Aaron McGruder’s character Gangstalicious, voiced by legendary rapper Mos Def, was an exposé on hip-hop and the mental gymnastics performed by the people that are reflections of a simple yet complicated black existence. 

Gangstalicious, one of Riley Freeman’s rap favorites whom he just so happens to know on a personal level after posing as one of his ‘many illegitimate children to visit him his the hospital, is a closeted ‘DL’ homosexual rapper being suppressed by an even more suppressed community battling with internalized homophobia. 

Gangstalicious represents the gay rapper being forced to conceal their identity and the part of them that is sick of the facade. He uses double-entendres and wordplay to pull a fast one on the industry, his fans, but not the streets. 

’Not-so-Gangsta-licious’ develops compassion for youth like Riley because of his impressionable mind which allows leaves him gullible to any lies that ‘Licious wishes to convince the public of. He struggles to guide his fans out of the homophobic mentality that they continue to be indoctrinated into, out of fear of exposure, and often times doubles-down on the homophobia when he feels as though he backed into a corner or when his gangster act is unraveling. 

We all know about “Homies Over Hoes” because of the impetuous exhibition of the intimate love he has for his ‘homies’ at a level that is greater than the love he has for any woman. 

You never catchin’ Lish,

Rollin’ with no b***h

‘Cause b****s ain’t s**t

Gangstalicious

However, my favorite is the song by Gangstalicious is the one that you hear blasting out of a random car passing by; ‘Thuggin’ Love‘. This must have been one of the cleanest lyrical finesses I  have ever heard on the show. The listener can choose to hear what they want to hear; either:

“I got that Thuggin’ Love”

OR:

“I got that thug in love”

When you thought that it was a song talking about the kind of love a thug can give; ‘Licious was certain that the thug he’s been hanging around had feelings for him. 

Those feelings became abundantly clear to me when Lincoln and his boys pulled him out of the trunk of his car in the middle of a forest,  stripped him naked, tied him up, and blindfolded him, only to give him the sloppiest kiss on the mouth, tell him he loves him and give him a chance to run while he and his boys shoot at him. 

Lincoln *to Riley*: “This is about things you’re too young to understand little man. This is about… Thuggin’ love”

Lincoln *to Gangstalicious*: “I love you man… You broke my heart man”.

As usual, the only people that catch his wordplay is the conscious listener, like when Huey Freeman quickly caught onto the intentions of Gangstalicious in “Homies Over Hoes”, but the charade only revealed itself to Riley when ‘Licious did the one thing that gangsters simply do not do; drop the gun.

Even though at that point Riley was not yet aware that ‘Licious was gay, it becomes clear to the audience that sometimes black men use stereotypical performances in order to market themselves and mask several other perfectly acceptable things that society might reject them for.