In the late 80s and early 90s, the 24 hour news cycle devoted a lot of its time to reporting on gangs and gang violence, mostly as a way to lay the foundation for mass incarceration. A wide range of media, from authentic, like albums by N.W.A. and Ice T, to deeply dopey, like Colors, to formulaic, like Boyz n the Hood. They all, from the news reporting to the gritty “albums-as-documentary” to the huge blockbuster, managed to distort and inflate the drama, the criminality, and the excitement for their specific purpose.
But some folks were in gangs and centered their lives around violence. Shook Ones Pt. II is a song that speaks for the street-level soldier. The story it tells is hopeless. The bare-bones orchestration is a drum beat, a piano hook, and, like, a sound effect from a horror movie? The piano hook plays over and over without paying attention to anything else in the song. It is insistent but then it forgets for a bit and then resumes. It is pretty but it is monotonous and detached from the rest of the song. The hook evokes a player that is consumed by other, darker memories, playing the melody absentmindedly over and over and over again. The alien screech sound effect comes in and out according to its own wants and desires, ignoring whatever else is going on in the song. The only thing that keeps it all together is the drum beat which moves slowly but purposefully,
Havoc and Prodigy rap their verses centering their hardness but there is a breathless urgency beneath. Prodigy takes the lead and his verse is a warning to an enemy. He presents his Queensbridge brethren as blooded and unafraid to kill again to the cowardly other he is addressing. After the first chorus which further emphasizes that those who are afraid are unworthy to play the game, Havoc comes in and posits the argument that being fearful leads to delay and a lack of quick action results in prison. He speaks to his long experience in the projects and assures the listener that he would walk away from any fight, leaving the listener on the ground to live their last moments. He declares he cannot be reformed.
Both Havoc and Prodigy, perhaps without realizing it themselves, elevate being devoid of feeling as the ideal but both reference the use of substances to make them forget their experiences, belying the existence of their emotions.
Shook Ones Pt. II shares the same tone as the stuff I have read written by veterans of Vietnam like The Things They Carried and Rumor of War. That’s kinda messed up.
"Shook Ones Pt. II" by Mobb Deep
But some folks were in gangs and centered their lives around violence. Shook Ones Pt. II is a song that speaks for the street-level soldier. The story it tells is hopeless. The bare-bones orchestration is a drum beat, a piano hook, and, like, a sound effect from a horror movie? The piano hook plays over and over without paying attention to anything else in the song. It is insistent but then it forgets for a bit and then resumes. It is pretty but it is monotonous and detached from the rest of the song. The hook evokes a player that is consumed by other, darker memories, playing the melody absentmindedly over and over and over again. The alien screech sound effect comes in and out according to its own wants and desires, ignoring whatever else is going on in the song. The only thing that keeps it all together is the drum beat which moves slowly but purposefully,
Havoc and Prodigy rap their verses centering their hardness but there is a breathless urgency beneath. Prodigy takes the lead and his verse is a warning to an enemy. He presents his Queensbridge brethren as blooded and unafraid to kill again to the cowardly other he is addressing. After the first chorus which further emphasizes that those who are afraid are unworthy to play the game, Havoc comes in and posits the argument that being fearful leads to delay and a lack of quick action results in prison. He speaks to his long experience in the projects and assures the listener that he would walk away from any fight, leaving the listener on the ground to live their last moments. He declares he cannot be reformed.
Both Havoc and Prodigy, perhaps without realizing it themselves, elevate being devoid of feeling as the ideal but both reference the use of substances to make them forget their experiences, belying the existence of their emotions.
Shook Ones Pt. II shares the same tone as the stuff I have read written by veterans of Vietnam like The Things They Carried and Rumor of War. That’s kinda messed up.
"Shook Ones Pt. II" by Mobb Deep