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These gang subcultures turned their daily activities into rap music, prior to the arrival of contemporary street gang memoirs in the 1990s. The likes of Eminem and Vanilla Ice have embraced and interpreted contemporary black rap styles. Longings for blackness certainly spurred the commercial success of rap, and its popularity was further fuelled by its candid first-person form. The musical genre which paved the way for rap is 'hip hop'. This kind of music often promotes break-dancing, and the lyrics depict gangster's daily life. It can be accompanied by graffiti and is popular among African American and Latino youth cultures.

By the mid-1980s, a distinctive version of rap was becoming popular on the West coast, becoming increasingly pre-occupied with violent tales from the inner-city. The term 'gangsta rap' was invented by artist Ice Cube in 1989 and his original band, Niggaz With Attitude (NWA), became the first gangsta rap act to reach number one on the Billboard pop album chart in June 1991. And by late 1991 this version of rap was becoming a real success, generating an impressive $700 million in music sales.

1.4 Conclusion

I have started this chapter with an overview of street gangs from past to present and continued with presenting their subcultural practices, in what ways urban youth adapt and use rituals in order to acquire social status, and demonstrating how street gangs differentiate from one another, i.e. through tattoos, graffiti and rap music.

Tattoos are used by gang members in order to identify themselves, to symbolize commitment and also a crime or threat. Usually considered badges of honor, they are encoded messages that identify the members of that gang.

As I showed previously in this chapter, the best way to study gangs is to analize graffiti, because it aids to understand the social and cultural meaning of these groups which have become a global phenomenon. Graffiti serves as an excellent tool of communication and expression.

According to cultural scholars, gangsta rap and ghetto action films formed part of a black cultural movement that originated with those who have suffered most by the conditions of post-industrial America and years of deliberate race and class subordination.