![]() ![]() Lush melodies were replaced by hollow beats, shimmering high hats, and paranoid, desolate piano lines. Coming in the wake of the lawsuit fiasco that followed the extensive and sophisticated application of sampling on Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, gangster rap also came to be defined by its minimalism. Its sound, indebted principally to the beats of DJ Premier, Clark Kent, and, perhaps most importantly, the prolific work of Wu-Tang’s RZA, deviated starkly from the soul, funk, rock, and blues influences of all rap music that had come before. ![]() ![]() The period was defined by classics like Nas’ Illmatic, Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Mobb Deep’s The Infamous, and Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, that used rap as a platform through which to make public the pitfalls of drug dealing, as well as the tragedy of inner city poverty and gang violence. Jay-Z released his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, in 1996, at the height of the gangster rap era. Track 8 off the 1996 album Reasonable Doubt ![]()
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