WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THAT? Songs that people, mainly non-rap fans miss the meaning of – they don’t listen to what the song is actually about they just say “Why Would You Want To Listen To That?” Well, here’s why!

Gang Starr – Tonz O’  Gunz – Why Would You Want To Listen To That?

Probably due to the title itself and most of the lyrics, which namecheck different guns and people killing other people throughout – if you’re not listening carefully enough the song immediately smacks as ‘just another rap song about guns’. Along with a (albeit stripped back) hard hitting Primo beat with those screaming horns(?) this song is probably too raw for many.

Here’s Why

Well obviously it’s not about guns being a good thing. To quote Guru in the song “Tons of guns but I don’t glorify, because more guns will come, and much more will die”.

Starting with a sample from Malcolm X – the song features heavy topics about guns being readily available and easy to get, basically leading to kids killing kids and the city being dangerous with no sight of it slowing down and the downward spiral of more guns coming in leading to people needing more guns to protect themselves and feel safe. The message is pretty blatant in the lyrics but if you’re listening very casually then all you’ll hear is constant references to guns and killing.

Like many, many rap songs from over 20 years ago – the themes talked about are still crazy relevant today.

From DJ Premier:

“Guru gave me the subject matter. A lot of people were getting killed by the hands of another young black male from gunplay. It was real heavy during that time period of the ‘90s, so we just wanted to address how bad it was, and how it was getting worse.”

Side note: one slight downside following this is that on The Ownerz they then sampled lines from this song on ‘Who Got Gunz’ where they get Fat Joe and MOP along to yell about how many guns they all have and completely contradict this message. Oh well!

Republished from: The Rap Blog