"Some of their songs are just incredibly violent and abhorrent"

Some movies are incredibly violent and abhorrent too. We (hopefully) don't jump to the conclusion that the people making them are actually championing such ideas.

This is part of my more general idea about how strange it is that rappers aren't allowed to inhabit characters in their music... Being a popular rapper is almost like a twisted form of method acting. Most of the time you're maintaining the facade that you are the character you rap as..But surely the guard is let down at certain times.

It's what makes Rick Ross in particular such a fascinating figure. He was just a middling fat rapper with a good voice. Then people found out he had worked in the prison system, and it was like all his coke dealer bonafides went up in smoke. Everyone assumed that he'd just disappear after that. Instead it freed him to take his boasts to truly herculean levels. There wasn't any expectation of being anchored to reality anymore (Although he does give pinpoint details like very few other rappers).

If Ross had come out on his own and gone "Hey guys. As you can tell by the fact that I stole a drug dealer's name. I'm not a real drug dealer. But like Scorcese or De Palma I want to tell these kind of stories. Hopefully nobody minds the fact that they're fictional" people would have immediately given up on him. That suspension of disbelief is a huge part of what makes gangster rap feel so visceral.

But then he had that "Put molly in her drink, she ain't even know it, took her home and enjoyed that, she ain't even know it" - people lost. their. fucking. minds. Is it an abhorrent thought? Clearly. But is it SO far out of line with Ross's persona? A character that is tight with the Medellin cartel, who imports cocaine and murders people in the streets on a daily basis?
Here's where I'm bound to catch some shit.
I understand. Rape effects millions of people. Survivors and their family members. But so does drug abuse. So does drug war related shootouts in the streets. I'm not at all suggesting that people should be organizing to protest music.. but maybe the rape line got hammered down because they have such well organized advocacy groups?

It's hard to imagine being Len Bias' mother and seeing 'crack rap' become this huge thing. Or the mother of any of the countless people who have died in the many battles of the drug war. But it gets back to my point.. Rick Ross's character is an evil person. He might rape somebody. He might gut a baby to leave a message. So might Scarface. Or Benny Blanco or Frank White.

Some rappers have had insanely criminal pasts. But they aren't living up to their lyrics. Saying that they're all liars and actors isn't trying to diminish the wild shit they might have been through. But it's true.

With ICP, the face paint and the overarching world-building narrative throws the gauntlet down right away. Like Deltron 3030 or Dr. Octagon or the Leak Brothers, this is a fully admitted fictional pursuit. But since it's rap- where there's this weird idea of an authenticity contest meaning anything. People see these terrible lyrics and think that ICP must be promoting these activities.

Sorry this is so scatterbrained. I really want to sit down and arrange my thoughts on gangster rap. A music I love more than any other.