Nas-Who killed it?(Breakdown)

#1
Alright everybody first I just want to tell you that I didn't write this.I straight up copy and pasted it from a forum on another site which did the exact same thing.Please take the time to read it.

[Nas - First Verse]
look here see, pretty mike shanked two face al
over some gal
find the body dead in the aisles
death by strangulation, microphone cord a dirty broad
guess theyll never play it again Sam
damn that was my jam
now she's on the lamb
she made it out wit 200 grand
what a scam
while these two compete on who's the star of the show
golden legs there makes off wit the doe
I read the paper there wit joe da butcher
he said "one glance is all it took ya, she's a real looker
they say her old mans a bootlegger
transporting in any weather and at this rate we'll never get her"
fellas think its time to call it a night
all this talk of this mystery dames gettin me tight
thought I saw her in my eyesight, right
hate to spoil the party
what are you guys havin? the same?
waiter another round for the gang
its strange how I always felt outta place
joe da butchers my ace, but in comes freckle face
so I said see you later
fore hurt him and his two ugly thumb breakers
met them in louisiana wrestling gators
and any idiot can tell there involved wit the caper
so I pulled the revolver on my waist up
between the patrol car and the grey truck behind the streetlamp was a silouhette
white gloves and a real long cigarette
whattya ya know all this time she's got me in her scope
she spoke says " the devils got you guys be the throat
your conspiracy theories won't work without evidence
that's the reason why eric b is not president"

ya see?

[Nas - Second Verse]
look here see, I know you got soul your trying to hide it
how did you kill a man out in cypress?
one eyed charlie
he only hangs with the criminal minded
says you guys did it doggystyle is he lyin?
she says " walk this way ill tell you a childrens story
we hit the bodega got her a few 40s
we jumped in my ride
we drove and she cried
twist off the cap there and opened her mouth wide
swallowed it
whole bottles half empty
drinks like a fish, now she's past tipsy
truth came out as we got to her suave house
chopped and screwed her mouth and sat me on the couch
I said its gettin late cmon give it to me straight
who's ya sponsor lady?
she says bill gates
whattya born 77? 78?
she says "nah it goes way to an earlier date, slave times
claims the slaves said rhymes but she fell in love wit some fella named clive
who?
clive campbell from sedgwick ave, the bronx
now she shows me the cash
I said who's clive? don't play wit me skirt!
she said clive campbell.....he's kool herc

Ahaaa Ahaaaaa

[Nas Outro]
listen up sweetheart, now we gettin somewhere
as she's talkin she starts vanishing in thin air
but before she drops the money bag on the floor and died
she said if you really love me, ill come back alive

-----
SYNOPSIS

now lets get some things straight since its a story there's characters, setting and plot

the plot is who killed hip-hop?

the setting is 1930s the golden era; the manifestation of jazz, mobsters, bootlegging and organized crime

the characters are nas the detective and his partner joe da butcher

freckle face who is joe da butchers connection to the underworld

and hip-hop who is the girl in the story a.k.a. the gal

now what happens is pretty mike and two face al kill each other and the gal runs off with the money

pretty mike and two face al are B.I.G. & Tupac and its a psuedonym for hip-hop maximizing its commercialism which is why the gal runs off with the money

the murder of two face al is directly referencing tupac dying first

now this all occured at some club where the classic jams go on sung by the gal

that is why nas says damn that was my jam because she will never be singing there again

the setting is further portrayed through the uses of microphone cord as the murder weapon and the fact the body was found in the aisle

now joe da butches represent the average hip-hop listener

his name simply breaks down to joe a.k.a. the average joe schmo and da butcher part is a reference to "chewing the fat" which means just kicking simple convo chillin

now after joe mentions to nas that he realizes he's falling for her nas hits the bar a lil aggitated

he realizes its the same scene at the bar but says f*ck it and drinks are on him

that represent nas going commercial and he admits it but tries to counteract that by saying "but I always felt outta place" which means he sold out but still puts out real hip-hop

the symbolism in the bar scene is that joe the da butcher is nas partner but his southern connects (freckle face and company) are involved wit this crime

joe is none the wiser a.k.a. the average listener supports southern music regardless of all this south trash talk (jeezy,ludacris,lil jon,rick ross)

nas gets a lil ticked off and heads outside and realizes the gal has been trailin him the whole time

that's basically saying that even though he didn't kno it hip-hop HAS been followin him for a while

next thing she steps out the shadow and he says "all this time she had me in her scope"

in her scope = interscope
nas starts the story saying "death by strangulation" but death = def

basically he was saying that def jam started the "killing" (when it commercialized hip-hop) and now interscope
runs it

at this point he is saying the crackers took control of the art hence the reference to conspiracy theorys behind this whodunit

"that's why eric b is not president" pretty much sums it up

so def jam chokeholded the game and then universal picked it up

at this point nas has some evidence so he starts interrogating the broad

"I know you have soul quit tryin to hide it" is obviously saying that hip-hop has soul but its obscured by the commercialism

nas uses the interrogation wisely by bringing up cypress hill and snoop dogg referencing the classics just flippin the phrases

if you can't figure it out then your pretty f*ckin stupid

she (hip-hop) supposedly killed a man in cypress which is a project in brooklyn

cypress hill how I could just kill a man

and one eyed charlie (krs-one) who only hangs with the criminal minded (bdp) said they did it doggystyle (snoop dogg) but obviously referencing sex

at this point she puts everything in perspective for nas IN ORDER because nas was out of chronological order by mentioning 92 then 91 then 88

so she begins by asking him to "walk this way" (run dmc) and she will tell him a childrens story (slick rick)

this is starting out raw hip-hop in the 80s

"got her a few 40s" is now referencing the west coast era domination as well hoppin in the "ride"

at this point hip-hop started losing "it" because it was being bombarded by commercial gangsterism and losing its origins

the getting tipsy part refers to hip-hop totally losing control and becoming almost completely pop (the bad boy era)

"as we got to her suave house chopped and screwed her mouth" is now moving on to the south moving on in at the close of the shiny suit era and is cleverly flipped to nas getting oral sex by hip-hop he finally gave in

after he f*cks her she spills the beans and tells him that bill gates sponsored her to destroy hip-hop through means of downloading and extreme piracy

remember hip-hops father was a bootlegger and now her sponsor is one of the largest helpers in the creation of bootlegging

at this point she just breaks down and admits she is IMMORTAL because no regular human could be alive in BOTH slave times AND the 1930s

she says she came from that era and had many lovers since but her one true love was kool herc (pioneer of hip-hop, some say sole creator)

but then she obviously f*cked him over and fell to the pressure of the root of all evil, money (the 200 grand) (by the way 200 grnd in 1930 is worth MILLIONS)

at this point the gig is up and she begins to fade away magically but lets nas know its his inner spirit that really keeps hip-hop alive

she really didn't need the money in the end

hope yall learned something.

So what do you all think?
 
#4
ill representation...............thanks homie



i dislike NAS with a passion, but im getting this album, the couple of tracks i heard seems like its going be worth the wait
 

PuffnScruff

Well-Known Member
#5
that as a dope break down. it's shit like this that makes nas my favorite rapper. i haven't stopped listening to this track since i downloaded the album. track is sick!
 
#6
nice read, but its shit like this that makes things too indepth for my immature head hahaha.

reminds me of Shakespere and how teachers say "o he meant that, o he means this" when i always just thought people could be over analyzing his shit.

haha anyone see the Chappelle standup where he talks like this whnever hes talking to his girl?
 

ArtsyGirl

Well-Known Member
#7
I kinda thought similar things but the breakdown connected most of it up. But I thought this bit:

joe da butchers my ace, but in comes freckle face
so I said see you later
fore hurt him and his two ugly thumb breakers
met them in louisiana wrestling gators


Mighta been refering to Master P, isnt he from Louisiana/ New Orleans and got freckles?
 

ARon

Well-Known Member
#8
When I first heard the album this was my favorite song as I said before, and it still is. I knew most of the story but this just went way deeper than I did. Pretty amazing.
 
#9
LOL!! Who killed it? is one of my fav songs on the album too. I caught all of the classic hip hop references in the 2nd verse. Nas is such a tremendous lyricist that the breakdown of this song doesn't shock me. When was the last time you had to breakdown a hip hop song like this? Good sign....I hope industry catz hear this album and get motivated to get creative!!!

Ya see, Ya see!!
 

_carmi

me, myself & us
#10
one of the only tracks i like from nas. i'm not a fan of his style, although i acknowledge that he is a genius. this track is tight.
 

xxx

New Member
#12
i disagree with the first part...

Pretty Mike cant be BIG. And im not sure about Two Face Al being Tupac. Nas makes no reference to Pretty Mike getting killed. Pretty Mike is the microphone, which kills two face al over money. Hence, strangling two face al with the Mic.

Two Face Al might reference all the rappers that went commercial and fell off. Or maybe the successful rappers like Pac, BIG, Jay etc. that were commercial and street at the same time (Hence Two Faces). Nas may be referring to the struggle within a lot of rappers that decide which path to take...

If Im missing something here, just let me know, but thats what i think...
 
#13
You all really hyped this track up. Finally listened to it, and it's awful. I can't believe nobody told him that his little 1920s Dick Tracy voice sounded terrible.
 

S O F I

Administrator
Staff member
#15
Illuminattile said:
You all really hyped this track up. Finally listened to it, and it's awful. I can't believe nobody told him that his little 1920s Dick Tracy voice sounded terrible.
I could see how you could call this track awful. By contemporary standards, it's not a "listenable" track in the sense that the beat is simple and the voice is not engaging. However, you can't undermine the lyrical brilliance(or to be more specific, supposed lyrical brilliance due to the theory behind the meaning of the song) which makes this track great.

But, please, tell me, why is this track awful?
 
#16
Well the concept is decent, though not as clever as some people seem to think. It's just I Used To Love H.E.R. with more subtle references to old school rappers (which only serve to make people feel smart when they 'get' them). On a purely lyrical level, it's a decent song, and it's intelligent for a rap song.

All of that is undermined, however, by Nas' bizarre decision to try and impersonate Edward G. Robinson. It ruins the entire song, I can't take anything he says seriously. I don't know what he was thinking, and it baffles me that it made it to the album without anyone saying "You know, Nas, you sound like an idiot".


Some of the analysis in the original post clutches at straws, too. I don't see how "Joe the Butcher" is related to the phrase "chew the fat", or why that would matter anyway.
 
#18
Illuminattile said:
Well the concept is decent, though not as clever as some people seem to think. It's just I Used To Love H.E.R. with more subtle references to old school rappers (which only serve to make people feel smart when they 'get' them). On a purely lyrical level, it's a decent song, and it's intelligent for a rap song.

All of that is undermined, however, by Nas' bizarre decision to try and impersonate Edward G. Robinson. It ruins the entire song, I can't take anything he says seriously. I don't know what he was thinking, and it baffles me that it made it to the album without anyone saying "You know, Nas, you sound like an idiot".


Some of the analysis in the original post clutches at straws, too. I don't see how "Joe the Butcher" is related to the phrase "chew the fat", or why that would matter anyway.
:thumb:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.
 
#19
Illuminattile said:
You all really hyped this track up. Finally listened to it, and it's awful. I can't believe nobody told him that his little 1920s Dick Tracy voice sounded terrible.
nas is one of my favorite rappers and i thought the same thing when i heard it. i cant believe people listen to this track..... it dont even sound anything like nas.
 

ARon

Well-Known Member
#20
It's not supposed to sound like Nas. His voice is different, yes. Does it sound bad, no. Fits the concept perfect. I'm still with my first thoughts this is one of the best songs I've heard in a while.
 

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