These days
it seems like being part of a gang is necessary to become a big-time rapper,
and while there are members of all sorts in the industry,
the cripps seem to be representing pretty hard lately.
Here are a few real hardcore cripp rappers in the game today.
30 Deep Grimeyy
He’s called one of the best up and coming artists in hip hop, and it’s no wonder why:
30 Deep Grimeyy offers the best flow styles of the OG artists of the 90s
and combines them with more modern beats.
And at just 22 years old,
this rapper out of St. Louis has taken hints from some of the greats like Tupac,
Biggie, and Lil Wayne.
He says “I’m more influenced by the older music; it’s more real to me.
Lil Wayne. That’s my favorite rapper. I can just bump it no matter what,
no matter, it could be 2030. The metaphors got to me.”
But before he really started working on his music,
he had a few legal troubles of his own like being charged with shooting out of a vehicle.
He did jail time
and five years of probation before he decided he needed to get out of the street
and into the studio full time.
But even with focusing on his music, he still reps as part of a cripp set
known as the 62 Eastcoast Neighborhood cripps,
which started in Los Angeles.
NWM Cee Murda
Also from St. Louis, NWM Cee Murda
is another rapper that is making waves in hip hop
as he lays down rhymes against a steel drum beat in the recent single “Blueface”.
He’s known for his addictive melodies, catchy choruses, and flows that don’t stop.
Pairing up with 30 Deep Grimeyy on “Remember,” the rapper stands out with his punchy bars.
They started writing music together back in St. Louis
and it can be said that neither would be famous without the other.
But, like Grimeyy, this artist is more than just the music he puts out.
And as the title of his most recent single Lets Us Know,
he’s a diehard cripp.
The lyrics of pretty much all of his songs are about gang life
and everything that comes with it.
Max the Demon
There aren’t that many white rappers in the industry that are making it big on the regular,
so Max the Demon stands out as a new voice in the industry.
As a Brooklyn native, he’s an up and comer in the drill style of rap.
And even though he’s making a name for himself, he is still kind of unknown in the scene.
Whose going to help him out?
His gang affiliation.
He claims a connection with the 23rd Insane babies cripps.
This set was established in the early 1990s on 23rd street in Long Beach.
We’re not sure how this East Coast native got hooked up with the West Coast gang,
but he’s been consistent in his affiliation with them.
83 Babies
Straight out of Durham, North Carolina,
83 Babies is a new hip hop group coming out with the help of Rich The Kid
and his Rich Forever record label.
Their sound is similar to Migos and with their trap rap single “No Cap”
it’s clear they have a shot at success.
The rappers in the group are all affiliated with the popular street gang
the eight trey gangster cripps
and they’ve been having a bit of legal trouble since 2019.
One of the members, Lil Tony,
was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection to the shooting death
of a nine-year-old boy, an incident that has the future of the 83 Babies in limbo.
Afroman
The man behind stoner anthems “Because I Got High” and “Colt 45 and 2 Zig Zags,”
Afroman is one of the old-school hip hop artists that put out chill and relatable songs.
Born Joseph Foreman, the rapper was a church-going Christian as a child,
even playing the drums and guitar during church services.
In his first, mostly unknown album My Fro-Losophy,
Afroman makes several references to his affiliation with the cripps
when he was living in South Central.
The Eight Trey Gangsters were his neighborhood clique,
which caused a bit of trouble when he moved to a school
where the Rolling 60s were the ruling gang.
Fetty Luciano
The younger brother of rapper Rowdy Rebel, Fetty Luciano
comes from the Brooklyn neighborhood of East Flatbush.
He often goes by the nickname The 90s and has made quite a name for himself in hip hop,
with hundreds of thousands of plays on SoundCloud.
But like other Brooklyn rappers, Fetty is strongly affiliated with a cripps set,
specifically the Eight Deuce Trey Gangster cripps.
This affiliation as made sure that the rapper always has a crew to lean on
as he makes his way into the industry as a hip-hop force to be reckoned with.
Lil Loaded
Lil Loaded is pretty new in the industry,
so not much is known about his personal life and history,
but he’s been pretty open about his gang activity.
He’s talked about how his hit song “Gang Unit”
speaks to those who are caught up in the gang lifestyle,
something he knows a lot about since he’s a member of the Rollin 60s,
a notorious LA street gang that made its way to his hometown of Dallas, Texas
through members that moved there from Los Angeles.
He’s pretty loyal to the cripps set, which is the largest gang in LA,
with thousands of members.
He’s also been pretty open about the conflicts between his set and others,
both in and out of the cripps.
But even with that, he says he’s “been shown a lot of love and loyalty”
from the gang and doesn’t have any plans to leave.
Pop Smoke
Bashar Barakah Jackson was born in July of 1999
and was one of the fastest rising stars in the music industry.
At just 20 years old, he had found a bit of fame, a bit of fortune,
and probably had a bit of fun while getting there.
When the news broke of his passing early on February 19th, 2020,
Twitter was hot with condolences and messages to the talented Pop Smoke.
There’s no real indication of why he was killed,
but some say that it’s likely it was over his affiliation with the Crips.
And just a couple of days ago in early July 2020,
five men have been arrested as suspects in the murder.
Investigators say that “during the course of the investigation,
it was revealed that members of a Los Angeles street gang were involved in the murder”
so the motivation is probably gang rivalry-related.
Tay K
Best known for his 2018 hit “The Race,”
Tay K is one of the most notorious rappers in the world at the moment,
thanks to the nationwide search for him when he went on the run
after some pretty bad crimes.
But before he was charged with four counts of aggravated robbery,
and two counts of capital murder,
he was Taymor McIntyre of Long Beach, California,
a regular kid attending high school in Texas.
And even though his cripps-repping father wanted his kid to live a better life,
the fact that both of Tay’s parents were active cripps members
meant that he didn’t really stand a chance.
While the crimes that got him locked up weren’t directly gang-related,
his activity in the gang probably didn’t help him much.
NLE Choppa
One of the youngest rappers in the game today,
the 17-year-old has made a big impact with his unique musical style
that is described as melodic and heavy-hitting.
With the single “Shotta Flow,”
he cemented his place in hip hop as a force to be reckoned with.
So we know he’s a good artist,
but we also know that he’s got a gang affiliation with the cripps.
We don’t know much about his personal life,
but at one point he served time in juvie for an unspecified charge and length of time.
He has since claimed that his time there inspired him to change his life.
The implication is that he had something he needed to change it from,
and while he hasn’t come out publicly to declare an official affiliation to any gang,
he has stated that most of his friends are cripps
and it’s widely understood that he does have close ties to the infamous gang.