By JpMunroe aka yourmumgotfishslappedandIdidit
Arguably the best gangster rap album, ever, comes to a crescendo with the gem of a track 'the gangster, the killer and the dope dealer'. The beat, a genius loop of the chorus of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt', brings to mind the scene of a secret midnight forest bathed in moonlight, guarded by a resident owl army that diligently watches over their kingdom from the tree tops. You can almost picture the scene in the first 10 second intro: the howl of the wind rustling the leaves in the midnight black forest and the twinkle of the moonlight in the eyes of the owls. However, this scene does not last long. This mystical and eerie instrumental is then suddenly subjected to the brutal, yet also strangely complementary, raw and relentless flow of our heroes; Ice cube, Mack 10 and DubC. Like an elite team of commandos sent to storm the forest and overthrow the owl dynasty, our rap trio reign down over the instrumental like napalm in a campaign of shock and awe. The mission: to make sure no tree or living thing is standing in their wake. The owls can do nothing but surrender to the flow but our trio slaughter them anyway, for fun no less.
In terms of lyrical content, on first listen you could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another typical gangster rap track where the Westside trio glorify their criminal antics. The title of the track reflects the mantra of the chorus where the trio repeat over and over again 'the gangster, the killer and the dope dealer' – the roles that they no doubt associate themselves with in this gangster rap universe. However on repeated listens the complexity and genius of this track reveals itself.
In fact, we begin to understand that the gangster, the killer and the dope dealer are not being glorified at all. Rather, it is the aim of the trio to make us, the listener, face the hard reality that it is exactly these 3 types of criminal that exist in this world and, to put it in their words, help make 'the world go round'. They may live and work outside the pretty parameters known to most of middle America but they nonetheless play as much a of a role in society and the economy as any law abiding man, woman and child. The money that flows through the hands of these criminals is the same money that flows through the hands of all of us, which in turn flows into the legitimate businesses that fuel our economies. As such, these criminals have their dark yet defined place in society that makes a real and substantial contribution to the economy and the way we all live our lives.
However, the Westside connection do not stop there. Their real goal of this track is to make us really rethink our notions of good and bad, heaven and hell. A gangster, a killer and a dope dealer – although identified as three separate types of criminal in this track – in reality can be and often are one and the same person i.e. It is not uncommon for a dope dealer to be a gang banger who also dabbles in killing people. In this sense, we can see that the concept of gangster, killer and dope dealer is actually a homage to the holy trinity of the Christian church – the father (god), the son (Jesus) and the holy spirit. In Christianity, the holy trinity are three separate entities but they all represent the one overriding great and holy power that is God. The gangster, the killer and the dope dealer, taken separately, could be interpreted to represent the multiple dirty underbellies of society in this world we live in, but as a whole could be seen to reflect the overriding evil power that is necessary in this world to counteract and balance the overriding positive and good power that is God.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hahaha.. this is genius. I never knew this song had so many layers.
This was actually written by a friend of mine who shares the same appreciation for the classic “bow down” album. His insight when it comes to the westside connection is second to none. I’ll ask him if he can do more.