gangsta
/ˈɡaŋstə
/noun
1 informal A gang member: I’m showing there’s more to life than being a gangsta and a thu [as modifier]: he raps about the gangsta life...
- Let's fast-forward from the Vibe Awards to the Source Awards, another show where the thugs, gangstas and pimps made their presence felt.
- He's pure street and the real thugs and gangstas on lockdown respect that.
- While original gangstas like NWA presented graphic dispatches from LA gang turf where few reporters were brave enough to tread, he has been sold as a GI Joe doll with real bullet holes.
2 (also gangsta rap) [mass noun] A type of rap music featuring aggressive macho lyrics, often with reference to gang violence.While European rap artists may listen to U.S. gangsta rap, their own lyrics are expected to represent their own social environment....
- Gangsta rap is differentiable from other rap music in that gangsta rap makes use of images of urban life that are often associated with crime.
- From this we can infer that the transgressed boundary in line 1 is indeed that of hip-hop music generally, and probably gangsta rap specifically.
Origin
1980s: alteration of gangster.