Imagine Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Jermaine Dupri, Cypress Hill, Lil’ Jon & The East Side Boyz all in one room all at the same time.

“Gangsta” is a collection of music photographer Marcus Hanschen’s portraits of various hip-hop artists that shape today’s mass culture.

According to the curator, Christine Duval, many of the portraits were originally shot for Murder Dog Magazine.

Unlike the glamorous “bling-bling” so many see as hip-hop culture, the showing was the complete opposite. There was little that was fancy about this showing.

Besides the portraits, the white walls were completely empty. Each portrait was framed in a traditional way with a white frame rather than a gold or silver one.

According to Duval, the photos speak for themselves. Every single portrait was of a famous icon in hip-hop culture.

It was interesting and odd at first to see hip-hop artists featured in this gallery. “Gangsta” is a show about hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon and the artists that are helping add to this.

In a sense this gallery showing is surpassing casual attitudes about hip-hop and bringing it into an intimate setting in San Francisco.

“If no one knows who Snoop Dogg is, it doesn’t matter," said Duval. "It’s a good portrait anyway.”

One of the most compelling pieces there was one of Snoop Dogg. It was a larger piece, a front-view face portrait of the artist doing what he is known for – smoking what appears to be a large marijuana joint.

Another portrait, of rapper and producer Jermaine Dupri, showed Dupri from the side, wearing a set of headphones.

“I don’t know all of them (the artists) but I do like the images,” said Duval. “It doesn’t matter who they are.”

She said she didn’t want to play on just the hip-hop aspect of the pieces. All of the photos on display were amazing. The fact they were black and white made it all the better. Rather than using color portraits that could have distracted viewers, the artist stuck with the basics of black and white, which made the images all the more powerful.

Unfortunately, for such great shots with such compelling subject matter, the lack of space in the gallery took away from an exhibition of some really great and powerful photography.

Simple as it was, the show does help get viewers past all the glitz and glamour.

“Gangsta” will run until May 20 at the Limn Gallery, 292 Townsend in San Francisco. The exhibit is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.