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Verily rap music is a genre where performers are compelled, as a self-defense mechanism if you will, to let the streets know just how violent they can be. So at the end of the day regardless of how one interprets the above, it is intended to point to the crew’s dominance on the streets. And in all, considering the outro of the song for instance, DMX does come off as if he wants his rivals in particular to hear this song. It is not abundantly clear what he means. But all lyrics considered, this may be a summation of the Ruff Ryders’ robbery/murdering technique.įor instance “stop” and “drop” would be the commands placed upon victims – at gunpoint of course. Then ‘shutting them down’ would refer to dealing them some type of permanent damage, such as taking all of their loot or shooting them.Īnd finally, ‘opening up shop’ would represent the Ruff Ryders using the thieves’ booty to further their own economic goals or perhaps taking over an opps’ territory once they are definitively dealt with. Or something like that. Indeed “ that’s how Ruff Ryders roll”. Meanwhile the chorus of the song was obviously inspired by the basic fire safety technique known as ‘stop, drop and roll’. But DMX modifies it to rather read “ stop, drop, shut em’ down, open up shop”. Moreover, the stanza overall is meant to serve as a message to potential upstarts. Or more generally, we can say that it is intended to illustrate that DMX and by extension his homeys are really about that life. And he concludes the verse by espousing staying focused on sex and crime but also implying that his own primary concern at the moment is his musical career. someone he has gotten into beef with. This person is presented as the type of individual who just keeps prodding X until he responds.Īnd basically, the vocalist proceeds to shoot him dead.
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The third verse commences with the rapper actually addressing an opp, i.e. Simply put, he is an individual who was fashioned by the mean streets of New York, embraced such a lifestyle and behaves accordingly. Verse 2Īnd that motif continues into the second verse. But this time around, at least at the beginning of the passage, DMX makes more direct allusions to him and his initiating gun violence.Īlso he lets it be known that they are in fact akin to armed robbers. And ultimately all of this is not to imply that X is a criminal, per se. In fact the lyrics of the first verse read a lot like other songs the rapper has released which are dedicated to the wildness of his street crew. They are presented as the quintessential “New York n*g*as”, the types who’ll resort to bloody violence if tested. But the Ruff Ryders, as presented in this track, are more of a gang than a musical collective. For instance, DMX never goes as far as to namedrop any of the aforementioned artists.