Many in the entertainment world are dropping the platform
Mark Wahlberg's gangbanger days included violence and racist hate crimes, among others. The Bostonian ended up serving some time behind bars. "I took it upon myself to own up to my mistakes and go against the grain and not be a part of the gang any more – to say that I was going to go and do my own thing," said the actor.
Cardi B said that she used to hang out with lots of Bloods when she was 16. "Sometimes it's almost like a fraternity, a sorority ... and sometimes I see people that's in the same gang kill each other. So sometimes there is no loyalty. Sometimes you gotta do certain things to get higher, to get higher and higher. You're doing all of that and you not making money off of it. That's why I don't talk about it much. Because I wouldn't want a young person, a young girl, to think it's okay to join it," she said
The rapper did however deny affiliation to the Crips. He explained: "There's this crew called Scum Gang from Flatbush. I used to run with them, but nobody can say who I'm Crip under. Like who was I Crip under?"
Sources: (Nicki Swift) (The Guardian) (ABC News) (MTV) (The Huffington Post) (TMZ) (HotNewHipHop) (The AV Club)
6ix9ine has said that he was affiliated with the Bloods, but he seems friendly with the Crips too; at least in the music video for 'Kooda.'
The actor villainous persona goes all the way back to when he used to be a member of the Cito Rats surfer gang.
Tupac has been linked to both the Crips and Bloods. He has been seen sporting blue bandanas (Crips color) in many occasions, but his gang affiliation has never been confirmed.
James Caan may have just got some real-life inspo to play his successful role in 'The Godfather' movies. It turn out, the actor is very close to Andrew Russo of the Colombo crime family. "My friendship with Andrew Russo dates back over 35 years, and I've only known him to be as good a friend as anyone could be to me and my family," he said in 2011.
The founder of Death Row Records is known to be affiliated with the Mob Piru Bloods.
Things did seem to change when the rapper got signed to Death Row Records, which was essentially a Bloods record label. Tupac did however have close friends in both gangs, so formal gang affiliation to either the Crips or Bloods is still up for debate.
Member Juelz Santana also doesn't keep his gang affiliation a secret. "I been gang-affiliated since day one. Everybody knows that, everybody know we got a heavy affiliation with the Bloods since day one," he told MTV News.
Hip-hop group The Diplomats aka Dipset are openly affiliated with the Bloods. Member Jim Jones explains: "I've been affiliated with the Blood gang since I was a teenager. And for y'all that's not familiar with the court of law, being a member of a gang, being a Blood is not a crime, you know what I mean? That is not a crime to be a gang member ... it's what you do as a gang member, that's when you get conspiracy charges and racketeering and all that. Me being who I was, I just came up in a hood that was a Blood neighborhood."
Snoop Dogg's affiliation with the Crips is no secret. In 2017, the rapper even released an album called 'Make America Crip Again.'
While Ice-T was never a full Crip gangbanger, he did make up his own fake gang so that kids in school think he was protected. "We told people we were part of the Hillside Crips. We had them thinking there was hundreds of us. We connected together ... it kind of kept people off of us," he said.
De Niro has portrayed many gangsters on the big screen, but his background certainly helped him get into character. As a teenager, "Bobby Milk" (because he was so pale) joined a street gang in New York's Little Italy.
Years later, Hughley's cousin (who was in a rival gang) was killed by a Bloods member. "That was difficult because ... he was one of my favorite cousins, and when he died they wouldn't let me go to the funeral ... Bloods had killed my cousin." D.L. Hughley then left the Bloods. "I knew I didn't have it in me to take human life," he confessed.
Snoop Dogg does not however endorse gang violence. "A lot of people glorify the gang banging and violence but forget that in the beginning, the Crips' main and sole purpose was to be the reflection of the Black Panthers. They looked after kids, provided after school activities, fed them and stepped in as role models and father figures," he explained.
The rapper and actor grew up surrounded by Crips in Crenshaw, LA. "You're either with them or without them. You kind of get indoctrinated into that lifestyle, like I say on one of my records, whether you're in a gang or not, you know what color to wear. You don't want to wear the wrong color just to cause a problem ... Gangs are real. They fight to the death," he said.
The comedian joined the Bloods in his youth. "As a young boy you're looking for acceptance any way you can get it. Although I'm not proud of what happened, I'm not proud of my experiences, I learned a lot from them that I think is invaluable for me in terms of how I see the world."
"I didn't fight it. I have kids and understand why the networks didn't want to show it ... They may have banned it, but it still blew up on the Internet," he told Dub magazine.
Lil Wayne's association to the Bloods has been rumored for years, even though a Blood member shot at Lil' Wayne's tour bus in 2015.
Frank Sinatra's mob ties have never been formally confirmed, but Ol' Blue Eyes was friends with several Italian organized crime families. Here is Sinatra posing with members of the Gambino crime family.
Hailing from Compton, California, the rapper has been linked to the Bloods for many years. The Game's video for the single 'Red Nation' (ft. Lil Wayne) was even banned from MTV and BET because of gang references.
"I mean, even if you think of Southeast San Diego, the majority of the people from down there are from different Blood sets ... I lost a lot of friends to senseless gang violence. A lot of people still locked up right now. So I always try to downplay it and be like that cat that was allowed to get away from it," he added.
Cannon grew up in Bay Vista in Southeast San Diego, in what he called "a Blood set." He was not quite a gang member, but " during the early '90s when it was glorified I definitely was wearing my Dickies and certain colors and the Chucks."
Some sources do however claim that Brown is not a fully initiated Bloods member. Chris Brown has hired several gang members as and contributed to the financial boost of Compton, so he's got green light to wear red and use hand signs.
However, Trejo isn't impressed by celebs who try to boast about their gang affiliations. "All the rappers become very famous and then try to get street credit. They get caught playing with machine guns and it's like wait a minute ... You're no longer a thug, you're a businessman."
The actor's bad boy looks got him into Hollywood, but before he was in movies, Trejo was a real gangbanger and has been incarcerated multiple times. "We had a lot of pistols, and you don't really want to mess with somebody who's got a lot of pistols," he said.
Chris Brown has been associated with the Compton-based Fruit Piru Bloods for most of his career. He's been seen throwing gang signs onstage and making references to the Bloods in numerous occasions.
When asked if he supported the Black Lives Matter movement, the rapper pointed to his red bandana and replied "I don't feel connected to a damn thing that ain't got nothin' to do with me ... I'm connected to this mother******g flag right f*****g here. I'm connected. I'm a gangbanger, I'm connected."
Gang culture has permeated rap music ever since the 1980s, but rappers are not the only ones claiming to have street cred. In fact, there are some unassuming famous faces who've been associated with gangs.
Some of these celebs were born in neighborhoods dominated by a particular gang, while others became associated with them later in life. While not all celebs on this list are fully-flagged gang members, many have shown their sympathy towards a particular gang, leading to speculations of gang affiliation.
Curious to meet the celebs who've been (and some still are) affiliated with gangs? Click on.
Celebrities affiliated with gangs
Some were active gangbangers
CELEBRITY Crime
Gang culture has permeated rap music ever since the 1980s, but rappers are not the only ones claiming to have street cred. In fact, there are some unassuming famous faces who've been associated with gangs.
Some of these celebs were born in neighborhoods dominated by a particular gang, while others became associated with them later in life. While not all celebs on this list are fully-flagged gang members, many have shown their sympathy towards a particular gang, leading to speculations of gang affiliation.
Curious to meet the celebs who've been (and some still are) affiliated with gangs? Click on.