This probably belongs in the music section, and has actually already been discussed there, but yeah- pretty much the OP confirmed an obvious point.
There was some nuance in the previous thread going into how gangster rap, and arguably some of the most popular/widespread songs in the early 90s like gangsters paradise, were songs about people explaining how their life was shit, that they were going to hell, and not to follow in their footsteps,
but said message was definitely missed by the masses, and instead people focused on how alpha said lifestyle seemed.
Rap culture as a whole has done more harm to black communitys with the advent of gangster rap and the lack of self-reflection in the lifestyle that became more and more common, and at this point, its not even about regretting the violence, knowing you were a piece of shit for being violent, etc.
Its people wanting their own cake and to eat others too. "Yeah I'm a thug, and there's nothing wrong with that, also white people are racist".
Now, if you actually look at the lyrical themes of many of these songs, they're nihilistic. Its a negotiated existence, sometimes joked about (the best humor stabs inward), sometimes negotiated in a justified way, but not really condoned. Its the same kind of thing you see in Outlaw country as well, or older country. What the difference is between the black community and the redneck or white community is that the black community seems to glorify and think "wow, this gangster lifestyle is a swell thing, whats the worst that can happen", whereas the white community seems to take nihilistic music at face value, sometimes enjoy it, but not aspire to follow the same path in life (which should be the obvious response).
Now rap music isn't just gangster rap, there are other subgenres that jungle bunnies make, but at this point, rap is predominantly gangster music, and in that, the other genres might as well not be mentioned. Overall, had rap avoided the nihilsitic elements of gangbanging, maybe it could be better, but it largely didn't, and said subgenres influence is steady throughout the larger genre as a whole. Someone mentioned grandmaster flash, theres also more wholesome 80s rap before gangster rap, college rap today, noise rap, etc.
Gangster rap is the predominant subgenre though, and deviations away from that have had perhaps quasi success at best, but at some level, they all adopt some gangster-esque elements, even Drake as fake as he can be, and meh. Could get into subgenres, but thats another tangent entirely.
