South Central Cartel - Concrete Jungle, Vol. 1

When gangsta rap first became popular in the late '80s, it was cutting-edge and compelling. N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton and Ice-T's Power were hip-hop masterpieces that brilliantly articulated the pain and desperation of ghetto life in South Central Los Angeles. But gangsta rap became increasingly cliché-ridden in the 1990s, when a lot of it lacked the freshness that had characterized the innovations of Ice-T, N.W.A., Schoolly D, and the Geto Boys in the 1980s. Read More