Whither the West Coast gangsta?

When Ice Cube talks about “gangsta rap,” he is usually distancing himself from the phrase, describing it as a label he was erroneously given by the press and the public. Perhaps he draws that line because he really wasn’t out banging — even if, during his time in N.W.A, he was writing Eazy-E’s raps too, which typified a sound and swagger befitting his bandmate’s real-life history in the street. “Boyz-n-the-Hood” painted a vivid picture of a set-tripping, trigger-ready, six-fo’ riding spark plug drinking 40s and making the front page of the LA Times. The label came to characterize a certain cast of street soldiers, characters that would appear not only in the songs of N.W.A, Snoop Dogg and Ice-T, but the hood cinema of John Singleton and the Hughes Brothers. The music landscape has shifted since: LA is no longer the hub of rap culture, the gangstas have spread all over, and the position the West Coast prototype once held on the charts and in the pop consciousness is somewhat diminished. But you don’t have to look hard or far to find them, doing what they do best for those that might still try to quote them. Much of today’s...