Negative and Positive

               With every positive entity, there is always negative backlash that comes along with it. Rap music was made to send inspirational messages through a catchy beat. During its early stages, rap music was conveying the right messages that it was originally meant to do, however, over time that changed. It became easier to produce any kind of music that one wanted to, so more individuals and groups made music. The great thing about rap music being expanded to anyone that felt they had a talent was that amazing artists were being discovered; but that was also the downfall. Since it was not hard to produce music, songs were made that were not up to par with the rest of the great music that was out.

Gangsta Rap

Rap group N.W.A.

               As rap music progressed, a new form of rap music was taking place. This music category held the name, gangsta rap.  The group that would truly revolutionize gangsta rap was N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) whose debut album, Straight Outta Compton, was released in 1988. The release of Straight Outta Compton marks a critical turning point in the history of rap hip hop, which was a booming global phenomenon in 1988 but still hadn't strayed far from its roots as party music. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five had established hip hop's potential for social commentary with their epic single "The Message" in 1983, but Straight Outta Compton offered something far less measured and polite than one usually associates with the word "commentary." The album's first three tracks alone— "Straight Outta Compton," "**** Tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta"—may have contained more explicit language and vulgar subject matter than every previous hip hop record combined, and it contained nothing like a moral "message." It may not have been the first recorded example of Gangsta rap—Schooly D and Ice-T mined similar territory somewhat earlier—but Straight Outta Compton is the album that introduced it to the mainstream.

Restoration

Rap music began to take a tumble in the wrong direction as far as good music was concerned. There were too many negative connotations to rap music that it was becoming toxic to the youth that listened. A lot of artists took notice of this and strived to change the bad reputation rap music possessed. This destructive status of rap music made it hard for great and affirmative artists to break through. Only recently has rap music begun to progress effectively. Some artists are taking their music extremely seriously and it is showing in the work they are producing. Their great work is influencing the underground and the mainstream categories. If this continues to happen then we will see a new evolution in rap music.