#Coolio gangsters paradise genre code
#Coolio gangsters paradise genre crack

#Coolio gangsters paradise genre code

Using as a model Stevie WonderвЂ™s original lyrics about people stuck in a racist belief system, he drops a careful, thoroughly believable rap about a gangbanger doomed by his own code of violence. If the title trackвЂ™s ominous tone is as simple as the tolling of a funeral bell, well, you might think Coolio has read Hemingway. Like Tha Dogg Pound, Coolio aims his music at seventh-grade tastes, but to a far more compelling end. If anything, Tha Dogg PoundвЂ™s вЂњcultural impactвЂќ was just the firing mechanism necessary to set off a preplanned counterattack by these authority figures. At this late date, the only people who earnestly react to this warmed-over platterful of pathologies are high-strung school administrators, roles filled in this case by a record company and a presidential candidate (stern Principal Dole). These antics are supposed to make your jaw drop in disbelief more likely itвЂ™ll only drop to release a loud yawn. Like the records of so many gangsta rappers, their album offers a lot of violent sexual abuse of young black women and brutal slaying of young black men, with a smattering of narcotics abuse and homophobia on the side. Essentially, the sound of both groups registers as juvenile spectacle: broad, simple, disposable. Originally released on the Dangerous Minds sound track last summer, вЂњGangstaвЂ™s ParadiseвЂќ quickly became the biggest hit of the year.Д«ut if Coolio and Tha Dogg Pound share the ability to grab attention with their music, they differ widely in their ability to hold it with their message. It worked just like the doctor ordered too. In it Coolio transforms the haunting synth hook from Stevie WonderвЂ™s melancholic and introspective 1976 song вЂњPastime ParadiseвЂќ into a melodramatic motif signaling high gothic doom. Coolio canвЂ™t match Tha Dogg PoundвЂ™s canine fealty to their master, but you can hear how much he owes Dre on his albumвЂ™s title track. Though itвЂ™s not nearly as catchy, its deep bass textures, whining synths, and casual beats supply the same long, hedonist mood trip as DreвЂ™s original. On Dogg Food DreвЂ™s right-hand rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg adds guest vocals and Dre himself mixes most of the album to make sure it sounds like The Chronic Part II.

No surprise with Tha Dogg PoundвЂ“after all, they were DreвЂ™s personal discovery.

Either way heвЂ™s largely responsible for rapвЂ™s newfound commercial strength, as both Coolio and Tha Dogg Pound have once again proven. If you donвЂ™t, you can say he turned the west coast sound into pimp music. If you want to be nice about it, you might say Dre opened hardcore to the pop market without compromising its rebel stance. With the multiplatinum success of his 1993 album The Chronic, Dre single-handedly replaced hardcore rapвЂ™s harsh, declamatory vocal style and deep, tricky mixes with casually disdainful raps and plush, simple grooves. These days that refers not only to a neighborhood in South Central LA, but also to the influence of its most famous resident, Dr. Ironically, these two contrasting albums became such big sellers for the one element they both have in commonвЂ“music that came straight outta Compton. Unlike any other multiplatinum rapper, he tries to show the вЂњrealityвЂќ of his hood without playing a gangbanger, a strategy that could potentially make him a rap superstar for everybody.

#Coolio gangsters paradise genre crack

On GangstaвЂ™s Paradise, his second album, this former delinquent and crack head has made a monumental effort to deepen the success of his rose-colored 1994 hits вЂњFantastic VoyageвЂќ and вЂњI RememberвЂќ without selling out. Time Warner dumped the crewвЂ™s label, Death Row/Interscope, after the outcry over an album that does indeed embody Bob DoleвЂ™s вЂњnightmares of depravity.вЂќ Coolio (Artis Ivey) couldnвЂ™t be more different. Tha Dogg PoundвЂ“Dat Nigga Daz and Kurupt the Kingpin (Delmar Arnaud and Ricardo Brown)вЂ“demonstrate their вЂњcultural impactвЂќ by earning all the official condemnation any self-respecting outlaw could want. When put together they offer a de facto morality play between the Bad Rap Duo and the Good Rap Hero, staged in a media theater as big as the nation.

Like no other contenders, they are at least trying to demonstrate hip-hopвЂ™s continued significance. Two of the biggest rap albums of вЂ™95 put this critique to the testвЂ“CoolioвЂ™s GangstaвЂ™s Paradise and Tha Dogg PoundвЂ™s Dogg Food.