If you are like us, your exposure to rap or hip-hop “music” may have thus far been limited to hearing it — at maximum volume — from neighboring automobiles stopped at traffic lights. While even this much exposure may seem unendurable at times, we owe it to ourselves to investigate this often hate-filled medium to see just what these performers and, perhaps most especially, their well-heeled capitalist record companies have in mind for us. We are grateful to the Violently Racist Music website for the list of violent rap and hip-hop lyrics below, each of them recorded by performers who have earned a Grammy award, the music industry’s highest honor. We must warn you that the passages quoted below are not intended for children or the faint-hearted.

“France is a bitch, don’t forget to f — her to exhaustion. You have to treat her like a whore, man! … France is one of the bitches who gave birth to you … I am not at home and I don’t give a damn, and besides the state can go f — itself … I pee on Napoleon and General De Gaulle … My niggers and my Arabs, our playground is the street with the most guns … F — ing cops, sons of whores … France is a lousy mother who abandoned her sons on the sidewalk.” PolitiKment IncorreKt, Mr. R (French rapper), Diamond Entertainment, 2005. See Homegrown Gangstas, Weekly Standard, Sept. 23, 2005.

“We’re all hot for a mission to exterminate the government and the fascists … France is a bitch and we’ve been betrayed … We f — France, we don’t care about the Republic and freedom of speech. We should change the laws so we can see Arabs and Blacks in power in the Elysée Palace. Things have to explode.” De Rire aux Larmes, Sniper (French rapper), Warner Music, 2001. See Homegrown Gangstas, Weekly Standard, Sept. 23, 2005.

“Kill the white people; we gonna make them hurt; kill the white people; but buy my record first; ha, ha, ha”

“Kill d’White People”; Apache, Apache Ain’t Shit, 1993, Tommy Boy Music, Time Warner, USA.

“Niggas in the church say: kill whitey all night long … the white man is the devil … the CRIPS and Bloods are soldiers I’m recruiting with no dispute; drive-by shooting on this white genetic mutant … let’s go and kill some rednecks … Menace Clan ain’t afraid … I got the .380; the homies think I’m crazy because I shot a white baby; I said; I said; I said: kill whitey all night long … a nigga dumping on your white ass; fuck this rap shit, nigga, I’m gonna blast … I beat a white boy to the motherfucking ground”

“Kill Whitey”; Menace Clan, Da Hood, 1995, Rap-A-Lot Records, Noo Trybe Records, subsidiaries of what was called Thorn EMI and now is called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Devils fear this brand new shit … I bleed them next time I see them … I pray on these devils … look what it has come to; who you gonna run to when we get to mobbing … filling his body up with lead, yah; cracker in my way; slitting, slit his throat; watch his body shake; watch his body shake; that’s how we do it in the motherfucking [San Francisco] Bay …sitting on the dock of the dirty with my AK”

“Heat — featuring Jet and Spice 1”; Paris, Unleashed, 1998, Unleashed Records, Whirling Records.

“These devils make me sick; I love to fill them full of holes; kill them all in the daytime, broad motherfucking daylight; 12 o’clock, grab the Glock; why wait for night”

“Sweatin Bullets”; Brand Nubian, Everything Is Everything, 1994, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner, USA.

“A fight, a fight, a nigger and a white, if the nigger don’t win then we all jump in … smoking all [of] America’s white boys”

“A Fight”; Apache, Apache Ain’t Shit, 1993, Tommy Boy Music, Time Warner, USA.

“I kill a devil right now … I say kill whitey all nightey long … I stabbed a fucking Jew with a steeple … I would kill a cracker for nothing, just for the fuck of it … Menace Clan kill a cracker; jack ‘em even quicker … catch that devil slipping; blow his fucking brains out”

“Fuck a Record Deal”; Menace Clan, Da Hood, 1995, Rap-A-Lot Records, Noo Trybe Records, subsidiaries of Thorn EMI; called The EMI Group since 1997, United Kingdom.

“Now I’m black but black people trip [become upset] ‘cause white people like me; white people like me but don’t like them … I don’t hate whites, I just gotta death wish for motherfuckers that ain’t right”

“Race War”; Ice-T, Home Invasion, 1993, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“To all my Universal Soldier’s: stay at attention while I strategize an invasion; the mission be ssassination, snipers hitting Caucasians with semi-automatic shots heard around the world; my plot is to control the globe and hold the world hostage … see, I got a war plan more deadlier than Hitler … lyrical specialist, underworld terrorist … keep the unity thick like mud …I pulling out gats [handguns], launching deadly attacks”

“Blood for Blood”; Killarmy, Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, 1997, Wu-Tang Records, Priority Records, The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Lead to the head of you devils”

“Lick Dem Muthaphuckas — Remix”; Brand Nubian, Everything Is Everything, 1994, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner, USA.

“This will all be over in ‘99, so, niggas, give devils the crime; gonna be more devils dying”

“No Surrender”; Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Creepin on ah Come Up, 1994, Ruthless Records, Epic Records, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony, Japan.

“Won’t be satisfied until the devils — I see them all dead … my brother is sending me more guns from down South … pale face … it’s all about brothers rising up, wising up, sizing up our situation … you be fucking with my turf when you be fucking with my race; now face your maker and take your last breadth; the time is half-past death … it’s the Armageddon… go into the garage; find that old camouflage … cracker-shooting nightly”

“What the Fuck”; Brand Nubian, Everything Is Everything, 1994, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner, USA.

“.44 ways to get paid … I’m through with talking to these devils; now I’m ready to blast”

“44 Wayz — featuring Mystic”; Paris, Unleashed, 1998, Unleashed Records, Whirling Records.

“Like my niggas from South Central Los Angeles they found that they couldn’t handle us; Bloods, CRIPS, on the same squad, with the Essays [Latino gangbangers] up, and nigga, it’s time to rob and mob and break the white man off something lovely”

“The Day the Niggaz Took Over”; Dr Dre, The Chronic, 1993, Interscope Records, under Time Warner in 1993.

“Where you gonna go when the brothers wanna bust a shot … where you gonna go when I wanna kill bloodclot … Supercat said that the ghetto red hot … bust a gloc, bust a gloc, devils get shot … nappy-headed, no-dreded look where ya read it … buck the devil, buck the devil, look who said it”

“Enemy”; Ice Cube, Lethal Injection, 1993, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Devil, to gangbanging there’s a positive side and the positive side is this — sooner than later the brothers will come to Islam, and they will be the soldiers for the war; what war, you ask; Armageddon; ha, ha, ha, ha, ha”

“Armageddon”; RBX, The RBX Files, 1995, Premeditated Records, Warner Brother Records, Time Warner, USA.

“Subtract the devils that get smoked … we’re people, black people; steal your mind back, don’t die in their wilderness … let’s point our heaters [handguns] the other way”

“Dial 7”; Digable Planets, Blowout Comb, 1994, Pendulum Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Get them devil-made guns and leave them demons bleeding; give them back whips, and just feed them bullets”

“Wicked Ways”; Sunz of Man, One Million Strong: The Album, 1995, Mergela Records, Solar/Hines Co., Prolific Records.

“It’s time to send the devil to the essence … this is a must because there ain’t no reform or trust; you got a Glock and you see a devil, bust … they’ll be calling us the trigger men, the nappy-knotty red-beard devil-assassin; Lord make a law; at midnight I’ll be bashing … field niggas [are] locked in until 2005”

“Field N#gguhz in a Huddle”; Professor Griff, Blood of the Prophet; 1998, Lethal Records, Mercury Records, PolyGram, Philips’ Electronics NV, Netherlands. PolyGram merged with Universal Music Group in 1998, the parent being The Seagram Company of Canada.

“He prays on old white ladies [who] drive the Mercedes with the windows cracked … you should’ve heard the bitch screaming … sticking guns in crackers’ mouths … the cops can’t stop it … remember 4-29-92, come on; Florence and Normandy coming to a corner near you, cracker; we’ve been through your area, mass hysteria; led by your motherfucking Menace Clan”

“Mad Nigga”; Menace Clan, Da Hood, 1995, Rap-A-Lot Records, Noo Trybe Records, Time Warner, USA.

“The black man is god … buy a Tec [and] let loose in the Vatican … I love the black faces; so put your Bible in the attic”

“Ain’t No Mystery”; Brand Nubian, In God We Trust, 1992, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner, USA.

“Rhymes is rugged like burnt buildings in Harlem; the Ol Dirty Bastard … I’m also militant … snatching devils up by the hair, then cut his head off”

“Cuttin Headz”; Ol Dirty Bastard, Return of the 36 Chambers: the Dirty Version; 1995, Elektra Entertainment, Time Warner, USA.

“Listen to this black visionary, bringing war like a revolutionary … go on a killing spree, putting devils out their misery; hearing screams, sounds of agony; my hostility takes over me …camouflaged ninjas avenging”

“Under Seige”; Killarmy, Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, 1997, Wu-Tang Records, Priority Records, The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Swing by on the pale guy … break him in the neck … the guerrilla with the poison tip … shaking pinky up on a dull-ass ice-pick … this is Lench Mob… devil, what you want to do; when you see the boot, knew your head is hoohoo”

“King of the Jungle”; Da Lench Mob, Planet of da Apes, 1994, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Dropping verses, casting curses, throwing these hexes on the devils … respect to Farrakhan, but I’m the jungle-don, the new guerrilla, top-ranked honky killer … what do blacks do; they just keep on blowing devils away … evil fucking cracker … I’m tightening up the laces to my steel-toed boots, so I can walk, stomp; we stomp this devil down in the park”

“Planet of da Apes”; Da Lench Mob, Planet of da Apes, 1994, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“We’re having thoughts of overthrowing the government … the brothers and sisters threw their fists in the air … it’s open season on crackers, you know; the morgue will be full of Caucasian John Doe’s … I make the Riot shit look like a fairy tale … oh my god, Allah, have mercy; I’m killing them devils because they’re not worthy to walk the earth with the original black man; they must be forgetting; it’s time for Armageddon, and I won’t rest until they’re all dead”

“Goin Bananas”; Da Lench Mob, Planet of da Apes, 1994, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“The crackers ain’t shit; chase them out of the jungle; now raise up off the planet … we get the 12 gauge; shot to the chest … we hitting devils up … Da Lench Mob, environmental terrorist … I gripped the Glock and had to knock his head from his shoulders … I got the .30[6] on the rooftop; pop; pop; so many devils die … make sure I kill them … lynch a thousand a week if it’s necessary”

“Environmental Terrorist”; Da Lench Mob, Planet of da Apes, 1994, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Like an armed struggle … I come with the New Wu Order … waging war on the devils’ community … whipped cardinals and one Pope”

“Universal Soldiers”; Killarmy, Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, 1997, Wu-Tang Records, Priority Records, The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Swinging out of the trees, is the blood-spilling, devil-killing, nappy-headed g.’s … blacks and Mexicans must take a stand … I’m down with Chico, and not with the man”

“Set the Shit Straight”; Da Lench Mob, Planet of da Apes, 1994, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Fuck them laws, because the Mob is coming raw; nigga, is you down because it’s the Final Call … grab your gat; know the three will start busting; I’m trying to take them down …the war of wars with no fucking scores … April 29 was a chance to realize … the g.’s are out to kill … we got crackers to kill; sending them back in on a ship to Europe … they deserve it … a nation-wide riot across America … this is the Final Call on black man and black woman, rich and poor; rise up”

“Final Call”; Da Lench Mob, Planet of da Apes, 1994, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“I come with the wicked style … I got everybody jumping to the voodoo … I got a gat and I’m looking out the window like Malcolm … April 29 was power to the people, and we just might see a sequel”

“Wicked”; Ice Cube, The Predator, 1992, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Deal with the devil with my motherfucking steel [handgun] … white man is something I tried to study, but I got my hands bloody, yeah … I met Farrakhan and had dinner”

“When Will They Shoot”; Ice Cube, The Predator, 1992, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“Actual fact you need to be black … everyday I fight a devil … I grab a shovel to bury a devil … the battle with the beast, Mr. 666 … my mind rolled to a 7th level; grab my bazooka and nuke a devil … with black, I build; for black, I kill”

“Fightin the Devil”; RBX, The RBX Files, 1995, Premeditated Records, Warner Brother Records, Time Warner, USA.

“I pledge allegiance to only the black … black, you had best prepare for the coming of war … look at you devil; now you’re sweating; I’m telling you: you can’t run from the hand of Armageddon … he eats his pig-steak rare so he can taste the blood”

“No Time”; RBX, The RBX Files, 1995, Premeditated Records, Warner Brother Records, Time Warner, USA.

“Killing devils [and] scatter they ashes over the sea of Mediterranean … open your eyes to the revolution … unite with the black coalition”

“Wake Up”; Killarmy, Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, 1997, Wu-Tang Records, Priority Records, The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“My own kind blind, brain-trained on the devil-level … chasing down loot, Dole or Newt, who do you shoot … rough stuff to the babies, spread like rabies”

“Niggativity … Do I Dare Disturb the Universe”; Chuck D, Autobiography of MistaChuck, 1996, Mercury Records, PolyGram, Philips’ Electronics NV, Netherlands. PolyGram merged within Universal Music Group in 1998, the parent being The Seagram Company, Canada.

“Buck the devil; boom … shoot you with my .22; I got plenty of crew; I take out white boys … we got big toys with the one-mile scope, taking whitey’s throat”

“Buck tha Devil”; Da Lench Mob, Guerrillas in tha Mist, 1992, Eastwest Records America, Elektra, Atlantic, Time Warner, USA.

“Little devils don’t go to heaven … the AK forty … hold a fifty clip, and I’ll shoot until it’s empty … I’m killing only seven million civilians … one dead devil”

“Freedom Got an AK”; Da Lench Mob, Guerrillas in tha Mist, 1992, Eastwest Records America, Elektra, Atlantic, Time Warner, USA.

“Grab your deep-ass crews … we gotta make them ends, even if it means Jack and friends … now you’re doomed, hollow-points to the dome; once again it’s on … out comes my .22 … I’m the cut-throat; now I got to cut you … ‘94 is the season for lynching; from out of the dark is the South Central g., ready-hand steady on a bloody machete … a devil is on my shoulder; should I kill it; hell yah … I slice Jack … took an axe, and gave that bitch, Jill, forty wacks … with my hip hop … it don’t stop, until heads roll off the cutting block”

“Cut Throats”; Da Lench Mob, Planet of da Apes, 1994, Priority Records, Thorn EMI; now called The EMI Group, United Kingdom.

“A young fugitive soldier … soon to make the devil kneel”

“Not Promised Tomorrow”; Sunz of Man, Sunz of Man: The Last Shall Be First, 1998, Threat Records, Wu-Tang Records, Red Ant Entertainment, BMG Distribution, BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG of Germany.

“Camouflaged for the mission … become Bonnie and Clyde; carry .45’s in these last days … an original black man with a plan to run these devils off our motherfucking land … the Sunz of Man war track … kept gun in hand, stalking the land”

“Can I See You”; Sunz of Man, Sunz of Man: The Last Shall Be First, 1998, Threat Records, Wu-Tang Records, Red Ant Entertainment, BMG Distribution, BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann, Germany.

“I may die in the scuffle but I’m taking forty devils”

“The City”; Wu-Tang Clan, Wu-Tang Forever, 1997, Loud Records, Wu-Tang Productions, RCA Records, BMG Distribution, BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann, Germany.

“Roping up the devils, have them hanging from my testicles”

“Nowhere To Run”; Gravediggaz, 6 Feet Deep, 1997 reissue of a 1994 album, Gee Street Records, BMG Distribution, BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG, Germany.

“Devils get baked … devils are all defeated … breaking devils down”

“Blood Brothers”; Gravediggaz, 6 Feet Deep, 1997 reissue of a 1994 album, Gee Street Records, BMG Distribution, BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG, Germany.

“I love black women and I hate fucking crackers … I destroyed a whole city like Sodom and Gomorrah or Babylon … devils choke from the gunsmoke … I’m swelling devils’ melons … send your asses to Kings County; solo pro-morgue supplier”

“Graveyard Chamber”; Gravediggaz, 6 Feet Deep, 1997 reissue of a 1994 album, Gee Street Records, BMG Distribution, BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG, Germany.

“I’m hanging devils’ heads on a evergreen bush”

“Dangerous Mindz”; Gravediggaz, The Pick The Sickle and The Shovel, 1997, Gee Street Records, BMG Distribution, BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann, Germany.

“Cloud, which means to overshadow the other man, mess up his game plan … South Park Black Panther coming at last … I need more brothers to roll over the government … I got the nine [millimeter pistol], the mind, and the time to unwind new-school pro-black dope [great] rhymes … there’s 10,000 of us; how you gonna stop this bum-rush, fool … talk is cheap; you best believe that, black; actions speak louder than words, and that’s a fact”

“Cloud on Suckas”; The Terrorists, Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records, Thorn EMI, United Kingdom. Rap-A-Lot Records was owned by Virgin Records for about four years before 1999, when it joined back with Priority. Thorn EMI changed its name in 1998 to EMI Group.

“I’m black with a bat, swinging at the head of a honky … The Terrorists about to murder your ass”

“Blow Dem Hoes Up”; The Terrorists, Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records, Thorn EMI, United Kingdom.

“Squeeze your nostrils tight and gag your mouth with a Bud Light; peace to all the blacks … The Terrorists kicking political rough shit and we won’t quit until the other man’s throat slit from one ear to the other”

“Bomb Threat”; The Terrorists, Terror Strikes: Always Bizness Never Personal, 1991, Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records, Thorn EMI, United Kingdom.

“A fight, a nigger and a white, if the nigger don’t win then we all jump in”

“Ghetto Mentalitee”; Onyx, All We Got Iz Us, 1995, Rush Associated Labels Recordings, PolyGram Group Distribution, Philips’ Elecronics, Netherlands.

“Waiting for the crackers; smuggle; his mug is in the gutters … so we need your participation in the Caucasian assassination; time is wasting … so who is in association with the nigger retaliation; it needs your total cooperation … a confrontation will be fought by the younger generation; because we got determination; all we need is organization”

“Purse Snatchers”; Onyx, All We Got Iz Us, 1995, Rush Associated Labels Recordings, PolyGram Group Distribution, Philips’ Elecronics, Netherlands.