(continued)

GANGSTA RAP

EARLY '90s:
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg's 1992 breakout song for Death Row Records, "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang," promoted the vainglorious West Coast gangsta culture of violence and misogyny. Their message, a reclamation of American aggression absent during the wimpy Bush Sr. Administration and the bourgeois reign of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and court jester DJ Jazzy Jeff, proved so popular that it spread all the way to the East Coast suburbs, where we got their Beltway counterparts ...

NOW:
George W. Bush and Karl Rove, the gangstas of the cold-blooded Bush Administration (gang sign: four and three fingers). Like Dre and Snoop, the duo isn't afraid to pop a cap in someone's ass (Saddam) or endlessly boast ("Bring it on"), gives similar props to death row (152 executions in six years in Texas), and passes legislation that disrespects women (except for Condi). And they've always got their homies' backs (Libby). In stores soon, the major-label release of MC Rove's single.