Race was a slight factor as well.

But even listening to rappers...most of them actually sound like the part of town they came from. When you mention Tha Liks, groups like Living Legends, Pharcyde...they were normally on the Westside, and usually weren't from Compton/South Central or the more hood areas. Those that did come from the hood and didn't go G-Funk usually went to HS outside of the city. G-Funk correlated with Gangstas, and they normally came from the areas that were highly infested with gangs.

Basically all of my friends, neighbors, and cousins were into the G-Funk sound the most, but they were also into regular commercial Rap more than anything that was seen as backpacker/underground back then.