DMX - "Party Up"

In the late 90s I worked as an after school tutor at a middle school in San Francisco's Excelsior district. The kids there loved pop punk, N*Synch, and hip hop, and one of their favorite songs was DMX's "Party Up." I remember at the time googling the lyrics and being really horrified by how hateful and homophobic they are. The whole song is basically X saying how hard he is, and how he'll either kill haters or make them perform fellatio on him.

Flash forward five years, and I'm in Kyustendil, Bulgaria walking through the Kvartal Zapad (that means Westside in Bulgarian). I was living in this ghettro-ass neighborhood filled with dirt roads and communist style bloc apartment complexes that looked tore up and menacing. It was a bitterly cold fall day. The smell of burning trash was in the air, and as I walked by one of the blocs near me, what do I hear but "Party Up," blaring out of one of the apartment windows. I knew my kids were obsessed with American hip hop, but it was really odd to hear the song in the context of Bulgaria. Although, given the surroundings I was in, it kind of made sense.

I recently caved and downloaded this song from Itunes. I guess I've gotten numb and/or come to accept the homophobia and hatefulness in rap lyrics, and even I have to admit that X is pretty clever with his disses.

"Y'all niggaz is characters, not even good actors
What's gon' be the outcome? Hmm, let's add up all the factors
You wack, you're twisted, your girl's a hoe
You're broke, the kid ain't yours, and e'rybody know"

And my favorite line:

"Listen, yo' ass is about to be missin
You know who gon' find you? (Who?) Some old man fishin
Grandma wishin your soul's at rest
but it's hard to digest with the size of the hole in your chest"

Y'all gonna make me act the fool.