Here is a little background information. I’m a 32 year old Caucasian from a small Iowa town. Given the demographic, you would not think rap music was very influential in my life. You would be wrong. I grew up listening to rap music. I remember fondly when I got LL Cool J’s “Walking With A Panther” album. This was the first real music I can remember getting. Fat Boys and Run DMC were some of the first groups I listened to. From there I progressively started to listen to harder and harder music. Bushwick Bill and Ganksta N-I-P were staples in my playlist. N.W.A. was my favorite group. I remember having to have someone else buy the album Niggaz4life because I wasn’t old enough.

Eventually I stopped listening to rap music. Recently in my wanderings of the great interweb a link brought me to Top 5 Folky Covers of Rap & Hip-Hop Songs. This immediately got me looking for more. I’ve put together a playlist on youtube of some of these great covers. I admit these aren’t all gangsta rap and they are not all acoustic, but acoustic gangsta rap sounds so cool.