Street Gangs and Hip Hop: A Retrospective

Article written by: SoJones Asmara
Posted on: September 22, 2009

Rap and organized street gangs were inextricably linked back in the 90’s heyday of hip hop.  Stars such as The Notorious B.I.G, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur were either associated with street gangs if not outright active members, or were linked in the past via family or hometown neighborhood.   To have success and respect in the ”gangsta rap” genre one needed an authentic street affiliation for credibility. Many rappers wrote lyrics about their experiences, ranging from sly shoutouts to references of violent deeds or underground activities such as drug dealing.

Kelly Park Compton Crips

The late Eric “Eazy-E” Wright dropped out of high school in the tenth grade and took care of himself by pushing drugs. He parlayed his illicit revenues to establish Ruthless Records and went on to sign then-unknown artists Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. Eazy-E joined them as founders of the seminal rap group N.W.A. which went double platinum with “Straight Outta Compton” in 1992. 

Eazy-E was part of the street gang “Kelly Park Compton Crips” out of Compton, CA. Previously known as the Kelly Park Hustlers, they were described by the police as “dangerous and ruthless gangsters with no respect for the law”.
They even recorded a song called “Kelly Park” from the album, “Rep Your Set” (2006). Eazy E’s first single, 1987’s “Boyz N The Hood”, which, like Schoolly D’s “P.S.K.”, dealt with hardcore themes relating to drugs, sex and violence. Along with being one of the most important early gangsta rap records, it became an underground anthem for members of L.A.’s burgeoning 80’s gang scene, the Crips and Bloods.

Cedar Block Bloods

The Cedar Block Bloods also known as “CBB” is a street gang named after a residential street called Cedar Street in the west side of Compton, California. This gang has been active since about 1980. Their territory stretches from approximately south of Rosecrans Avenue and north of West Arbutus Street between the Compton Creek and Elm Street. Part of their neighborhood overlaps with the Tree Top Pirus. Their closest Crip rival is Palmer Blocc Compton Crips just south of Palmer Street.

The rapper The Game is from this neighborhood, and has mentioned it in music. For example in the song “300 Bars & Runnin’” he raps “I ain’t hot top for colors, I’m from Cedar Block So I got my hot tops that make your breathing stop.” His His debut album The Blockumentary reached #1 in 2005, selling 2.3 million copies in the US and 5.2 million worldwide. Singles include “Westside Story”, “How We Do”, “Hate It or Love It”, “Dreams”, and “Put You on the Game.”

From the song “Safe + Sound” lyrics by DJ Quik

…But niggaz my age was getting paid already
Yeah like that nigga Zam or even young Blue
They made their first million by the age of 22
Like Dan from Cedar Block him and little Motor
James from Piru street with them boulders
Rest in peace little Noopy he didn’t have to brag…

Hoover Crips

The Crips started as a street gang in Los Angeles and spread to Texas prisons in the 1980s. One of those factions was the Hoover Crips gang off Hoover Street that has since spread throughout the US and now almost all Crips call themselves Hoover Crips. They are almost always rivals to Bloods. Some of the best known rap / hiphop artists that have affiliations with this gang are Ice-T, and the group South Central Cartel.

Ice-T was born Tracey Marrow on February 16, 1958 in Newark, New Jersey. By the time he was in the seventh grade, both his parents had died, and he went to live with an aunt in Los Angeles. While at Crenshaw High School, he wrote rhymes for local gangs and was soon drawn by his friends into petty crime. Ice-T attended Crenshaw High School which is well-known to be Hoover Crips territory. At age 17, he left his aunt’s home and, in his words, “started hanging out in the ‘hood with my friends.” By the early 1980s, Ice was also drawn to rap music, thanks to the success of artists like Kurtis Blow. In 1982 he recorded “The Coldest Rap” for an independent label and was paid twenty dollars for it.

From “Gotta Lotta Love” lyrics by Ice-T
…Youknowmsayin?
It’s basically goin down
Peace to all the Crips and the Bloods
Van Ness Boys
Hoovers
Rollin 60s
83’s
Bounty Hunters
Yeah…

Naturally, this kind of money was nothing compared to what he and his friends could make illegally. Although he claimed to have never been a “gangbanger” himself, he was close enough to see that world as a dead end. Eventually his friends starting being sent to prison, “Then one of my buddies got life,” he told Musician. “And they were all calling me from jail, saying, … Stay with that rap. Stay down. He stayed with it, honing his style and landing a part as a rapper in the 1984 movie Breakin’.

 
Rapper The Game gave a shoutout to the Hoover Crips as well in his track “O’l English”.

…I was the first nigga wit’ a Starter jacket on the block
Used to build model cars and let the motherfuckers hop
Moms banged Hoover Crips she was known for sellin’ rocks
Let me collect the 40-ounce bottles in the dope spot…

Mob Piru Bloods

Originally composed of six Samoan-descended brothers from Los Angeles, the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. offered a distinctly authentic brand of gangsta rap. Sons of a Baptist minister, the brothers Devoux — lead rapper Paul aka Ganxsta Ridd, bandleader Ted aka the Godfather, Donald aka Don L, Roscoe aka Rosco, Danny aka O.M.B., and David aka E.K.A. — grew up in a rough neighborhood, and were drawn into gang culture as a survival tactic, joining up with the Mob Piru Bloods. They all served prison sentences at one time or another on drug and/or weapons charges, but it wasn’t until brother Robert Devoux was killed in a shooting that they determined to leave the lifestyle. Quitting cold turkey, all six brothers left Los Angeles and moved to Japan to live with their cousin, a sumo wrestler. There they formed a rap and dance troupe dubbed the Blue City Crew, and performed regularly to enthusiastic response from Japanese audiences.

The “Boo-Yaa” in their name signifies the sound of a shotgun being discharged, while the “T.R.I.B.E.” stands for “Too Rough International Boo-Yaa Empire.”

Rap music mogul Suge Knight has also been linked to the Mob Piru Bloods, and often wears red to signal his affiliation with the gang.

 Black Mafia Family

The Black Mafia Family, or BMF, is a drug trafficking organization originally from Detroit, with major hubs in Atlanta and Los Angeles that in 2000 dived into the world of hip-hop music and entertainment, successfully promoting not only Young Jeezy but also BMF Entertainment’s sole artist, Bleu DaVinci. Bleu Da Vinci’s “The World Is BMF” was nominated for a Source Award in 2004. BMF appeared in numerous underground hip-hop DVD magazines, most notably several issues of S.M.A.C.K. DVD Magazine and The Come Up DVD. Their most highly visible appearance was in a full length DVD, produced by The Raw Report DVD-Magazine, which gave a detailed inside look at their movement estimated to be worth $270 million and known for its leaders’ lavish and estravagant lifestyles.

From 2005 to 2008, the organization was effectively dismantled by drug-ring charges. DaVinci is now serving a 5 year sentence for a count of drug conspiracy.

 

Black Spades

More than 40 years ago, a group of seven teenage boys began terrorizing the Bronxdale Projects on Bruckner Boulevard in the southeast Bronx. This may not seem important, but this group of teenagers laid the groundwork for a surge of street gang activity that would overwhelm the Bronx for the next six years.
This group at first called itself the Savage Seven, but as more members joined, the group changed its name to the Black Spades. Overnight street gangs appeared on every corner of the Bronx. It should be noted that Afrika Bambaataa, who had a tremendous effect on rap music and the ‘Hip Hop’ culture was a member and leader of the Black Spades at one time.

Kool DJ Herc, an early Hip hop music pioneer, credits gangs like the Black Spades with getting the hip hop scene started. The Black Spades later became the Zulu Nation in the late 1970s, and then the Universal Zulu Nation. The Black Spades “adopted” James Brown and changed the lyrics to his song Soul Power to ‘Spade Power’.

From ”That Ol’ Boom Bap” lyrics by Apathy
…Way back in the day before the age of gold chains and fat fades
When Zulu Nation was still called the Black Spades…
A fetus was formed. A genius was born.
Adidas was worn. And pieces of your speakers was torn…

Compton Tree Top Pirus

The Tree Top Pirus are located in Compton, CA, a small suburban city south of Los Angeles and the birth place to the Piru Blood gangs. Tree Top Piru is mortal enemies with the Compton Varrio Tortilla Flats Gang SSCVTF, a Mexican gang located within the same geographical area. Treetop Piru gang colors are Burgundy and Olive Green.
One of the premier West Coast gangsta rap artists of the early ’90s and a member of the Tree Top Piru Bloods gang, DJ Quik was a rapper as well as a producer whose career carried on well into the next decade, as he put his career aside and began working primarily as a beat-maker. Born David Martin Blake on January 18, 1970, in Compton, CA, DJ Quik made a name for himself on the mixtape circuit during the late ’80s, compiling tapes also featuring fellow rappers AMG, 2nd II None, and Hi-C. On the basis of these mixtapes, he was signed to Priority Records and made his album debut with Quik Is the Name (1990), on which he produced all the tracks (as he would on each of his solo albums) as well as rapper. Quik Is the Name proved quite successful, spawning two hits (”Tonite,” “Born and Raised in Compton”) and going platinum.