Original Gangstas

June 13, 2016
In this sprawling history, journalist Westhoff (Dirty South) follows West Coast rap from the mean streets of Compton and south central Los Angeles to international prominence. Inspired by the first wave of hip-hop, artists such as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Easy E. drew upon the chaos of the crack era to both report on and glamorize thug life. This proved to be a winning formula, and by 1993, gangsta rap commanded the pop charts, encouraging teenage boys around the world to act hard and wear baggy jeans. Yet for the artists themselves, the intoxication of wealth and fame made it difficult to separate myth and reality—a blurring with deadly consequences. With so much territory to cover, Westhoff tends to sketch rather than illustrate. Later chapters on the East Coast–West Coast feud are both textured and vivid, but early chapters on the origins of NWA read like a Wikipedia bio. The compelling narration of Tupac Shakur’s conflicted life and death highlights the contradictions that devastated so many of the rappers; narrowing the book’s scope would have given Westhoff more opportunity to consistently reach this level of accomplishment. Despite some shortcomings, Westhoff’s impressive research makes this an invaluable overview of the musical influences and legal nightmares of West Coast rap’s main players, and his book will stand as a comprehensive guide to an inner-city movement that conquered the world. Agent: Bassoff, Ethan, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

August 1, 2016

Westhoff (Dirty South) has written another captivating chronicle in his ongoing analysis of rap and hip-hop history. This work opens with the story of Eric White, in 1985 a 21-year-old drug pusher from Compton, CA, and on his way to a career as the renamed Eazy-E. From there it's a roller-coaster ride as Westoff introduces us to Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Suge Knight, and a panoply of artists, players, and hangers-on in the gangsta rap scene. Central to Westhoff's research are original interviews with key figures balanced with the author's efforts to frame the music as a piece with the surrounding social and political upheaval of the time. Hip-hop may have arrived in the cultural mainstream, and it has certainly proved itself to be a huge financial success, but the process to make it so has included more than the usual amount of ambition, greed, destruction, and controversy. It's to the author's credit that he doesn't flinch in providing a rounded picture of the history of the genre, in which the danger wasn't confined to the music. VERDICT Westhoff's readable, firsthand narrative of the "defining music of a generation" will appeal to lovers of hip-hop and music history buffs.--Bill Baars, Lake Oswego P.L., OR

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
L.A. gangsta rap doesn't get the same respect as its East Coast counterpart. Journalist Westhoff sets out to change that in this insightful and quite hefty history of West Coast rap. He concentrates on the leading figures of the movement, including Eazy-E (Eric Wright), Dr. Dre (Andre Young), Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson), Ice-T (Tracy Marrow), Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus), Biggie Smalls, also known as the Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace), and Tupac Shakur. He writes about the rivalries among hip-hop record labels such as Eazy's Ruthless Records and Suge Knight's Death Row, and the often dysfunctional backgrounds of many of the rappers. He discusses now-iconic hip-hop albums and controversial singles, addresses the genre's misogynistic lyrics and its struggles with the establishment, and acknowledges the music's vast cultural impact. The sections on the murders of Shakur and Smalls are sensitively handled (both crimes remain unsolved). Today, hip-hop has fully entered the mainstream, and hard-edged hip-hop, in particular, he insists, has become the defining musical movement of a generation. Westhoff's history is especially relevant amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)