Seth Ferranti

From the penitentiary to the streets, it's on and popping. Thug life is more than spitting rhymes or hustling on the corner. Thugs live and die on the streets or end up in the "belly of the beast." Rappers name-drop guns by model number and call out drug dealers by name. Gangsta rap is crack-era nostalgia taken to the extreme. It's a world where rappers emulate their favorite hood stars in videos, celebrate their names in verse, and make ghetto heroes...