Thanks for all the recs everyone! I've had a chaotic weekend, but I'll listen to them tomorrow

LOL Lucem, that ZillaKami track shook me of course, but I actually liked it way better than I expected. It does have plenty of energy and force and I enjoyed the drone-like bass.
The Outkast song was allright but did not grab my attention, but I like the Onyx song a lot, because of the bass and beat. It swings.
Both the Dead Prez tracks were pretty cool, but I prefer the first one. It has a great rhythm.

It's not the only stuff I like by any means but it's the stuff I bump the hardest and then drunkenly spam the forum with.

But I mean come on this is objectively the ultimate jam.

Also the ultimate jam.

just going based on what you post

And yea... That kk track sounds like a bad parody to me lol

Yeah it's silly suburban impersonation of 90s hip hop, but musically it's hip hop informed more by rock, punk, and metal, rather than R&B, soul, and funk. It's just another take and I'm more about rock, punk, and metal so maybe not a surprise that I'd gravitate more to that, especially when it's generally pop friendly and I'm a pop ****in' whore. The impersonation of persona is silly but most of what you listen to is an impersonation of a gansgter persona anyway so don't pretend like you don't get off on a bad parody as well.

Lol

I just don't think it sounds good

The music I like that emulates the gang life sounds good. And the rappers in question have some sort of personal connection to that lifestyle.

E.g. mobb deep. They are definitely studio gangsters but they also grew up in a gang ridden environment and internalized a lot of the ethos of the criminal lifestyle through their exposure to that environment.

They paint a picture that is at once glorifies the crime life (because of the obvious material draw to such a life) while also painting it in the bleakest, grittiest and most nihilistic way possible. That's basically gangster rap at its finest imo.