*HIGHLY SENSITIVE HIP HOP CONTENT*

*Orginally posted December 4th, 2019

I have this crazy conspiracy theory that all non-Crip rappers are blindly black balled in the (underground) music industry. Now, before you react, hear me out below.

Let's face it : Gangs are a very hidden influential force in urban culture. Not only the gangs we know by name but also real underlying street ties that come in the form of teams, companies and more. Although I know nothing about such groups, as a hip hop enthusiast, it's impossible to ignore the energy. It affects the money, the movement of the artist and the music.

Crip rappers had a big year in 2019. Left and right, we saw artists like Pop Smoke*, Fivio Foriegn and more come in the game, take it by storm and create big waves. *Although i'm not 100% sure, he's heavily affliated with Crip acts like Fetty Luciano and recieved consigns by other gang members like Sheff G. While other artist like Casanova (Blood) have had his shows cancelled constantly by police, Coka Jigga (Folk) videos have been muted on Youtube and 22Gz (Folk) was recently banned from doing a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway at a Brooklyn,NYC school. Despite these minor setbacks, these artists and many others have been able to successfully navigate around these unfortunate situations. But, to me, it seems as if every upcoming rapper is 'Crip' and almost immediately has their music pushed, gains access to elite opportunities and gets next to mainstreams' hottest. Are djs getting paid to NOT spin records? Is there a big Blue flag over the mouth of the industry right now? or are Crip rappers really just winning right now?

Now i'm not naive. I'm aware that there are several other factors to consider like money, connections and legalities. But it just happens to work in favor of the Blue side a little too frequently in my opinion. This isn't anything unfamiliar to us though. Back in the early 2000s, Lil Wayne began subliming hinting at his Blood gang affliations. Before you knew it, everyone was down with something and it showed, especially in the music.

Do you think that gang culture is the new driving force in underground hip hop? Is this the new norm or just another music industry trend?