Neo Nihilists

G Wiz,

okay, just two more posts before I set the stage for some explaining, however, in the “kind” time, let me make another soulful entry devoted to unpacking Hip (“knowledge”) Hop (“movement.”)* In particular, I am focussing on a “genre” within Hip Hop/rhythm and poetry which deals with the bleak picture of the “ghetto.” (James Baldwin reminds us that these were a creation of white america, c.f. balwin and darden, 1968).

In the final scene of the film 8 mile, Eminem and his rival battle over the 1995 Onyx Beat “Last Days.” (They also rhyme over “Shook Ones II” but that’s for another time.) Although the lyrics of this track might be viewed as “grim”, these street correspondents – once their words are unpacked – actually reveal some precocious analyses about the creation of the “nigger.”

The rawness and realness with which the trio (Onyx) deliver their message actually makes a hip hop classic, but also, as is typical of the street narrative/commentary, they actually make explicit the implicit sentiments of the global system which devalues their life and, upon damaming their drives, directs their desires. Although I will be exploring this in more depth in a couple more posts, check them out!!!

South suicide Queens….all niggaz
gather up all your arms
and get ready for this new world ordershit is about to change-muther fucker

Verse 1:

I’m America’s nightmare
young black and just dont give a fuck
I just want to get high and live it up
so fuck a 9 to 5
and why you tryin to slave us
with minimum wages
slammin my niggas up in cages

changing their behaivors
and spittin razors thats outraegeous
smoking moaches is hopeless
we want lazy sofas and sculptures
lady chauffers who fuck us
full house and royal flushes
roll with the rush
its the official nas
got bitches with pistols and cash

we living in the last
my theory is “fuck it”
sexy niggas get obducted
my corrupted
is conducted
through ghettos
sippin amaretto
hand on the metal
foot on the pedal
never settle

…I’m trapped in corners
bustin shots at Time-Warner

Verse 3:

Thinking about taking my own life
I might as well

‘cept they might not sell weed in hell
and thats where I’m going
cause

the devil’s inside of me
they make me rob from my own nationality

its kind of ignorant
but yo I gotta pay the rent
so yeah, I’ll stick a nigga most definite
cause its generate [I think he says “the degenerate”]
if I get caught I’m innocent
cause I dont leave no sticky finga prints
for the cops
they only good if they dead
all that badge and that gun shit be going to they head
to make bread I gotta steal for sport
so I stole the show and sell some pennies for my thoughts
and if this fucking rap shit dont pay
I’ma start selling drugs around my way
killin my own people in the USG
shit they gonna get it from somebody
I’d rather it be me
besides…you cant tax dirty money
and you cant trust nobody (nobody)
no one (no one)
I’m the scorpion
and I’ll probably bite the bullet
cause I live by the gun

we came to hear these 25 to life niggas who just came out
and pull flame out
take aim
blow your brains out
its life on the edge of dangerous
where you living
never giving a shit
cause we living in it
in South suicide Queens where niggaz act up
nigga back up
official nas-throw your fucking gats up
its life on the edge of dangerous
where you living
never giving a shit
cause we living in it
we never giving a shit
cause we living in it
official nas mother fuckers dont give a shit
word up

I will be comng back to these lyrics after the repost, however, I would urge you to dwell on these sentiments as they hold the secret to exactly what Baldwin was explaining when he raged that powerful and concealed forces had impacted upon the blacks in America in the post protest (1960’s) era.

P.S.

since I am, in a revisionist manner, reclassifying these sounds as “neo-nihilist”, I would also ure the reader to review the following tracks

Masta Ace “Other Side of Town”
Mobb Deep “Streets Raised Me”
Notorious Big “Suicidal Thoughts”
Tech N9ne “suicide letters”
Rakim “Waiting for the world to end”,
Kool G Rap “Ghetto Knows” & “Crime Pays”
Talib Kweli “Lonely People”
Cormega “The Saga”
DMX “Who We Be”
Melle Mel “The Message”

*KRS “Hip Hop Lives” Reference