The Terrorists

The Terrorists' 1991 Album

Quotes
"Cloud, which means to overshadow the other man, mess up his game plan. . . . South Park Black Panther coming at last. . . . we're politically related . . . black innovated. . . . staying in school, gaining knowledge for black intellect; but I need more brothers to roll over the government. . . . I got the nine [millimeter pistol], the mind, and the time to unwind new-school pro-black dope [great] rhymes. . . . there's 10,000 of us; how you gonna stop this bum-rush, fool. . . . talk is cheap; you best believe that, black; actions speak louder than words, and that's a fact";
"Cloud on Suckas"; Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, The Terrorists, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records, Thorn EMI. Rap-A-Lot Records was owned by Virgin Records for about four year before 1999, when it joined back with Priority. Thorn EMI changed its name in 1998 to EMI Group.

"Prejudiced white motherfuckers upset me. . . . I'm black with a bat, swinging at the head of a honky. . . . demolish the whole government dictation because the whole damn committee is white. . . . these motherfuckers try to claim authority, ruling the majority; makes us commit larceny on a white shit-talker; including your white who[re]s too because we bitch stalkers; and The Terrorists about to murder your ass";
"Blow Dem Hoes Up"; Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, The Terrorists, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records, Thorn EMI.

"It's time for the black smoke to cover the white fog. . . . I would grow up and form into an educated black man who understands the white man's system and his political plans against the brother man. . . . crackers . . . broke us. . . . devils' plans amiss. . . . black men, you love to assassinate; I got my gauge [shotgun] and I can't wait to blast your head into eight different dimensions; time to elevate the tensions. . . . we're serial killers. . . . the system is set up to destroy the potentially productive black man. . . . let's increase the peace, brothers";
"I Ain't Givin Up"; Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, The Terrorists, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records, Thorn EMI.

"Squeeze your nostrils tight and gag your mouth with a Bud Light; peace to all the blacks. . . . blacks are the victims; The Terrorists kicking political rough shit and we won't quit until the other man's throat slit from one ear to the other; remember wayback when that is how you did us, motherfucker; just hanging us niggas from tree branches; burning our naked bodies and teasing our African dances";
"Bomb Threat"; Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, The Terrorists, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records, Thorn EMI.

Article
      The Terrorists' main rapper is Dope-E and its primary music mixer is Egypt-E (aka Aftamath). Dope E has produced for Ganksta NIP, K-Rino, and Point Blank.

      On Side 1 of their 1991 album, The Terrorists threaten whites repeatedly, calling for their murder and calling for revolution. Several times, Dope E says that blacks do not have "freedom" in the system. The rappers call themselves "The Terrorists," "microphone terrorists," "the terror set," "black elevated," "educated [and] black innovated," "South Park Black Panther," "black," "black man," and "the holocauster." Ganksta NIP and Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys join in on tracks. The "Rap-A-Lot [record label] posse" is promoted, and it is also called "South Park coalition." Artists are promoted, such as 5th Ward Boyz and H.B.U., aka Hard Black Untouchables.

      Dope-E says that he "hope[s]" freedom will "ring" and that he writes his music "for the black." He calls himself the "South Park Black Panther," South Park being an area of Houston. He says that he and other rappers from there are "politically related, complicated, educated, [and] black innovated." A phrase which was popularized by Public Enemy on a 1987 album is used by Ganksta NIP here when he says that the South Park coalition has thousands of men who cannot be stopped in the "bum rush" of the system. Dope E says that he needs black men who will "roll over the government." Because blacks kill blacks, Dope-E says that he attempts to "reach and teach" in order to get blacks to "leach the bleach." "Black, is how we live," he says. They say that they will rap from '92 right up to year 2000. He explains the meaning of the title of the second track saying that "to cloud" means to "overshadow the other man [and] mess up his game plan." ("Cloud on Suckas.")

      Dope-E asks listeners if they remember when, "a long time ago," that "a nigga couldn't even look at a white who[re]," and so he tells "redneck[s]" that they had better respect him. Dope-E threatens any whites who he views as "prejudiced bastards." He describes himself as a "black" who clubs "honkies." Conversation is over, he says, and that now whites must face the fists of a "black nation." The entire government must be "demolished," he cries out, because it is "white." The reason that blacks rob whites, he says, is because whites "claim authority" and are "ruling the majority." Whites are about to be murdered "real slow over evil sounds" of his music. Dope-E complains about "Oreo blacks," saying that they do not know their "color," and saying that they should learn "to hang with [their] sisters and brothers." Such blacks should stay away from "white trash," he says. He says that he had heard that the white rockers from Guns 'N Roses had said the word "nigger" in a song, and Dope-E threatens them with brutal deaths. After the rapping ends, Dope-E talks about his view that blacks do not have "freedom," and he describes it as follows: "there is no other way until justice is blind to color; until education is unaware of race; until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of a man's skin." Until then, he says, "emancipation will always be proclamation." ("Blow Dem Hoes Up.")

      The fourth track begins with an excerpted voice saying the following: "we are from a place where they first started people: Africa." Dope-E says that his life is a struggle everyday, and that "it's time for the black smoke to cover the white fog." He says that the "white man" conspires against "the brother man," but that blacks do not realize it because they are "brainwashed." He imagines himself with a shotgun blowing whites' heads into pieces. Whites are responsible for the deaths of black leaders who "are falling like hail stones." In particular, there was a conspiracy behind the death of Mickey Leland, says Dope-E, announcing to listeners that the flight crew was killed when the plane was in flight. (Mickey Leland was a black who was a civil rights activist during the 1960's while in college, and who later served Houston as a US Representative, speaking out against hunger in the world. He died on a plane flight in Ethiopia during an effort to alleviate a famine.) Half of his friends, he says, are dead, and the other half are jobless because they wear their hair in dreadlocks, employers refusing to hire them. Dope-E says that he was born in the 1960's and that opportunities for blacks have not improved since then. He complains that "society got black cops messing with" him. He accuses the "government" of enforcing "terror." He condemns the system, saying that it "is set-up to destroy the potentially productive black man." He calls for peace among black men at the track's end. ("I Ain't Givin Up.")

      Dope-E imagines himself and his friends as crack cocaine dealers, and he makes it seems as if black drug dealers could not help but become such when he says the following about them: "just making a life out of living." He gives advice to listeners. For example, he tells listeners that no one can be trusted because even dealers snitch on dealers. He expresses the hope that no blacks die overseas in war, and he ends the track saying that he is "pro-black" and is on the "attack." ("Makin a Life Outta Livin.")

      The Terrorists send messages out to whites, addressing them as "you." "You're surrounded by bombs planted by The Terrorists," the rappers warn. "Let my people go," the rappers call out. They warn "whites" to tell the facts about crack cocaine, about "how it suppresses blacks." It's too late for negotiating, Dope E says, for whites tried to mold blacks and to hold them back, and so bombs will be detonated in the beds of politicians. Among the exaggerated terms used to rally up listeners, is the use of the term "freedom." Dope-E raps the following: "I miss my freedom, and my freedom misses me." He says that blacks are "the victims," and he threatens to slit whites' throats. Typical of violently racist rappers, Dope-E not only condemns all whites who lived during historical slavery as one type of person, as whites who committed atrocities against blacks during slavery, but he additionally lumps in present day whites with the latter type of individuals. The following quote shows how: "remember way back when that is how you did us, motherfucker; just hanging us niggas from tree branches, burning our naked bodies, and teasing our African dances." Dope-E says that the "Rap-A-Lot family" will never be stopped. He names many artists as part of a team, some of them being as follows: Geto Boys, Convicts, DJ Silk, Ganksta NIP, DJ Triple-6, Raheem, "the hard-ass Mexican," Point Blank, K-Rino, DJ Domination, Big Chief, Freddy Rodriguez, and Hard Black Untouchables, aka H.B.U. He also names off some Oakland rappers. ("Bomb Threat.")

      On Side 2, called "Black Side," the rappers boast about their musical affiliation with South Park Coalition, Ganksta NIP, Rap-A-Lot Records, and JAS Management, and they threaten other rappers who would attempt to diminish their popularity, emphasizing that they, The Terrorists, are "pro-black."

      They refer to whites or white participation as "Satan" and "white supremacy." A rapper says that he would "never worship the devil" but that he is "hellborn Satanic," and he describes the lyrics as "hellified" and as "lyrics from hell [that] cast a spell." The lyrics are also called "demon-dope [great] beats," and other rappers are told to "beware." The rapper calls himself a "raging beast" and the "ruler of darkness." ("Lyrics from Hell.") The rappers say that heaven does not want them, that they will go to hell, and that when they do, they will take over hell and kill Satan. ("South Park Coalition.") Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys joins in on a song that denounces the media as "white" and as full of lies, and violent imagery is directed at people in the media. Bushwick Bill seems to claim that his knowledge about predominantly black neighborhoods is exclusive, and he uses the claim to say that the media does not represent properly the rappers. Does the media not know "that the ghetto is nothing but a modern day Vietnam," he asks. He says that his "backyard is a concentration camp." He blames the media, the government, and whites generally for drugs in his neighborhood. Dope-E boasts that "Ganksta NIP kills cops." ("Fuck the Media.")

References
Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, The Terrorists, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records.

Information about The Terrorists was obtained late July 1999 from the web site having the following address: http://www.intergate.com/~nterror/terror2.html.

Posted at http://home.att.net/~phosphor on August 10, 1999.

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