Keep it G | 5ive Songs

In the 67^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that KEEP IT G in some form or fashion.  

Welcome to 5ive Songs, where we keep things short and sweet – no extra calories or needless fluff! There’s a theme/topic, five songs, and a short blurb.  Yes, it’s a playlist, but it’s a miniature playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 67^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that KEEP IT G in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

1. EST Gee, “Is Heaven For A Gangsta”

💿 I Never Felt Nun • 🏷 CMG/Interscope • 📅 2022 

“Do God accept survivors whose involvement made ‘em ruthless? / Is there Heaven for a shooter?” Louisville, KY-bred rapper, 🎙 EST Gee spits towards the conclusion of the banger, 🎵 “Is Heaven For A Gangsta.” “Is Heaven For A Gangsta” graces his debut studio album, 💿 I Never Felt Nun, which debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200.  On “Heaven,” EST Gee goes on to ask, “Is there Heaven for a mover? / For the ones who really do it? / Or was born in hell and all this shit just an illusion?”  Thought-provoking stuff for sure.

As to be expected, “Is Heaven For A Gangsta” isn’t lighthearted listening.  It’s anchored by malicious, minor-key production, where the sub-bass roars.  EST Gee’s flow is agile but hard-nosed as f#¢k considering he depicts the gangsta lifestyle. “The streets convinced me that they really just want all of us dead,” he asserts in the first verse, continuing, “Even before I jumped off the porch, I was right on the edge.” It’s safe to say that the life of a G isn’t for the faint of heart, hence why EST Gee mentions the word survivors and seems skeptical if there is heaven for people like him.

2. Kehlani, “Gangsta”

💿 SweetSavageSexy • 🏷 Atlantic • 📅 2017

“I need a gangsta / To love me better / Than all the others do.” Um, sure, 🎙 Kehlani, if that’s how you see it! She continues singing in the chorus of 🎵 “Gangsta,” “To always forgive me / Ride or die with me / That’s just what gangsters do.” “Gangsta” concludes the 🏆 Grammy-nominated R&B singer/songwriter’s  debut studio album, 💿 SweetSavageSexy, released in January 2017. Originally, “Gangsta” appeared on the soundtrack to the 2016 film, 🎦 Suicide Squad (💿 Suicide Squad: The Album).

“I’m fucked up, I’m black and blue

I’m built for it, all the abuse

I got secrets, that nobody, nobody, nobody knows…”

Um, wow – that’s a lot. In the second verse, she asserts, “You got me hooked up on the feeling / You got me hanging from the ceiling / Got me up so high I’m barely breathing.” Oh, my! Generally speaking, Kehlani is enamored by a “G” on this edgy, slick joint. Kehlani is honest about how she feels, admits her own issues, and most important, for our ears, she flaunts her awesome set of pipes.  Those G’s though – they hit different, yo!

3. Michael Jackson, “Blue Gangsta”

💿 Xscape • 🏷 MJJ Productions, Inc. • 📅 2014

“What you gonna do / you ain’t no friend of mine / the blue gangsta”. No track on 💿 Xscape, the 2014 posthumous album by 🎙 Michael Jackson, may have more swagger than 🎵 “Blue Gangsta.” The slick cut commences incredibly mysteriously before settling into mean-sounding contemporary R&B. 🎛 Timbaland delivers some of his most inspired production work, updating the original version of this record that MJ record while alive.  Both versions appear on the deluxe edition of Xscape but sound vastly different from one another.

The concluding funky brass hit is an incredibly thoughtful production choice.  Besides a killer groove and superb palette of sounds, vocally, Michael Jackson sounds quite impressive.  This is the expectation, of course – it’s THE King of Pop after all! He particularly sounds awesome in his biting, gritty upper register.  His personality and feistiness truly shine here as well. “Blue Gangsta” is a record where you envision Jackson ‘eating up’ when he originally recorded it.  It’s one of the records you aks yourself, why wasn’t it released until 2014?

4. ScHoolboy Q, “Gangsta”

💿 Oxymoron • 🏷 Top Dawg / Interscope • 📅 2014

“I got my drink in my cup, I got my Backwood, no Swishers /And bitch, I’m faded, fucking faded, yeah, I’m famous.” Woo! From the opening tip of his 2014 album, 💿 Oxymoron, 🎙 ScHoolboy Q is a total G. It starts with the intro of 🎵 “Gangsta,” where the rapper enlists his daughter for the assist.  She asserts:  “Hello… Hello? Fuck rap, my daddy a gangsta.” Holy $hi†! “Gangsta, gangsta-gangtsta, gangsta!”

If the fact that Q isn’t gangsta wasn’t firmly planted via his daughter’s potty-mouthed intro, Q ensures he repeats it continuously in the hook.  While merely stating a description of himself as gangsta wouldn’t make him a ‘G’, he backs up things with brash rhymes.  You saw exhibit A at the top of this blurb.  Beyond those rhymes, he continues to spit tough, hardnosed $hi† over incredible production work courtesy of 🎛 Nez & Rio.  ScHoolboy Q  also asserts he’s a pimp – he gets it in, easily (“I been checking ass all on the curb, nigga / You could tell that she fucking with a Figg nigga”). Without a doubt, just like his daughter asserts, Q a GANGSTA.  

5. Coolio, “Gangsta’s Paradise”

💿 Gangsta’s Paradise • 🏷 Tommy Boy • 🗓 1995

“They’ve been spendin’ most their lives livin’ in the gangsta’s paradise / We keep spendin’ most our lives livin’ in the gangsta’s paradise.” Sadly, on September 28, 2022, 🎙 Coolio (Artis Leon Ivey, Jr.) passed away at the age of 59 years old 😭.  He was an integral part of hip-hop/rap in the 1990s, with his biggest hit being the no. 1, 🏆 Grammy-winning single, 🎵 “Gangsta’s Paradise”. “Gangsta’s Paradise” famously appeared in the film and soundtrack for 💿 Dangerous Minds (starring 🎭 Michelle Pfeiffer), and reappeared on Coolio’s 1995 album, fittingly titled 💿 Gangsta’s Paradise.

🎙 L.V. sang the chorus, which interpolates a 1970s 🎙 Stevie Wonder joint, 🎵 “Pastime Paradise” (“They’ve been spending most their lives / Living in a pastime paradise”).  Per Rolling Stone, getting Wonder to sign off on the use of “Pastime Paradise,” an integral part of this masterpiece, mind you, was no easy feat.  After Coolio’s wife stepped in, convinced Wonder’s brother to meet with Coolio, and Coolio agreed to remove profanity, and give Wonder writing credit (which yielded ample profit for him), it was cleared.  Woo!

With a timeless chorus and epic production fueled by the sample, that last and most important piece of the puzzle is Coolio.  He slays in his rhymes with an ultra-compelling flow.  Following the intro, which highlights the Stevie Wonder sample, Coolio famously raps, “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death / I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothin’ left.” Woo! From there, you might say, for Coolio, “It’s on like Donkey Kong!” “But I ain’t never crossed a man that didn’t deserve it / Me be treated like a punk, you know that’s unheard of,” he spits, continuing, “You better watch how you talkin’ and where you walkin’ / Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk.” Oh, snap! Those are merely excerpts from the first verse.  In the second, there’s the gem, “I’m 23 now, but will I live to see 24? / The way things is goin’, I don’t know.” There’s also the third verse, where Coolio rhymes, “They say I gotta learn, but nobody’s here to teach me / If they can’t understand it, how can they reach me?” He has a day-um point! Finally, can’t neglect to mention the refrain, which sometimes prefaces the chorus and ultimately, concludes the record:

“Tell me why are we, so blind to see

That the ones we hurt are you and me?”

🎵 “Gangsta’s Paradise” is the type of classic record that you could write an entire book about and probably still wouldn’t have completely analyzed it.  It’s the definition of timeless.

Appears in 🔻:

• Coolio, “Gangsta’s Paradise”: Rap BNGRZ 🔥 24 (2022)

Keep it G: 5ive Songs No. 67 (2022) [📷: Atlantic, Brent Faulkner, Clovis Cheminot, CMG, Interscope, MJJ Productions, Inc., The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, Tommy Boy, Top Dawg, WoodysMedia via Pexels]