gangstan.adj.
/ˈɡaŋstə/, U.S. /ˈɡæŋstə/ Originally U.S. (esp. among African-Americans).
A. n.
1. A member of an urban territorial gang (see gang n. 8d); a gangster.
ΚΠ
1988 ‘Ice Cube’ et al. in ‘N.W.A.’ Straight Outta Compton (album) (title of song) Gangsta gangsta.
1992 Vibe Fall (Preview Issue) 80/2 Gold is generally worn by only two types of people: retrograde, out-of-touch B-boys and hard-core gangstas for whom a blatant display says, ‘I'm so fuckin' large, don't even think about takin' it.’
1993 Guardian 16 July ii. 4/5 The mag's first cover, tag-lined ‘Teenage Gangsta!’ features a kid in a hooded sweatshirt aiming a handgun.
1997 Touch May 32/1 In the twenty four hours that follow we meet..a gallery of wannabe London gangstas... These are small-time chancers, and all the more vicious for it.
2005 N. Hornby Long Way Down 47 They pretend that they're fucking gangstas, and listen to hip-hop about hos and guns.
2.
a. A performer or fan of gangsta rap; = gangsta rapper n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > [noun] > pop musician > types of
hard rocker1942
bebopper1946
skiffler1948
bopper1951
rock 'n' roller1955
rockabilly1956
rock star1957
rocker1958
rock idol1958
rockster1960
funkster1963
country rocker1964
punk rocker1972
punk1976
punkster1976
cock-rocker1977
MC1979
rapper1979
thrasher1979
New Romantic1980
prog rocker1980
neo-punk1981
pomp rocker1981
rapster1981
rockist1981
hip-hopper1982
scratcher1982
skanker1983
pop tart1984
trash rocker1984
techno-head1985
Goth1986
Britpopper1989
gangsta1989
gangster rapper1989
popstrel1989
gangsta rapper1990
house-head1990
grunger1991
shoegazer1991
junglist1992
trip-hopper1993
1989 Washington Post 21 Sept. (Style section) c8/2 ‘Gangstas’ like the violence-rationalizing N.W.A. and Schooly D.
1993 Atlantic Oct. 109/1 This turf belongs to the gangstas, whose ghetto narratives forcefully express the rage a middle-class monologuist such as Ivey can't bring himself to feel.
1994 Rolling Stone 16 June 108/2 Reinventing the blues, G. Love arrives with a message that's far more eloquent..than anything the gangstas have said in ages.
1999 L.A. Weekly (Nexis) 14 May 45 A morass of shit-talkin' gangstas and Puffyesque poseurs.
2005 Vanity Fair Nov. 327 Neither success nor academe's embrace has changed Ice-T, the gangsta who sees through gangsta-ness.
b. Short for gangsta rap n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > other pop music
a cappella1905
soundclash1925
marabi1933
doo-wop1958
filk1959
folk-rock1963
Liverpool sound1963
Mersey beat1963
Mersey sound1963
surf music1963
malombo1964
mbaqanga1964
easy listening1965
disco music1966
Motown1966
boogaloo1967
power pop1967
psychedelia1967
yé-yé1967
agitpop1968
bubblegum1968
Tamla Motown1968
Tex-Mex1968
downtempo1969
taarab1969
thrash1969
world music1969
funk1970
MOR1970
tropicalism1970
Afrobeat1971
electro-pop1971
post-rock1971
techno-pop1971
Tropicalia1971
tropicalismo1971
disco1972
Krautrock1972
schlager1973
Afropop1974
punk funk1974
disco funk1975
Europop1976
mgqashiyo1976
P-funk1976
funkadelia1977
karaoke music1977
alternative music1978
hardcore1978
psychobilly1978
punkabilly1978
R&B1978
cowpunk1979
dangdut1979
hip-hop1979
Northern Soul1979
rap1979
rapping1979
jit1980
trance1980
benga1981
New Romanticism1981
post-punk1981
rap music1981
scratch1982
scratch-music1982
synth-pop1982
electro1983
garage1983
Latin1983
Philly1983
New Age1984
New Age music1985
ambient1986
Britpop1986
gangster rap1986
house1986
house music1986
mbalax1986
rai1986
trot1986
zouk1986
bhangra1987
garage1987
hip-house1987
new school1987
old school1987
thrashcore1987
acid1988
acid house1988
acid jazz1988
ambience1988
Cantopop1988
dance1988
deep house1988
industrial1988
swingbeat1988
techno1988
dream pop1989
gangsta rap1989
multiculti1989
new jack swing1989
noise-pop1989
rave1989
Tejano1989
breakbeat1990
chill-out music1990
indie1990
new jack1990
new jill swing1990
noisecore1990
baggy1991
drum and bass1991
gangsta1991
handbag house1991
hip-pop1991
loungecore1991
psychedelic trance1991
shoegazing1991
slowcore1991
techno-house1991
gabba1992
jungle1992
sadcore1992
UK garage1992
darkcore1993
dark side1993
electronica1993
G-funk1993
sampladelia1994
trip hop1994
break1996
psy-trance1996
nu skool1997
folktronica1999
dubstep2002
Bongo Flava2003
grime2003
Bongo2004
singeli2015
1991 Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) 17 May e19/1 Whether you love or loathe the loud, abrasive and confrontational rap style known as ‘gangsta’, its influence and popularity cannot be denied.
1996 Entertainm. Weekly 2 Feb. 54 By last year, the bells had begun to toll for gangsta, and not merely as a result of public pressure from moral crusaders and opportunistic politicians.
2000 W. Shaw Westsiders 50 By the time gangsta had emerged, it had already distanced itself still further from what had gone before.
2010 P. Murray Skippy Dies 277 The rec rooms clotted with knots of boys dreaming up routines that range from opera to gangsta to a new form of Wagnerian tropicalia.
B. adj.
1. Of or relating to urban territorial gangs or their activities and culture.
ΚΠ
1989 Los Angeles Times 26 Mar. 68/2 Rap music—from the zany pop-culture escapades of New York's De La Soul to the gangsta scenarios of Compton's N.W.A.
1994 Q. Tarantino & R. Avary Pulp Fiction iv. 150 If she comes home from a hard day's work and finds a bunch of gangsters doin' a bunch of gangsta' shit in her kitchen, ain't no tellin' what she's apt to do.
1996 Time Out N.Y. 14 Feb. 44/3 If you're that one in a million who can stand another ghetto flick, then you'll probably get a kick out of seeing all the gangsta clichés rolled into one.
2004 N. Barham Dis/Connected 33 I didn't really want to be talking to some magazine bout I'm so gangsta.
2008 R. Glaudini View from 151st St. xv. 46 Homey Dwight in dead gansta heaven.
2. Of or relating to gangsta rap or its performers and followers.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [adjective] > qualities of pop
metal?1518
anthemic1890
Afro-Latin-American1900
sun-kissed1907
heavy1937
Latin American1937
Memphis1938
sun-drenched1943
indie1945
rockish1955
hardcore1957
doo-wop1958
middle of the road1959
Latin1962
straight-ahead1964
easy listening1965
Motown1965
funky1967
post-rock1967
rocky1967
rock-out1968
funkadelic1969
funked out1970
grungy1971
punk1971
grunge1972
Philly1972
dub1973
drum and bass1975
disco funky1976
punkish1976
reggaefied1976
Britpop1977
post-punk1977
anarcho-punk1979
rap1980
trash rock1980
crunchy1981
industrial1981
New Romantic1981
rockist1981
garage1982
hip-hop1982
thrashy1982
urban1982
Gothic1983
hip-hopping1983
beat-box1984
lo-fi1986
technoid1986
hip-house1987
acid house1988
new jack1988
old school1988
techno1988
baggy1990
banging1990
gangsta1990
filthy1991
handbaggy1991
nu skool1991
sampladelic1991
junglist1993
1990 ‘Lil' Nation’ & ‘M. C. Ren’ Ballad of Menace (song) in L. A. Stanley Rap (1992) 51 I roll cold in my 'lac Pumpin' sounds that I gained doin' a jack move As I groove to gangsta melody Passin' crack to a nine-year-old And I've been told Pimpin' hos is a felony.
1994 Ticket Aug. 22 Three years ago, AD were a novelty, a Southern, rural, peace-preaching rap outfit in a marketplace dominated by rip-roaring gangsta poses.
2000 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 23 June He is now respected as a top producer, known for combining smooth melodies with hard-edged gangsta beats.
2011 Observer 24 July (New Review section) 29/3 The gangsta stylings are largely missing, but the loping tempo and mosquito-whine synths are throwbacks to 90s G-funk.
Compounds
gangsta rap n. a style of rap music, originating in south-central Los Angeles, featuring aggressive and confrontational lyrics centring on the violence of gang culture; (also) a piece of music of this type; cf. gangster rap n. at gangster n. Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > other pop music
a cappella1905
soundclash1925
marabi1933
doo-wop1958
filk1959
folk-rock1963
Liverpool sound1963
Mersey beat1963
Mersey sound1963
surf music1963
malombo1964
mbaqanga1964
easy listening1965
disco music1966
Motown1966
boogaloo1967
power pop1967
psychedelia1967
yé-yé1967
agitpop1968
bubblegum1968
Tamla Motown1968
Tex-Mex1968
downtempo1969
taarab1969
thrash1969
world music1969
funk1970
MOR1970
tropicalism1970
Afrobeat1971
electro-pop1971
post-rock1971
techno-pop1971
Tropicalia1971
tropicalismo1971
disco1972
Krautrock1972
schlager1973
Afropop1974
punk funk1974
disco funk1975
Europop1976
mgqashiyo1976
P-funk1976
funkadelia1977
karaoke music1977
alternative music1978
hardcore1978
psychobilly1978
punkabilly1978
R&B1978
cowpunk1979
dangdut1979
hip-hop1979
Northern Soul1979
rap1979
rapping1979
jit1980
trance1980
benga1981
New Romanticism1981
post-punk1981
rap music1981
scratch1982
scratch-music1982
synth-pop1982
electro1983
garage1983
Latin1983
Philly1983
New Age1984
New Age music1985
ambient1986
Britpop1986
gangster rap1986
house1986
house music1986
mbalax1986
rai1986
trot1986
zouk1986
bhangra1987
garage1987
hip-house1987
new school1987
old school1987
thrashcore1987
acid1988
acid house1988
acid jazz1988
ambience1988
Cantopop1988
dance1988
deep house1988
industrial1988
swingbeat1988
techno1988
dream pop1989
gangsta rap1989
multiculti1989
new jack swing1989
noise-pop1989
rave1989
Tejano1989
breakbeat1990
chill-out music1990
indie1990
new jack1990
new jill swing1990
noisecore1990
baggy1991
drum and bass1991
gangsta1991
handbag house1991
hip-pop1991
loungecore1991
psychedelic trance1991
shoegazing1991
slowcore1991
techno-house1991
gabba1992
jungle1992
sadcore1992
UK garage1992
darkcore1993
dark side1993
electronica1993
G-funk1993
sampladelia1994
trip hop1994
break1996
psy-trance1996
nu skool1997
folktronica1999
dubstep2002
Bongo Flava2003
grime2003
Bongo2004
singeli2015
1989 Sunday Correspondent Mag. 1 Oct. I ask him [sc. Ice Cube] if his ‘gangsta’ raps are an act and he looks positively offended.
1994 Guardian 8 Jan. 10/1 Ms Tucker has launched a campaign to boycott record shops that sell the work of gangsta rap artists whose lyrics glorify violence and denigrate women.
2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane ix. 191 Every Bangladeshi teenager in the neighbourhood..took to cruising the street playing Gangsta Rap at full volume.
gangsta rapper n. a performer of gangsta rap; cf. gangster rapper n. at gangster n. Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > [noun] > pop musician > types of
hard rocker1942
bebopper1946
skiffler1948
bopper1951
rock 'n' roller1955
rockabilly1956
rock star1957
rocker1958
rock idol1958
rockster1960
funkster1963
country rocker1964
punk rocker1972
punk1976
punkster1976
cock-rocker1977
MC1979
rapper1979
thrasher1979
New Romantic1980
prog rocker1980
neo-punk1981
pomp rocker1981
rapster1981
rockist1981
hip-hopper1982
scratcher1982
skanker1983
pop tart1984
trash rocker1984
techno-head1985
Goth1986
Britpopper1989
gangsta1989
gangster rapper1989
popstrel1989
gangsta rapper1990
house-head1990
grunger1991
shoegazer1991
junglist1992
trip-hopper1993
1990 Los Angeles Times 30 Sept. 69 Check out gangsta-rappers NWA's new EP ‘100 Miles and Runnin'’.
1996 Independent 21 Feb. ii. 3/2 Legions of gangsta-rappers hymn the violent ‘gang-banger’ lifestyle.
2004 P. Southern Craze ix. 65 Acting like badass, gangsta rappers, shuffling their shoulders, mumbling to themselves in Tyson incomprehensibility.
Derivatives
ˈgangstaism n. the culture or attitudes associated with urban territorial gangs or with gangsta rap.
ΚΠ
1993 M. Barnett & J. Johnson in ‘Geto Boys’ Till Death do us Part (album) (title of song) Straight gangstaism.
1993 N.Y. Times 28 Nov. ix. 11/2 There is no evidence of gangsta-ism in his music; no apparent influence from Tupac Shakur, who has been arrested for shooting at police officers and sexual assault.
2003 N. Kelley Phat Death 13 He didn't like how hip-hop had degenerated into a morass of gangsta-ism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.1988