Super Gangsta (Extraordinary Gentleman)

Hardcore rap combines a little good with the bad.

Artist: Styles P
Genre: Rap Label: Koch Records Parental Advisory: Yes Edited Version Available: Yes Release Date: 12/04/2007

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this is an album littered with profanity, violence, drug references, and racial expletives (including the "N" word). Additionally, the infamous "gangsta" lifestyle is glamorized on many of the tracks, with lines about drug dealing, pimping, and shootings intermixed with illusions to the "good life" of designer clothes, cars, and women. There are, however, some redeemable traits to this album, including subtle explorations of American society and culture (social injustice and racism) and clever lyrics.

Families can talk about why rappers feel the need to put out R-rated CDs. Do you think glamorizing drugs, violence, and the "gangsta lifestyle" will sell more albums? How much is real and how much is fictionalized? How does this urban mythology inspire and empower the underserved and how much does it exploit and stereotype? Also, Styles P tackles some tough topics on this album, like social injustice and racism. How do artists throughout history play a role in politics and social change?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Jacqueline Rupp

Styles P's latest album, SUPA GANGSTA, EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN combines solid beats and samples with a powerful message that -- sometimes, just sometimes -- breaks out of the mold of conventional rap mantras of sex, money, and guns. While the material might not be appropriate for kids or even mature teens, the album does have some lyrical gusto. As the album title implies, there is a dichotomy to this piece -- an ambivalent struggle between right and wrong and the privileged and the poor. "Cause I'm Black" is a verbal discourse on American society's ills, as it details racism, police brutality, and political dysfunction with clever rhymes that rise above mere filler between hooks ("I'm trying to break free of the hole but five out of ten brothers gonna see a parole...Take one step forward and do the moonwalk back/gimme the peace prize like Al Gore/I gotta mind like Malcolm X"). Other tracks veer into more typical rap territory, with tracks such as "Holiday," a rap anthem to money and the trappings of wealth and ill-gotten gains. The charging beats and riffs however save this track from becoming a clichéd brag-a-thon.

For thought-provoking rap with less explicit lyrics, try Gang Starr's 1991 album, Step in the Arena, Kayne West, or The Roots.

Reviewed: 12/04/2007

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content "Damn look at her/nice face, nice waist/damn look at her/nice hips, nice lips."
Violence Many violent images are described, although some are grounded in concrete social commentary: "All I Know is pain/All I seen is death/ice cold blood running all though my veins," "Think about the steel penetrating you….It's kind of hard not to go on a murder spree…all you smell is gun powder…Let 'em die slow," and "I'm old school/we can shoot it out."
Language Every word you don't want your kids to say or hear is probably on the album.
Message
	Social Behavior A gangster lifestyle is glamorized on many of the tracks, with lines about drug dealing, pimping, and shootings intermixed with illusions to the "good life" of designer clothes, cars, and women, but Styles P also has some powerful commentary on the ills of society.
	Commercialism A few mention of products.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Numerous references, especially promoting its use and selling it. "If you sell crack without authority you're p---y," "I wanna roll somethin' up so/I can just blow my mind," "If I don't blow Mary Jane, I'm going insane."