The whole thing about "gangsta" rap (as opposed to other subgenres of hip-hop) was that they tried to describe life in the most "real" and "street" terms possible. The point wasn't to describe a vision of utopia, but to describe the nastiness of "here and now."
It is certainly controversial to sing about killing cops, selling drugs and all of that stuff but if you ask them they would never say they were trying to encourage it, they were just relating what was already happening out there. There is a very strong political subtext to all of it.
Here's an example of Ice Cube "glamorizing" drug dealers and gang-banging:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/icecube/whatcanido.html
Worth reading in it's entirity to "get the message", even if you have trouble with the slang.
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