(From Without Warning LP; 1991)
Almost unbelievably, there isn't a single shot of a flaming garbage can in the video, but worry not, dunns, because the absence of the ultimate signifier of griminess is tempered by the amount of bodies caught on screen and we're taking Rambo (2008) levels of murkage here. Kudos to whoever uploaded this, and eternal props over here go to Video Music Box for being the only TV show on the planet who'd ever play such thugged-out independent videos as this, What's Going On, Black by AZie, Case Dismissed by Pretty Tone Capone and Beg No Friends by Strickly Roots with Fat Joe, Grand Puba & Chill Will in the first place. The latter is a dated '93 Shout-Rap dud of a song, but the video is highly watchable due to the slightly-too-realistic-looking beatdown scenes and Puba's butta tan jacket.
15 comments:
Holy mackerel. This is actually harder than the Case Dismissed video.
I'm gonna have to side with my man in the Oh Word PHD review comment section- G Rap was the better rapper but nothing hes done is fucking with Poet shooting a massive gun at people for 4 minutes, even at his post-92 cop-hanging bitch-neck-breaking gulliest.
Classic QB grimeyness.
Nice find! This video is great. PHD were trigger happy, they pose with some big guns on the covers of their album (which I got as a CD). Only other covers with rappers toting guns in a similarly blatant way, that I can think off the top of my head: Criminal Minded (this and PHD - no other East Coast record covers with guns - damn, not even M.O.P.!), Mr. Scarface Is Back, and UNLV's 6th & Baronne.
Sticky Fingaz on the cover of Bacdaducup too.
south central cartel too
Not to mention Power by Ice-T, both MobStyle albums and Prone To Bad Dreams by Point Blank.
Tec-9 too:
http://purple-drank.a1yola.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Tec-9-Straight-From-Tha-Ramp.jpeg
Wow good shout - there are hardly any east coast album covers with shooters on... By All Means Necessary as well but...?
Good call on Prone To Bad Dreams! Need to listen to that one again.
Yeah, I totally forgot about Onyx. SCC - right, N Gatz We Trussed, I remember that album. SCC are cool, but somehow - I don't know. Boring? A bit generic? I only listen to Gangsta Team (off that album), because of that great assembly of the real gangsters (or rather rappers): Ice-T, MC Eiht, Spice 1, & Tupac. Beat is great too. But I always skip Havokk's and Prodeje's verses. That talk at the beginning of SCC bringing together the west coast gangsta rappers to salute or bow to fucking Russell Simmons doesn't feel right, too. Makes me cringe. But nice track, probably the first hip hop super star mix (okay, if we forget about Self Destruction and We're All In The Same Gang for a minute, but those were charity records and not ignorant, hardcore records for the sole benefit of Russell Simmons.)
Also, the east coasts' Prodigy discredited Havokk and Prodeje's gangsta reputation by retelling an encounter he had with them in the latest Rosenberg/Cipha Sounds podcast. He called them pussies. So, fuck SCC and their guns, brandishing sickles (Juvenile Hell) elevates Mobb Deep's cover art game high above any other rappers'. LOL
It's fair to say that SCC's album cover was more memorable than their album.
And speaking of Glen E. Friedman photograph covers for albums by west coast Gangsta-Rappers holdin' heat : Act A Fool by King-Tee.
Ha, true, I mentioned Criminal Minded but forgot completely about By All Means...
The King Tee cover is a classic one, too.
Now that I think of it, 50 Cent's Guess Who's Back cover might count as well, though it's not really an album, and it's only a small handgun, hidden under an iced out cross. And the image is fucking blurry. Even 50 kept his covers safe, like most rap album covers post Pac/Biggie murders.
But I would say that 50 had the best gun talk song in "Heat". Love that track.
this vid is durty
For gun talk joints, Stray Bullet gotsta be up there...
@Mr Bozack: Yeah, if you have a broad understanding of gun talk, “Stray Bullett“ (and “I Gave You Power“) would qualify as a top contender to the no. 1 spot. But to me the gun talk category is more about rappers threatening to shoot everone i their way, boasting about their weaponry arsenal and is generally more ignorant than a tale where the narrator impersonates a bullet or a gun or merely uses gun images as metaphors for his lyrical skill. Thus, for instance, „“Me And My Girlfriend“ would qualify, “Mi Uzi Weighs A Ton“ and “Squeeze The Trigger“ do not. “9mm Goes Bang“ is difficult to categorize, it's actually a tale, but also glorifies the effective use of a gun a bit, so it might qualify. Other songs that clearly do: “A Nigga Witta Gun“, “Rat-Tat-Tat“, “Clip & Tha Trigga“, “Throw Ya Gunz“, “Stick To Ya Gunz“, “I'm Losin' It“ (mostly Spice 1's verse), “Click Clack“ (Pusha's verse is somewhat off topic, but Slim Thug does the gun talk well). There's a ton more. But “Heat“ takes the cake on the level of 50's ignorance alone.
Cock It Back by Sadat X too, which is awarded extra points for actual gun-click sounds.
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