n the early 1900s it was the Italians. Mobsters organized their crime with a sort of class and panache that flew in the face of their violent and criminal deeds. Today, gangs are made up of street kids who wear clothes that hang off their bodies like parachutes. Their attitudes are less classy and more thug. Their values are the same as the early mobsters, and so they look up to them as their cultural ancestors, but suits and an Italian heritage are no longer required.

But these are gangsters. These are the true hoodlums out on the street selling drugs and killing rivals. There is another subset of humanity that looks up to and tries to emulate the sheer audacity, the guts and the sense of self-importance of these gangsters – these are what may be called gangsta's.

A gangsta' can be anything from a middle-class suburban kid to a street-smart run-away. These kids aren't part of a gang, they have never killed anyone, they may have done drugs before, but they don't generally make a career of selling them. They dress like gangsters and they act like gangsters and they listen to rap music like gangsters, but that's where the similarities end. Really, they are just regular, every-day normal kids who happen to enjoy the gang culture. The power and the cool-as-steel audacity attracts them. Gangsta's are generally just looking for something hard and rough to look up to.  And this is where one will have an in. 

To get a gansta’s attention, latch onto the hardship he’s going through.

You will not attract a gangsta' by being gentle to him. The gangsta' and gangster cultures are unique in the way that that they move and handle themselves. They carry themselves with confidence and arrogance. They will never smile in pictures. They throw their hands up as though making gang signs (even if it's not really an official sign at all). They make sure their presence is known. In order for a Christian to reach a gangsta', you have to be just as arrogant as him. But that doesn't mean pushing the gospel into his face.

It's not uncommon for a gangsta' to be going through some kind of hardship. This is usually (but not always) related to the fact that his choice in culture group is one that glorifies self-absorption. If you can latch on to that hardship and effectively tell him there is somewhere he can turn to get out, then you'll have his attention. The trick here is that while accepting Christ is an act of complete surrender, a gangsta' will generally want to make a way on his own. Break him down, however, and you will find that there is something deep inside that wants to give it all away and just let go.