Who created gangsta rap? According to conservative commentator Candace Owens, the federal government is behind the creation of gangsta rap, a genre born out of the tough realities of black and brown communities in California within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties. She believes it was a part of a deliberate effort by federal agents to undermine black culture and values. But one in every of its founders blames the industry and personal prisons.

Are any of the choices incorrect?

The debate heated up on Platform X on Friday, September 20, after Owens tweeted, “Gangster rap was never black culture. It was created by the FBI who pitched deals to gay black men in prison, then turned them into fake celebrities.”

She continued: “The goal was to create false idols to destroy the values ​​of black Americans. I will never change my mind on that.”

Gangster rap was never black culture. It was created by the FBI, which offered deals to gay black men in prison after which turned them into fake stars. The goal was to create fake idols to destroy black American values.

I won’t ever change my mind on this matter.

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) September 20, 2024

Owens’ controversial post quickly caught the eye of fans, one in every of whom tagged NWA founder Ice Cube, one of the outstanding pioneers of gangsta rap.

In response, Ice Cube, widely considered one in every of the founding fathers of the genre, explained the matter: “We called it Reality Rap. The industry called it Gangsta Rap. The fans wanted gangsta rap and that’s what they got. The FBI didn’t write any of my shit. I’m a real MC.”

We called it Reality Rap, the industry got here up with it Gangsta Rap. The fans wanted gangsta rap and so they got it. The FBI didn’t write none of my shit. I’m an actual MC. https://t.co/8ILsp4sFhw

— Ice Cube (@icecube) September 20, 2024

His response led some observers to conclude that Cube didn’t completely reject Owens’ argument, leaving open the likelihood that it was true.

One commenter he wrote“So he’s not saying Candace is wrong, but Cube has always been cautious.”

Another pointed one outside“Cube mentioned industry, not federal government.”

The debate points to a bigger conspiracy theory that record labels and the prison-industrial complex are linked, which the rapper has been promoting.

Perhaps fans saw through Cube’s rigorously crafted statement that he, too, believes in a conspiracy that forces at work that allowed gangsta rap to dominate the music scene for a few decade between 1988 and 1998.

User X commented on Owens’ post and common a 2023 excerpt from the “Club Random with Bill Maher” podcast, through which he says that “the same people who are on the labels own the prisons.”

However, the clip doesn’t show your entire conversation, through which he later says, “They don’t really run the label, they have financial interests” in each the music industry and the prison-industrial complex.

Maher helped the “Friday” filmmaker expand on his theory, saying, “If they have a financial interest in prisons, and your theory, if I understand correctly, is that these types of rap lyrics act as a funnel through which people are inspired to do things that could get them sent to prison… like writing a lyric like ‘fuck the police,’ could get someone arrested and sent to prison.”

“This could get someone arrested and sent to jail,” the artist said, making it clear that the host was referring to his 1988 song “F-ck tha Police.” “That’s just one example, one album that the record company didn’t manipulate, you know. That’s pure artistry.”

When asked if he had ever been manipulated by a record label, he replied “no,” explaining that he had all the time been an independent artist and had never had an art director suggesting he create certain kinds of songs.

“I wouldn’t let an A&R come into my studio,” he said, adding, “I’ve never had anyone be an A&R except Dr. Dre.”

According to cultural critic Davey D and the activist group Hip-Hop For Change, three firms — Warner Records, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Group — control 90 percent hip-hop music. Meanwhile, private prison firms like CoreCivic and GEO Group control nearly all of private prison beds within the U.S. The writer and the organization claimed that the 2 sectors share common shareholders, similar to Vanguard and BlackRock.

But they were partly improper.

In 2019, CNN reported that Vanguard and BlackRock are amongst the most important investors in private prisons.

However, According to to Vanguard and BlackRock, although these firms have stakes in over 500 firms, including major entertainment players similar to Disney, Live Nation and Fox, they didn’t put money into any of the three largest music distribution and recording firms in 2021.

There isn’t any evidence that the FBI created “gangsta rap,” as Owens claims. But conspiracy theories about government involvement within the genre gained traction following an investigation into the CIA’s role in facilitating cocaine sales to Los Angeles street gangs within the late Nineteen Eighties.

The proceeds from these drug sales were allegedly used to fund the Latin American guerrilla army in Nicaragua, often called the Contras, through the Iran-Iraq War, reported by the Justice Department. The complex scheme also involved illegal U.S. arms sales to Iran during that country’s eight-year cooperation with Iraq within the Nineteen Eighties, sales from which the CIA used to finance the Contras’ fight against the Nicaraguan government. The theory was developed after the San Jose Mercury News published articles alleging that the federal government was deliberately smuggling crack cocaine into black neighborhoods.

While a later investigation found that these reports exaggerated the facts, it acknowledged the uncertainties within the case. The government report noted that suspicions would remain due to unanswered questions.

Gangsta rap, which emerged through the crack epidemic, became a type of expression that directly addressed the devastation that drugs and law enforcement were inflicting on black communities.

Many imagine that the event of gangsta rap was influenced by outside forces aimed toward glorifying crime and perpetuating the cycle of incarceration.

The query is, who’re these forces really, and is, because the “Good Day” rapper claims, gangsta rap (or reality rap) a mirrored image of the tough realities he has experienced or a creation of federal or industrial manipulation?