In what’s already a massive week for hip-hop featuring new songs from seemingly everyone from Jay-Z to MF DOOM, one of our favorite tracks has been the new Young Thug track “Gangster Shit.” Whether it’s from his forthcoming mixtape I Came From Nothing 4 or oft-delayed album Hy!£UN35 is unclear, but what we do know is that it absolutely knocks.
With his trademark avant garde warbling voice smashing lyrics like a demolition derby, “Gangster Shit” is not just our new favorite Young Thug song, but the latest in a long line of songs that let you know from their name that they’re, right off the bat, “Gangster/Gangsta Shit/Sh*t.” Thus, we at the Weekly decided that this week in honor of the new Young Thug track, as Dr. Dre would put it, it was “a must we drop Gangsta Shit.”
DJ Clue featuring Ja Rule & Jay-Z “Gangsta Shit” 1998
The late-90s would be a lot different without those DJ Clue mixtapes. On one of our favorite cuts from Clue’s The Professional album, Jay-Z and Ja Rule in their prime go in over a sample of The Stylistics’ “You and Me,” making for one of the great oft-overlooked jams of the era. Underground fans may also recognize the same sample from Immortal Technique’s “Crossing the Boundary.”
Outkast – “Gangsta Shit” 2000
Joined by Dungeon Family members T-Mo, Slimm Calhoun and C-Bone, “Gangsta Shit” was one of the most potent tracks off of the duo’s fourth album Stankonia. With explicit raps about the trap before the trap of trap music trapped the industry, it’s tracks like “Gangsta Shit” that kept the foundation for Outkast records that allowed them to branch out into more experimental territory.
G-Unit “Gangsta Shit” 2003
The year 50 Cent broke into the mainstream brought with it one of the most unfiltered visions of street life into the ears and eyes of mainstream America. 50 ended the year with his group G-Unit releasing a full length album Beg For Mercy, which contained the track “Gangsta Shit.” Hearing this track some 13 years later is a reminder of how diverse G-Unit’s talents were. While 50, Young Buck and Lloyd Banks were all tackling the subject of “Gangsta Shit,” they each brought discernibly different styles and perspectives to the subject matter.
Snoop Dogg featuring Loon and P. Diddy “Gangsta Shit” 2003
You know how movie soundtracks used to say “Music From and Inspired By…” before the film’s title? Well, Snoop must have found quite the muse in Bad Boys 2, because he absolutely pops off on the Loon and Diddy-assisted “Gangsta Shit.” His machine-gun syllable-stacking flow had us doing double-takes revisiting it, as we’re only used to hearing the Doggfather get down like that on 2006’s “Think About It.” But here it is. Wow.
Lil Boosie “Gangsta Shit” 2009
While many remember the year 2009 as the one when Boosie got locked up right before his breakthrough moment, it sadly happened to also be one of his most creative periods. “Gangsta Shit,” with the catchy hook “if you ain’t heard I’m Lil Boosie that be rappin’ ‘bout that gangsta shit,” featured his infectious flow and impenetrable charisma in full force. Gangsta shit never sounded so slick.
