Editing Gangsta rap (section)

===N.W.A and Ice Cube===
The first blockbuster gangsta rap album was [[N.W.A]]'s ''[[Straight Outta Compton]]'' (1989). It established West Coast hip hop as a vital genre and Los Angeles as a legitimate rival to hip hop's long-time capital, [[New York City]].<ref>Kory Grow, [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/n-w-as-straight-outta-compton-12-things-you-didnt-know-707207 "N.W.A's 'Straight Outta Compton': 12 things you didn't know"], ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' website  Retrieved 10 May 2023</ref> ''Straight Outta Compton'' sparked the first major controversy regarding hip hop lyrics when their song "[[Fuck tha Police]]" earned a letter from [[FBI]] Assistant Director, Milt Ahlerich, strongly expressing [[police|law enforcement]]'s resentment of the song.<ref>{{cite news|first=Ryan |last=Ritchie |title=Eazy to be hard |url=http://www.presstelegram.com/entertainment/ci_5315527 |website=Presstelegram.com|date=2007-02-28 |access-date=2008-01-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304170024/http://www.presstelegram.com/entertainment/ci_5315527 |archive-date=March 4, 2007 |df=mdy }}</ref><ref>Deflem, Mathieu. 2020. [https://deflem.blogspot.com/2019/07/music-censorship-labeling.html "Popular Culture and Social Control: The Moral Panic on Music Labeling."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803015238/https://deflem.blogspot.com/2019/07/music-censorship-labeling.html |date=August 3, 2019 }} ''American Journal of Criminal Justice'' 45(1):2–24 (First published online July 24, 2019).</ref> Due to the influence of Ice-T, N.W.A, and [[Ice Cube]]'s early solo career, gangsta rap is often somewhat erroneously credited as being a mostly [[West Coast hip hop|West Coast]] phenomenon, despite the contributions of East Coast acts like Boogie Down Productions in shaping the genre and despite Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D being generally regarded as the first gangsta rapper.

In the early 1990s, former N.W.A member [[Ice Cube]] would further influence gangsta rap with his hardcore, socio-political solo albums, which suggested the potential of gangsta rap as a political medium to give voice to inner-city youth. Ice Cube's early solo albums and EPs, including ''[[AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted]]'' (1990), ''[[Death Certificate (album)|Death Certificate]]'' (1991), the ''[[Kill at Will]]'' EP (1991) and ''[[The Predator (Ice Cube album)|The Predator]]'' (1992) all contributed significantly to the development of gangsta rap. N.W.A's second album, ''[[Efil4zaggin]]'' (1991) (released after Ice Cube's departure from the group), broke ground as the first gangsta rap album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts.

Aside from N.W.A and Ice-T, [[Too Short]] (from [[Oakland, California|Oakland]]), [[Frost (rapper)|Kid Frost]] and the [[South Gate, California|South Gate]]–based Latino group [[Cypress Hill]] were pioneering West Coast rappers with gangsta rap songs and themes. [[Above the Law (group)|Above the Law]] also played an important role in the gangsta rap movement, as their 1990 debut album ''[[Livin' Like Hustlers]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=above_the_law|title=TrouserPress.com :: Above the Law|website=www.trouserpress.com | access-date=24 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041107044817/http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=above_the_law |archive-date=November 7, 2004 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/17426-above-the-law-livin-like-hustlers|title=The Quietus {{pipe}} Features {{pipe}} Anniversary {{pipe}} Is Above The Law's Livin' Like Hustlers The Best Gangsta Rap Album?|website=The Quietus |date=March 13, 2015 | access-date=24 April 2021}}</ref>