Miscellaneous Topics on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

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      Many of the vivid death threats are directed at other rappers who are perceived to have copied Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's style of rap music, or who are perceived to have claimed that Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has copied their style. Violent imagery is directed at rappers who claim that the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony rappers did not experience the streets, that they do not rap "real." Violent imagery is directed at anyone who talks down about the success of the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony rappers, and such persons are considered jealous "player haters." The rappers boast about making millions of dollars with their music, and sometimes they describe their popularity as "platinum," "platinum raps," "platinum players," and "eight-time platinum real"--an album has gone platinum when over one million copies have sold.

      All "gangsta" rappers include their own names into the lyrical messages, further personalizing the messages. The personalized messages are, however, contradictory. As a primary example, it is not only when describing ghetto life as "hopeless" and not only when suggesting that certain behaviors are destructive to the ghetto, that Bone Thugs-N-Harmony rappers include their names, but they also use their names when presenting themselves as animated persons who drink 40 ounce beers, who smoke marijuana, who deal drugs, and who engage in criminal violence. Furthermore, suggestions for blacks to stop destructive behavior occur rarely in comparison to the barrage of imagery that glorifies the same behaviors.

      It is important to keep in mind that the rappers, in most of their songs, do not tell listeners that the lyrics are describing events that they never engaged in. Instead they tell listeners over and over again that they are or were violent criminals, that they are "never the studio thugsters." At times, the rappers claim that they are describing their actual pasts, and they speak proudly of their days growing up as being the days when they dealt drugs, shot rivals with guns, ran from the police, and engaged in other criminal activity. In a rap addressed to the "players, thugsters, and hustlers," the rappers talk about starting out as drug dealers and then becoming rappers, about getting out of prison, and about one of their mothers with a 9 to 5 job who could not always put food on the table and who gave the following advice: "pick your friends like you do your fruit; keep your distance from the player hater; pray you never have to shoot." ("Otherside" of album 8.)

      The rappers sometimes refer to themselves as being black, and symbols of Africa are sometimes given; however, they usually achieve black identity through use of words like nigga, brother, homie, "gangsta," and through use of various names of their neighborhood. Some other examples of them making an issue out of skin color come from Bizzy Bone who remembers when his "Pops said [he] looked too light, but [that his] Moms is white," and Bizzy Bone warns black gangbangers that "don't let the skin fool" them because he will "fuck [them] up." (The first quote is from "Nobody Can Stop Me" of album 8, and the second is from "Thugz Cry" of album 9.)

      The rappers intersperse their own names among other descriptions of themselves that are as follows: homies, righteous homies, brothers, click, niggas, real niggas, realer niggas, true niggas, prowling niggas, little niggas, pros, nationwide posse, posse full of platinum players, assassins, crazy assassins, sons of assassins, masterminds, bosses, criminal minded, roughest motherfuckers, terror squad, players, Cleveland Clair players, Clair players, scandalous players, stone-cold players, for realers, trues, old trues, murderous trues, real trues, real true Thugs, true riders, real killers, thuggish killers, thuggish bunch, Thugs, Clair Thugs, St. Clair thugsters, eternal Thugs, thugsters, thuggish-ruggish niggas, scandalous niggas, survivors, troubled-ass niggas, stone-cold alcoholics, alc'ies, brew-swiggers, sinister creepers, robbers, stealers, ballers, hustlers, drug dealers, slangers, bud-smokers, killers, stone-cold killers, villainous killers, murder bound, soldiers, ghetto-bound soldiers, heartless-hardest soldiers, wasteland soldiers, ghetto cowboys, rebels, armies, thugster army, Mo Thug calvary, warriors, wasteland warriors, mighty warriors, "gangstas," "Ruthless-nigga gangsta[s]", crooks, men, deadly men, deadly thugster soldiers, cap [cranium] peelers, peelers, wig splitters, first-degree murdering wig-splitters, twelve-gauge pumpsters, gravediggers, "No Pretender," "No Surrender," "no studio thugsters," organization, and "my family." They proudly warn outsiders about how tough the streets are where they live or grew up, and they call their home by the following names: north coast, Cleveland, "my city," C-town, "my town," St. Clair, Clair, East 99, the land, "me neighborhood," thuggish-ass 'hood, Bone-yard, "my ghetto," hell, heaven, evil paradise, and as the place where the thugs and hustlers roam.

      Some raps are about romance or love, coming especially from female members of Mo Thugs, who have made statements against loose sex, such as the one which follows: "there's more to a relationship than jumping in the sheets; and if that's all you want, then you better go, 'cause that ain't me; I don't give my love to just anybody"; ("All Good" of album 8.) There are, on the other hand, some instances in which violence against women is entertained by the male rappers who never repent, and examples are as follows: in a rap in which the rappers say that they want sex but not commitment, they say "so bitch, you can't escape; so tell the who[re] to spread them legs 'cause if you don't I'm thinking rape"; ("Def Dick" of album 1.) "I'm chilling now with your girl on me dick, uh. . . . Bone will grab a bitch and bone that bitch 'till she bleeds, uh; the weapon is kept in up in me pants; me giving her what she needs"; ("#1 Assassin" of album 1.)

      Although they sometimes refer to themselves as those "who preach and speak true belief," or as "God's soldiers," they do not call themselves Christians. Sometimes they ask God to bless them or their "babies," while at other times they say that God has blessed already their babies, children, or friends. Usually when speaking of blessings, they say that their own lives have been blessed by God already, and that evidence of if is exhibited whenever they make a lot of money by getting away with crimes or by selling millions of rap CD's. Others already blessed, they say, are their partners in crime. Their trust and faith is in God, they say, and thanks are given to God for successful rap careers and for the "Mo Thug family" rappers being formed. There are a couple of examples in which they say it was good to learn about God because they get respect from others at church as a result.

      Although there are a couple of examples in which two rappers say they do not pray, one instance being a rapper voicing doubts about his faith, and another being a rapper saying that "the Heavens don't want" him, the same rappers in other instances give thanks or trust in God, or ask for his blessings. In addition, the other Mo Thug rappers claim prayer, and there are overall more than thirty such instances. They pray to God for answers about why their friends have been killed, and they pray for peace and for an end to the violence.

      However, they make it clear that they or black gangbangers in general should not be ashamed of dealing drugs or of perpetrating violence, and that the nature of their upbringing means that they cannot control, or in the least cannot control always, their own violent criminal actions. Examples of such follow, and evident is how the rappers combine asking God for change with normalizing criminal behavior: "bow my head asking the Lord for change; since I started selling 'caine, shit ain't been the same; began to acknowledge my bang ways; who can I blame; maybe my pain; dealing with it by calling it a phase; these are the Last Days; carry no shame, everyday things; went from selling cocaine to rocking the stage. . . . I remember my first day out of prison. . . . everything I ever knew since the day I was born consisted of some type of hustle. . . . you see a fellow like me done had it through all the wicked madness; everyday I gotta fight this demon; sadness taking over my world of gladness. . . . come kick it the way we roll, that's if you can handle it, baby. . . . me and my trues. . . . robbed the people next door"; ("Otherside" of album 8;) "I often pray to God, to please show me a better way; struggles are much harder; the man is getting smarter; it's getting so hard [that] can't even make an honest dollar; Mom was on welfare; Pop is a freaking lunatic; I'm just a young brother who is trapped in the wrong pit"; ("Searchin 4 Peace" of album 4;) "strapped down with ghetto ways. . . . we struggling. . . . ghetto life showing me no love. . . . trapped in a slum surrounded by the crack fiends; means of survival, I guess; hustle in the 'hood; wear the bulletproof vest. . . . gotta slang 9 to 5. . . . II True. . . . it's a ghetto curse; every little kid in the 'hood done felt these tortures. . . . I'm blessed as a soldier; I beg of you, Lord Jesus; help me deliver myself and my click from this evil; fear the reaper, surrounding my soul; steadily sending these [raps] through my people; heaven been taking control of my destiny; I can't let these streets get the best of me. . . . my trues can't settle for no prison. . . . claim Mo Thug with love to the depth that the game goes. . . . shit will change around if we make it; suit up; two Glocks for the war; check the score; II True can't lose because you know we got shit to prove; gotta stick for you; living our lives, singing these ghetto blues"; (from album 4.)

      They pray to God asking why "player haters" exist. They address God through general prayers. They ask for salvation several times, and an example is as follows: "I beg the Lord; save us all, 'escapers' of misery; bless my niggas in penitentiary, soldiers of the century"; ("Thug Luv" of album 6.) There are a few instances in which they advise their enemies to pray. They say that they read the Bible, that God is their guide, that they give affiliation to God, and that God watches over them. In one instance the following is said about their environment: "we living in hell; but we cherish everyday like we in heaven"; ("It's All Mo Thug" from album 6.) The few times they say that they will go to heaven equals the few times they say that they will go to hell, yet, while never saying that they want to go to hell, they do say that they want to go to heaven.

      They often say that they act like the Devil or demons when they carry out crimes, and that they act as such because the Devil or demons have taken control over them. They often say that they will release themselves of demons or outright fight the Devil for control of their own will. In one song, the rappers use their names to show affiliation to a character who acted under the Devil's control, who died after being shot in the head, who went to Hell, and then who took Hell over and went on to destroy Satan. In the following quote it is noticeable how the word "lynching" seems to refer to whites and the word "rent" seems to refer to reparations: "called RIP and Stratejacket; #1 Assassin is fully strapped. . . . learned the Devil's tricks on how to run this shit. . . . mangling ladies, stick a grenade in they pussy; then I start strangling babies. . . . RIP just spotted the Devil around the corner from Heaven with his crew, drinking brews. . . . unloaded on his ass and dumped him in the abyss. . . . I'm coming for Satan, and my intentions is to fuck him up. . . . I'm fucking Satan's bitches. . . . a lynching ain't shit compared to what I'm gonna give you. . . . started a riot in Satan's castle. . . . we took demons as hostages; you want your peoples to live; then you'll forever pay me rent to stay in my kingdom. . . . when I'm coming for your ass, ain't no need to run, because I'm so fucking Ruthless I made the Devil go buy a gun; until we go at it, the RIP won't repent; an appetite for bloody bodies, Rest in Peace is Hell sent"; ("Hell Sent" of album 1.)

      They ask God to forgive and to have mercy on them for their criminal behavior, but usually the askings are amid calls for more violence: "put your motherfucking hands on your strap [concealed handgun], nigga; thug love, nigga. . . . I probably be punished for hard living; blind to the facts [that] thugs is convicts in God's prison; hands on the strap; praying; so, Father, please forgive me; police be rushing when they see me; I flaunted 'America's Most Wanted' live on TV. . . . Bone held the chrome. . . . hit the weed. . . . I got thug love for my nationwide posse. . . . player hating niggas, you gots to die. . . . Mo Thug come crack they fucking domes. . . . infrared to your head. . . . still gonna bleed bloody red"; ("Thug Luv" of album 6.)

      In one instance, a rapper asks: "Dear Lord, can I stay?" There are a few examples in which they say that they will "probably be punished" by God, that they "feel the Lord hate[s]" them, or that a friend being shot dead is God's punishment for a life of crime; however, it is much more often that they call on God for protection or assistance in defeating rival rappers or in carrying out criminal activity. Two examples of the later type are as follows: "let's go; now we down to ride, everybody; swear to God that I'm down for mine; but I feel the Lord done bless me; we marching soldiers. . . . got to watch for the cops. . . . make a move, player hater, and we watching you. . . . I can thug forever and ever; you can't really blame me, baby; it's just the thugster in me. . . . Jesus gave life on the cross so we could maintain; hear a voice telling me that it's gonna be all right; just keep your style and pray at night; the chorus sings: get your thug on; thugsters, it's time for warfare. . . . it ain't gonna change, so we better prepare; if it comes my way, I'm gonna prepare to spray any day. . . . shots might be fired, because everybody got guns; but nobody running . . . because Bone niggas don't run"; ("Get Cha Thug On" from album 6;) "giving you nothing but thugster music. . . . mighty Mo Thug bringing the pain; soldiers marching, all prepared for war; we're all ready to go now; I pray, just watch over us, my Lord; out of time, so I'm expressing mine; they said, it's going to end around '99. . . . mighty warrior destroying you; rather have us incarcerated in handcuffs than living for lust; in mighty Mo Thug, do I trust; time for Armageddon; get on your knees and get to repenting; heavenly messages I'm sending. . . . gotta get the bail [stealing] on; until we soldiers, buck up; Leather Face, do you got my back, boy. . . . Souljah Boy with the Glock cocked, and I told you, it would be hard to stop us. . . . this how we get loud and crash the party; the party inside and nobody will hear the violent vibe; no longer quiet; go quiet; let's pump up the riot"; ("Mighty Mighty Warrior" of album 8.)

      The rappers often warn that the end of world is coming soon, in 1999 or 2000, and while it is usually called Armageddon by them, they also refer to it as "the end of the world," "the Last Days of the last day," "these remaining years," "the final hour," "a final era of the very last pages of the Holy Bible," and Judgement Day. Sometimes they call on God to destroy the "player haters." On a few occasions they call on God to destroy the police, and as an example there is the following: "how many more days on this old earth; can you see; it's blind to me, so we should get ready for Armageddon; because I know God should be ready to roll; do away with the wickedest shit like Mr. Policeman; and, dog, if you with it, then pump up your fist in the air"; ("If I Could Teach the World" of album 6.) However, usually they say they will do it themselves.

      The rappers threaten violence at law enforcement officers in more than sixty phrases distributed in over thirty of their songs. In most songs which contain the phrases, attention is not focused only on the police, and examples are as follows: "hitting up the Graveyard Shift with Will, little Will, Big Wally, and Wish Bone. . . . Krayzie Bone. . . . take much love. . . . burn up the buddah [marijuana]; smoke it all up. . . . cops sweating me by; copper better drop when the gunshot pop blood; dumping the body, and the bullshit stop. . . . fuck them po-po's; bloody they bodies; they burn, burn. . . . East 99 is where you find us, slanging [dealing] me motherfucking drugs. . . . rolling with me trues, drinking brews"; ("East 1999" of album 3;) "gotta get away when the po-po's chase, so me ready with a me gauge; bang; bang; put them in a coffin; buck; pump; dumping they bodies. . . . murdered them. . . . niggas slang that 'caine and remain; smoke bud all day and maintain. . . . my Cleveland niggas, what's up; get down for that thing in the game; bang-bang if you have to; beating niggas down in any town"; ("Eternal" of album 3;) on another track that glorifies drug dealing, the chorus chants: "meet a motherfucking po-po; gotta hit him with the .44"; ("Mr. Bill Collector" from album 3;) "you fucking with Bone; you better believe we living like soldiers; we loving that thugster shit; so, nigga, just throw your pumps in the air; then you pump; pump; put one in a copper like you just don't care"; ("Die Die Die" of album 3;) "you're feeling [the] wrath of the Bone-yard. . . . you better believe that we running this thug style; Krayzie, Layzie, Bizzy, Flesh, Wish, them wicked now. . . . bucking them coppers down, round after round after round; bloody bodies, badges, spreaded on the ground"; ("Shotz to tha Double Glock" of album 3;) in a song that relishes dealing drugs, making money from rap music, and killing rivals, the rappers say they will "put one to the temple; pump; to Mr. Policeman"; ("Down Foe My Thang" of album 2;) in a song that over and over again calls for the killing of "player haters," we also hear the following pronouncement: "fuck the motherfucking police, nigga; coming straight from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony; no regards for the motherfucking law at all, nigga; eternal warfare"; ("Mo Murder" of album 4;) in a song about killing rivals, they say about themselves that "Souljah Boy. . . . Layzie Bone. . . . Tombstone, Krayzie Bone. . . . nigga fixing to shoot the po-po too, and we do. . . . we down with the swanging, no fake entertaining. . . . gauges and Uzis and .357's"; ("Low Down" of album 4;) the rappers tell listeners that they "buck strictly for the policeman"; ("Clog Up Yo Mind" from album 6;) they will be "casing" the police in their Cleveland neighborhood in order to blow up the police station and to chase them out of there; ("Mind of a Souljah" of album 6;) on the last track of their 1998 album, referring to each other by their names, the Mo Thug rappers congratulate each other for the project, and they also let out other thoughts: "Mo Thug family back up in this motherfucker. . . . '99, year 2 G's . . . 'till this motherfucker blow up. . . . fuck the motherfucking police; fuck the motherfucking FBI; fuck the FCC; fuck any motherfucker who got something to do with the motherfucking law. . . . the shit don't stop until they motherfucking body rot; roll or get rolled over, yeah; shut this bitch down"; ("Otherside Outro" of album 8.)

      Their track called "No Pretender" (from album 4) issues forth specific orders for the killing of officers' children and for the killing of officers during traffic stops: "I see all them motherfucking police. . . . let's get ready for these motherfuckers. . . . I hate these bitches and niggas. . . . let's take they motherfucking head off, right here. . . . 'No Surrender'; 'No Pretender'; II Tru, my crew come thick; family behind us; you don't want to see this Mo Thug click. . . . you got your blue suits; you got your nine; but if you pop one time, my trues coming back uptight, and I'm gonna end mine. . . . when we find the motherfucking snitch, lynch them; head straight for the ditch; victims; Sin, we got a snake to snitch; going to the cut [alley or shortcut] so we can break the bitch; how would you want the nigga; red on his blue suits; fried, when he died; let's show the nigga he could never ride or fuck with the soldiers that glide on the Clair side. . . . I'm taking the lives of all them sergeants, lieutenants. . . . got to get them where it hurt; got to get their kids first; now my subject be the envy in me; I wanting your soul to burn in Hell and dwell; but tell the past to meet you there. . . . you better believe that your people fixing to feel it when the coffin top drop, [when] the box locked shut; toss them in the back of the hearse, and I wish I could watch the cop's crooked body rot; and thugs will all in time take over the world; collect the minds for all them nigga boys and girls, and pearls to another dimension where it really is just us; fuck the system. . . . you know it's cool to be thugging on '99. . . . you knew we was real; we really do smoke blunts; we do all our own stunts. . . . we fixing to kill them; hit the copper; chop him up with the M-11 [gun], now feel the pain. . . . ready to blow them out of your town, now; come on, y'all; we take a pow-pow that gauge. . . . we spray. . . . what a wonderful day; get up; buck; and fuck them on up when they pull you to the side and [when] they trying to put the cuffs on; that's the perfect time to get it; pump; then you reach up in the glove [compartment]; hold your breath, and get your bus on; let them feel the round or hear the sound of the 12-gauge eruption, destruction, [that] we've made; now the [cranium] peeling is through, and we got your pay."

      A string of quotes from a track will be given in order to show how the rappers mix together the above themes in a single track. For example, at the same time that whites are blamed for blacks being poor and for black-on-black crime, blacks are told to get jobs. The following excuses are made for ghetto violence: "here I go rolling off with all Mo Thugs, trues. . . . I don't want to go to Hell; listen up well as I tell them explicit from all I've seen, envisioned; and the Devil fiending, catch us; and he scheming. . . . righteous homies searching where they hustling. . . . God done have a safe place for my babies; don't want them brought up so crazy in a cruel world, already like Hades. . . . find the po-po beating down your door one day to take you away. . . . no more killing each other over jewels and shoes. . . . go get a job; pay dues; most fools do nothing, and I did my dirt. . . . this Reverend from heaven just making you feel about these problems. . . . whack [lousy] rappers be jealous; make this Reverend intense; I'm flipping; I'm scripting; I'm ripping them down; they be burning my church. . . . it's all designed by mastermind at this time; just look at that welfare line, and can't forget that black-on-black crime. . . . they take our money and rape our women. . . .I believe a lot of us shouldn't even condemn these rappers because if nobody would've told me about God, the church folks would've been talking bad about me. . . . think about the end; it's due maybe 1999. . . . escape out the traps in our community; flood with a master plan to get rid of us; see, we got crack and all these diseases. . . . look at us struggling, hustling; got to make ends meet to pay my bills; got to have; ain't no grub on our grills. . . . some coppers got no love. . . . just who the hell do we trust; only the rounds that pull the gun and pop it; the black are together; millions gather strong at last, controlling; no more violence; going to stop it. . . . Lord is watching"; ("World So Cruel" of album 5.)

      Forgiveness might be asked of God in the middle of calling for violence. For example: "Mo Thug riders coming and set if off; start the riot. . . . I'm ready for battle. . . . I'm bucking and killing police; leave them in the streets with their badges all bloody; fuck them all; ain't no peace. . . . let off my heat; pop; shot until the cop drop; daily, my shit don't stop. . . . up against forces of evil, and we have been waiting at last for the Final Hour; how I pray to the Lord, heavenly Father; will He have mercy; I'd rather disperse you into the line of fire, and gun; they buck when they hurt you; hit them with a curse, and you got Glocks. . . . I got a army, nigga." ("Riot" from album 8.)

      The following is a call for urban warfare: "9 mm's, .380's, you're feeling me kill them; 'cause I go with plenty artillery; cover your shit; it be gauges and Uzis; let us begin with bullets; break out the niggas from prison and let them come with us; retaliation. . . . nigga, beware when you're rolling down the Clair; these niggas is killers that are fearless-thuggish-ruggish niggas from Cleveland. . . . better check my manuscript: killer, for realer, drug dealer, little-nigga, cap peeler. . . . come with the war; nigga, gonna get yours; expect the four [rappers]; nigga, bring your chrome; and don't you start and not finish; you with it or you against it. . . . Bizzy Bone. . . . RIP. . . . when our niggas really get to popping at the cops you'll be looking at a hell of a war; motherfucker done rocked the boat; now a nigga fixing to even the score. . . . we all in together. . . . let the law end. . . . Flesh-N-Bone got the chrome. . . . when I split up your wig, your brain going [to] hang. . . . fuck them; let the law end, 'cause we simply get the raw end; coffins open; dump them all in"; ("Let the Law End" of album 6.)

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

Last editing was posted 11-3-99, 10-1-99.

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