album, Raw Footage. This video and track stand in strong opposition to the fast and flashy style currently dominating mainstream hip-hop. I’ve only listened to this one song, but it seems like Cube is attempting to get back to the style he had a major part in pioneering with NWA.

Though it was termed “gangsta rap” by the corporate media, the sub-genre did originally have strong socio-political messages which had been all but unnoticed by white America at the time. It was only after record companies realized there was money to be made with the gangsta rap image that the sub-genre lost its political edge and became solely about violence - kinda like the Rambo franchise. It didn’t take long for all other sub-genres within hip-hop to be squeezed out by record companies in favor of more hardcore artists. Since then, violence has been a prerequisite to being a rapper, and though it doesn’t look like things will change anytime soon, it’s at least refreshing to see the original “gangsta rapper” come out with a message again.