Dont Dance with the Devil (by Waku)

One rap song that I consider to have a tremendously powerful message in both an imaginatively eloquent way and at the same time vividly grotesque way is, ‘Dance with the Devil’. This song, according to www.complex.com (hip-hop magazine), is ranked #10 in their list of 25 most violent rap songs of all time. When people first listen to this song, the content of the lyrics can make one puke their brains out or make their knuckles white from sheer anger. The face value of this rap song is down right scary, where it talks about a boy who is trying to “being the illest hustler that the world ever seen”, raping, and killing. But the deeper meaning of the song holds a valuable message that I believe every men and women should know.

Felipe Andres Coronel, better know by his stage name Immortal Technique, is a Peruvian rapper raised in Harlem, New York. His stylistics of rapping incorporate the controversial issues in global politics, such as class struggles, Marxism, poverty, religion, government issues, imperialism, and institutional racism.

The story portrayed in the song speaks of a young man named William who comes from a background of living with a single mom and the struggles of his own life. He seeks an escape of his struggles through the life of drug dealing, having material objects, and hustling. He finds this escape by joining a gang, but to become a part of the crew he would have to go through a brutal initiation of raping a random woman. He in fact, goes through with the raping so that he could join the gang, but only to find out that he had raped his own mother.

The story that was depicted within the song is very stomach-churning, but holds a very deep message. Many people on this earth live very much like William, where they live in a life of struggle and are trying to find they’re escape from it. Much like William, they would go out and join gangs thinking that it would bring them more riches and freedom. By finding their easy way out, they hustle and steal, and succumb to murderous crimes. But the worst that they can do is to initiate rape. Immortal Technique emphasizes that the women of this culture are the ones that create everything that we will be. It is down to us to honor and respect our women if we want to seek change in ourselves and our world.