Brand Nubian 1994

Brand Nubian's 1994 Album

Quotes
"These devils make me sick; I love to fill them full of holes; kill them all in the daytime, broad motherfucking daylight; 12 o'clock, grab the Glock; why wait for night";
"Sweatin Bullets"; Brand Nubian, Everything Is Everything, 1994, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner.

"Lead to the head of you devils. . . . dick-hit by a dread who is fed up with the nonsense; leave you red with my clip; empty out his contents; spill your guts";
"Lick Dem Muthaphuckas--Remix"; Brand Nubian, Everything Is Everything, 1994, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner.

"Won't be satisfied until the devils--I see them all dead; lay them in the mass graves of the past slaves they were slaying; you think a nigga forgot; matter of fact, my trigger is hot; you blink, you're getting shot; and if the weather is hot, your body is gonna stink when it rot. . . . we plot a hit on your moms, then leave the bloody bitch in the ditch; pitch a pretty penny at the mother of my enemy; my brother is sending me more guns from down South; and for the lies you told, I'm gonna buck you in the mouth. . . . pale face. . . . it's all about brothers rising up, wising up, sizing up our situation. . . . you be fucking with my turf when you be fucking with my race; now face your maker and take your last breadth; the time is half-past death. . . . it's the Armageddon. . . . go into the garage; find that old camouflage. . . . cracker-shooting nightly";
"What the Fuck"; Brand Nubian, Everything Is Everything, 1994, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner.

Article
      There are many unabashed kill-the-whites phrases on their 1994 album. Brooklyn is referred to as "Medina," and the rappers pass along greetings to listeners who are "gods" or "earths." Lord Jamar says that he is a "black man [who is] intelligent with a plan," that "Islam be the bomb dropping on devils," and that he is rapping on "a higher level." He sends out "peace to Farrakhan and the Nation." Blacks were created "original solar." ("Straight Off da Head.") "We blend truth with mathematics, doing acrobatics over beats," the rappers tell everyone. "Lord Jamar is like Jesus," the rapper says of himself, and he says that he is "speaking in parables, and to devils it's unbearable." However, he says, whites have no choice and cannot "escape the penetration of [his] voice." Sadat says that even though he is "soft-spoken," his words are "comprehended by the herds." "Now watch us bust this herd in the head with another jam," they say, calling their jams "letters for the other man." ("Nubian Jam.") The rappers direct violent imagery at other rappers who do not "know" black culture. Lord Jamar uses his "third eye," and he studies "math like a mathematician." ("Step into da Cipher.")

      "I'm sweating motherfuckers like Jack Lalane." In the phrases that follow, listeners are told that whites should be attacked at anytime: "these devils make me sick; I love to fill them full of holes; kill them all in the daytime, broad motherfucking daylight; 12 o'clock, grab the Glock; why wait for night." ("Sweatin Bullets") Calling himself the "dread[locks] with the nine," a rapper issues the following threats at whites: "lead to the head of you devils. . . . dick-hit by a dread who is fed up with the nonsense; leave you red with my clip; empty out his contents; spill your guts." ("Lick Dem Muthaphuckas--Remix")

      Lord Jamar raps about a police raid on a residence, calling it an "illegal search and seizure." He tells "the devil to his face that he can suck [the rapper's] dick; it's the whole black race that they're fucking with." He claims that police sought him out because he lets "brothers know the time." At one point, when the rapper makes claims about Brand Nubian's influence, he includes his view that whites corrupt the minds of blacks, and the quote is as follows: "I just write tight shit to incite the young, to fight the one who keeps them on a level that's minimum." Sadat X uses the title of a 1990 Paris album, namely The Devil Made Me Do It, to indicate a state of mind. ("Claimin I'm a Criminal.") Listeners are told that the "police ain't nothing but a gang," who are in cahoots with Columbian drug dealers. Brand Nubian dedicates the song to "all the original gangsters out there," who are named to be NRPD, NYPD, LAPD, state troopers, all the "PD's" in Queens, FBI, CIA, DEA, "TNT," ATF, INS, FEMA, INTERPOL, National Guard, Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Secret Service, and "all the rest of the motherfucking hogs out there rolling in the mud." ("Gang Bang.")

      Criminal activity and killing are glorified on a track, and at the end of it, Brand Nubian asks is the following: "are you down for the real, motherfuckers; is you down, nigga?" ("Down for the Real.") The Brand Nubian rappers say that although they do not deal drugs, they do live around "the thugs," and they school "the thugs" with "hip-hop," which results in "the thugs" shooting "slugs . . . leaving devils 'mugs' in a pool of blood." Lord Jamar says that he prays for "the devil [to be] taken off the earth." "The fucking police gots to go," they declare, and while the rapper's "big brother was a slave," the rapper calls himself "Nat Turner with two burners [who is] busting back because [he's] black." The rappers warn that "messing with the original seed" will cause the system "to bleed." Whites broke "the universal laws," and so blacks are "smoking" laws put in by whites. Brand Nubian targets predominantly white neighborhoods for crime as follows: "we're gonna wreck shit repeatedly; I ain't going out without retaliation; I got my niggas in the alley waiting, ready to bring the heat to Satan where he lives." It "ain't no big deal" killing law enforcement officers, Brand Nubian announces, because it is nothing "compared to what was done to us." "Devils" want to hang the rappers from trees by ropes, and a rapper says of Brand Nubian's music that its effect on a white is that it "peels his cap with the real rap." ("Return of the Dread.")

      Track 15 begins with news excerpts about a police officer who was injured in Queens after a 14 year old youth threw a brick through the windshield of a cruiser. Brand Nubian responds to the news excerpt with the following harangue about killing whites: "it's the dread and the bald head; won't be satisfied until the devils--I see them all dead." The rappers say that they will bury whites in the "mass graves of the past slaves." Conforming to a standard for "gangsta" rappers, the Brand Nubian rappers use their own names to personalize their commitment to the cause, and on the present track they let listeners know that "Lord J got the arm [and] Sadat got the bomb." The rappers say that more guns are being sent to them from "down South." The "pale face" killed off the buffalo and took New York from "the Indian." The rappers have Teflon bullets and shotguns. Blacks must rise up and wise up. When whites mess with the rapper's "race," whites are messing with the rapper's "turf." Whites are about to meet their "maker." "It's the Armageddon" that we are in, Brand Nubian says, and blacks should pull out their "camouflage." Because black rappers often leave verbs out of phrases, it is unclear in the following phrase whether it should be read as "cracker [is] shooting" or as "cracker-shooting;" however, because it is reasonable to interpret it in the later way, considering Brand Nubians' verbal wrath, the phrase is quoted as follows: "it's Armageddon, so cancel the wedding; go into the garage; find that old camouflage; blend in like a mirage and then explode; take nothing lightly; cracker-shooting nightly because I don't need nobody that's gonna shoot me in the back." At the track's end, there is an excerpt of President Clinton speaking in which Clinton called for weapons sweeps through "housing projects." Brand Nubian asks the following: "now what the fuck is this all about." ("What the Fuck.")

      When a black kills a black, he is doing "the work of the Klan," listeners are told, and it ruins the life of "a black man." It is "whitey" who made the minds of black men "sick," and it is "whitey" who caused black babies to be fed "swine." The "blind days" for blacks will be over when blacks "find Jehovah." ("Hold On.") Some of the guest artists included on the album are Laura Alfored, Busta Rhymes, Serge, Maestro Manny, Snagglepuss, and Starr. In the liner notes, Lord Jamar says "peace and luv" to "The Nation of the Gods & Earths," to "The Honorable Louis Farrakhan" and to the Nation of Islam. He says "peace" to all the rappers and producers on both the East and West Coasts. Some of the artists who are given shout-outs by Brand Nubian are Biggie Smalls (Notorious B.I.G.), Nasty Nas, Buckshot, Smith N' Wesson, Wu-Tang Clan, M.O.P., Slick Rick, KRS-One, Redman, AZ, Grand Puba, Kool G Rap, Guru, Jeru Demaja, Scarface, Spice 1, Snoop Doggy Dog and The Dogg Pound, Outkast, Above the Law, Big Mike, Tupac, Dr Dre, QD III, Ice Cube, MC Ren, KAM, The Lady of Rage, Chaka Zulu, Marco Polo, Terminator, Mic Geronimo, Onyx, Nice & Smooth, Black Sheep, Fat Joe, and Black Moon.

Reference
Everything Is Everything, Brand Nubian, 1994, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner.

Posted at http://home.att.net/~phosphor on June 30, 1999.

Update: 8-10-99: link to Onyx.

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