Mafioso Rap is heavily defined as a hardcore style of hip hop that finds a rapper imitating the lavish persona of notorious Mafia members and killer gangstas. Developing in the 1980s in the mafia capital of New York City, the subgenre is noted to be an answer to the g-funk fueled gangsta rap coming out of the West Coast.

Working under the mentorship of the Juice Crew, Kool G Rap would eventually release two studio albums with DJ Polo, Roads To The Riches (1989) and Wanted: Dead or Alive (1990). Both projects combined Kool G Rap’s penchant for battling rapping , as he possessed a multisyllabic rhyming ability that told the stories of NYC poverty and the criminal activity that graced the streets. His style was raw and grimy— an important factor that would template future Mafioso records.

By the time Kool G Rap released his solo debut studio album, 4,5,6, in fall of 1995, Mafioso Rap became commercial folklore thanks to the likes of Nas, JAY-Z, and The Notorious B.I.G. What at first had been images of rappers in the slums, transformed into storylines about hustlers. Some of which partook in actual organized crime before making it big time. Albums like B.I.G.’s Ready To Die and JAY-Z’s Reasonable Doubt incorporated old school soul samples, and flipped them to represent luxury and opulence. Eventually, the tragic death of The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997 would cast an ominous cloud on the genre. Rappers started to become more merciless, opening up about their subtle fears of being taken out next because of the lifestyle.

While the start of the aughts traded out most hardcore rap for softer R&B collabs that faired well in the clubs and radio, traces of Mafioso Rap could be seen as a tool for artists that still wanted to keep their core street fans. Sometimes, a themed album would appear from the NYC giants of hip hop and trickled into the Dirty South trapstars like Rick Ross (2005’s Port of Miami) and T.I. (2008’s Paper Trail).

With the popularity of then 2020s primetime cable series, BMF, which chronicles the story of the Black Mafia Family (who had their own brief stint in running commercial Mafioso Rap), a renewed interest in the genre can be presently felt. That’s through the likes of Drake— who has adopted a Mafioso persona whenever beefing— or Lil Durk who has so far lived to tell the tales of Chicago’s notorious hood, O Block, or Chiraq. That has lead to the rising popularity of Drill music.