The recording artist 50 Cent popularized a term with the title of his cut, “Wanksta” (2002). The term is sometimes given as “wankster’ and is a combination of “wack” or “wanker” or “wannbe” and “gangster.” The plural is “wankstas” or “wankstaz” or “wanksters.” 50 Cent explained in 2002:
“A wanksta is a gangsta that doesn’t progress. [Someone] that just goes through the cycle constantly. Most gangstas’ actions are for finances — they’re motivated by money, the root of all evil — but how are you gangsta and you’re not getting any money? You’re going back and forth to jail. And you’re telling stories like, yeah I’m gonna get this [BMW]. And then we see you at the car lot, and you’re there looking at the [BMW], and you still don’t get it.”
MTV News
Oct 17 2002 7:56 AM EDT 1,110
50 Cent Explains What A ‘Wanksta’ Is
Hit single will appear on rapper’s upcoming Get Rich or Die Trying.
By Minya Oh
(...)
“I recorded ‘Wanksta’ a year ago,” 50 said of the sparse street track. “I put so many other records in the street, when I put it out I didn’t intend it to be as big as it turned into.”
So what is a wanksta?
“A wanksta is a gangsta that doesn’t progress. [Someone] that just goes through the cycle constantly. Most gangstas’ actions are for finances — they’re motivated by money, the root of all evil — but how are you gangsta and you’re not getting any money? You’re going back and forth to jail. And you’re telling stories like, yeah I’m gonna get this [BMW]. And then we see you at the car lot, and you’re there looking at the [BMW], and you still don’t get it.”
OCLC WorldCat record
Music from and inspired by the motion picture 8 mile
Author: Eminem; Obie Trice; 50 Cent, (Musician); Jay-Z; Freeway, (Rapper); All authors
Publisher: Santa Monica, CA : Shady/Interscope Records : Universal Music & Video Distribution, 2002.
Edition/Format: Music CD : CD audio : Motion picture music : Multiple forms : Popular music : English
Contents: Wanksta (50 Cent)—
Google Books
The Language Report
By Susie Dent
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2003
Pg. 144:
The creation of Sacha Baron Cohen, Ali G is is a white gangsta rapper wannabe (also known as a wanksta) who speaks a jumbled argot of cockney, Jamaican and hip-hop slang.
OCLC WorldCat record
Good 2 go
Author: Elephant Man.
Publisher: [S.l.] : Atlantic, 2003.
Edition/Format: Music : English
Contents:
Wankstas & Wannabees
Urban Dictionary
wankster
gagnster wannabe.
that’s not how you spell my name samuELLE! man, you’re such a wankster!
by anonymous Mar 31, 2003
Urban Dictionary
wanksta
A fake Gangsta, A person (any color, race,ethnicity) that acts and looks like a thug but have done nothing thats “Gangsta” such as shooting someone, robbing, and mobbing people ect…, all wanksta’s do is talk shit
90% of all Americans are wanksta’s
by AC Dec 23, 2003
wanksta
a combination of “wack” and “gangsta”.
in other words a wannabe gangsta and a loser
wanksta: i’m a gangsta! see, ive got a wata gun
by ian g. Jun 30, 2004
Google Books
The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z, Volume 2
By Eric Partridge
Edited by Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor
New York, NY: Routledge
2006
Pg. 2065:
noun
someone, especially a white person, who postures as a gangsta rapper US
OCLC WorldCat record
Why White Kids Love Hip Hop : Wankstas, Wiggas, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America.
Author: Bakari Kitwana
Publisher: Basic Civitas Books [Imprint] New York : Basic Books New York : Perseus Books Group [Distributor] 2006
Edition/Format: eBook : Document : English
Google Books
Dorm Room Dealers:
Drugs and the Privileges of Race and Class
By A. Rafik Mohamed and Erik D. Fritsvold
Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers
2010
Pg. 41:
Why Rich Kids Sell Street Drugs:
Wankstaz, Wannabes, and Capitalists in Training
New York (NY) Post
A to Z: Deadly slang by gangs of New York
By BRAD HAMILTON
Last Updated: 2:56 PM, October 28, 2012
Posted: 12:55 AM, October 28, 2012
(...)
Wanksta: A wannabe gangster, a pretender. Word is a cross between wanker and gangster.