Bizzy Bone

Bizzy Bone's 1998 Album

Quote
"Please sing along with the old Negro spiritual: the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire; we don't need nothing but the weed and a lighter. . . . keep the pistol gripped. . . . I'm there for murder and mayhem";
"The Roof Is--On Fire"; Bizzy Bone, Bizzy Bone Presents Heaven'z Movie, 1998, Ruthless Records, Relativity Records, Relativity Entertainment, Red Distribution, Sony.

Article
      On his 1998 solo album, whose style is fairly cryptic, Bizzy Bone complains about the system and promises warfare. Some of the guest rappers call themselves Menensky Tribe. At the beginning of a track, the guest rappers explain the origins of their name, saying that Menensky Tribe "used to be the ones who was fighting the slave masters so the people didn't go on the boat." They say that they are "with Watts niggas in Cali' ready to riot." "Fuck the feds," they say, and let fans know that they are "from the projects." They speak openly about building up their base, saying that "Menensky niggas robbing worldwide," and fans are asked the following: "are you down with Menensky Tribe." ("Menensky Mobbin.") The rappers say that they are "witnessing nations in the pen[itentiaries]," and that their words are about "Revelations in the making." The phrase "our segregation" is mentioned, and just after those words, the rappers seem to be complaining when they say that "hatred ain't motivation." The rappers say that they have fans thinking about "revolution . . . [and] retribution and execution [and] shootin'." The rappers say that they "ain't lying" and that "every time [they] sign the dotted line, it's for the riot." The rappers say the that they have "militant" minds. ("Waiting for Warfare.") Imagining themselves to be criminals, the rappers speak on behalf of criminals, saying that if the law becomes tougher, then criminals will become tougher. Calling himself a soldier, a rapper describes himself "holding a black fist." "Everybody knows we divine," they say. Their raps "will injure the unwise and traumatize offenders," they claim, and their raps turn "white lies [into] shades of gray." In the midst of what they describe as a "movement," they say that they "feel so elusive." ("Mr. Majesty II.")

      Sometimes rappers express the claim that their rap music causes or would cause more white youth to become violent. On the one hand, Bizzy Bone says that Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's music did not cause the boys in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to kill fellow students at the junior high; but on the other hand, he sends a message to the boys: "put these earphones on and let me murder you like you murdered your mom." Bizzy Bone angrily speaks of an "old cracker-ass bitch" who should stop "fucking with [his] race." He finishes with the following statements: "I stand in front of Congress with my runaway slaves, convicted of inciting a riot; I am not guilty. . . . I plead freedom of speech, liberation to reach each and every child out there to teach my goals; I'm strong; I'm bold; and you can burn, burn, motherfucker. . . . and let me pull the switch." When Bizzy Bone says that the Jonesboro boys should die, he does so in a way that allows for a double-meaning, the first meaning being that the boys should be tried as adults, and the second meaning being that all adult whites should die, and the phrase is as follows: "they should die as if they were motherfucking big, you dig." The rap song ends when the time reads 5:25, and there are a few minutes of silence until it starts up again at 8:45. At that time, there is a mock news program. A newscaster calls himself "Jack wannabe." In rap music, the word "Jack" often refers to whites, especially whites in government or in other positions of power. A reporter calls himself "the token minority" and "the token white minority." The reporter says that Bizzy Bone's album is "reaching millions" and is "making people in the suburbs run scared." The newscaster switches to another story, saying that "people are having a big problem about" President Clinton talking about raising money for the Space Shuttle program. ("Social Studies.")

      On the track called "Marchin on Washington," there are, in the background during the entire track, sounds of explosions and of guns firing. The rappers holler out that "it's time to give up the ghost" and that "it's a war going on out here." They talk about selling millions of rap CD's, about having guns, and about having camouflage. ("Marchin on Washington.") They must "gather up gas masks for biological war," they say. Making a reference to Biblical Revelation 14, they place, on their side of Armageddon, the "144,000 full of tribes," being the good who are to be redeemed from the earth. Bizzy Bone hints that there was a conspiracy behind the deaths of three black rappers, namely Eazy-E, Notorious B.I.G., and Tupac Shakur. He says that because of "triple stage darkness," they were "murdered in California." (Eazy-E died of AIDS; Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur were both killed by gunmen who have not been caught, and witnesses reported the gunmen as being black in each case.) Everything should burn down, according to Bizzy Bone. Fans are asked to sing along "with the old Negro spiritual: the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire; we don't need nothing but the weed and a lighter." ("The Roof Is--on Fire") In rap music, the word "Babylon" is often a code word for white influence in society. Bizzy Bone opens his album saying that the "new born Babylon" will fall. ("Roll Call.") Bizzy Bone talks of celebrating the GRAMMY Award he won the year prior, and he calls his music the "ghetto media." ("Nobody Can Stop Me.") Mo Thugs rappers often speak positively of smoking marijuana, and Bizzy Bone continues with the same. ("Brain on Drugs.") In the liner notes, one of the persons Bizzy Bone thanks is identified as "the other flyest white man," and Bizzy then goes on to write "fuck it to all the white people and black people who hate me."

Reference
Bizzy Bone Presents Heaven'z Movie, Bizzy Bone, 1998, Ruthless Records, Relativity Records, Relativity Entertainment, Red Distribution, Sony.

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

The above is not a complete summary of Bizzy Bone's connections to violently racist music, and readers may want to research and expose more of it.

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