RAP ATTACK: First there was N.W.A.’s “F---...
RAP ATTACK: First there was N.W.A.’s “F--- tha Police,” then Public Enemy’s “By the Time I Get to Arizona,” with its video portraying assassinations of unnamed politicians. Now comes the latest escalation of the rap revenge fantasy trend: “Ultimate Drive-By,” a new single by the Atlanta-based group Success-n-Effect.
The song graphically proposes a series of assassinations of “certain people who have prolonged racist treatment of minorities,” according to press material accompanying its release. And this song names names. Among those targeted in the song’s violent fantasy are former KKK leader and politician David Duke, former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, ex-LAPD Chief Daryl Gates and former Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox.
There are also some dicey words aimed at President George Bush:
Cause George Bush is taking money from the blacks
How in the hell are we gonna survive on those dog scraps?
So caps gotta get peeled
You got me living like an animal and now I gotta kill
So get your body bag ready, punk
Cause when I drive by I’m gonna get down with my ------ pump
So if your ---- gets sprayed, don’t wonder why
Cause me and my (guys) just committed the ultimate drive-by.
The song, shipped to stores last week, is distributed by the Atlanta-based Ichiban, an independent distributor dealing mostly in rap and R&B; records. A spokeswoman for the group says that both the single and the band’s third album, “Drive-By of a Revolution,” which will be released this week, have been ordered by most of the major record store chains.
In the group’s press biography, leader John Battle says, “I’m not advocating violence. I’m an artist. . . . I’m painting a picture of what I see in the ghetto.”
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