Dress Archie's Great Rap Verses (Song #5: Dre Dog- Situation Critical)

Andre Nickatina holds a special place in all of our hearts; I remember being in 8th grade or so and simply downloading any song of his I could find on Kazaa, enthralled by his catchy beats and the fact that he held a relative "underground" status and hailed from my hometown. Having 100+ of his tracks would easily make me hella cool if I ever went somewhere, like college, where I could disseminate my knowledge of King Nicky to the blind masses.

But something happened along the way; Nicky T lost his luster. As I grew older and my knowledge of rap expanded, I grew tired of his repetitive and oftentimes incomprehensible lyrics, his passion for coke, and unwavering desire to record everything with Equipto. Don't get me wrong, I'll still slap some of my all-time favorites ("Baking Soda in Minnesota", "Show Gone Wrong", "Crackin' Like Pistachios", and "Crack Raider Razor", to name a few), but most of his stuff has fallen to the wayside anytime I make a new playlist or simply feel like listening to some good music.

Recently, I returned to one of the places where it all started, I Hate You With a Passion. This album holds a special place in my heart because, for me at least, it marks (pun intended) the beginning of my friendship with the wonderful Mark Friese. I mean, not only did he burn it for me, but he made a fake cover and CD graphic on his computer and printed it out, then taped it on. That shit was official.

Anyways, before I get teary eyed, I Hate You With a Passion was Nickatina at his best; as Dre Dog. The opening line of the album, from "Muthafucka" sets the tone perfectly: "Muthafucka so I heard you like to run yo mouth/well eat this rhyme so you can taste what I'ma talk about". Dre Dog had bigger shit to rap about than Scarface and making money, and he was pissed the fuck off, too.

Nothing showed this better than his third and final verse in Situation Critical:

"My indo have an increase this week from eighth up to a half/

Ain't nothin funny motherfucka, nigga why you laugh?/

So fuck this fame and fuck these records, motherfuck these raps/

My mother's broke there ain't no hope, her son ain't got no snaps/

Its the same old song, I'm doin wrong, fool this is typical/

Fuck the fuckin world mama, situations critical."

The way he picks it up to another level in the third line proves that he's for real; but what does it for me is that he's pissed at his audience, but he's also pissed at himself. You simply don't see that kind of introspection in his later stuff, much else from alot of other rappers out there.

I know most of you have this song, but I just had to share the pleasant surprise I experienced when I remembered that this dude used to be pretty raw back in the day. It's really helped me deal with the issue that one of my childhood idols (maybe "idol" is too strong of a word) has become pretty much irrelevant in my life.

As Nicky said in this very song:

"Cuz coke is queen and money is king and niggas want the crown/

So all you niggas goin' up you fuckers comin' down."

EDIT:

Archie asked me to make him a CD/zip similar to the Winter Break CD to End All CDs. Here it is.

Not sure what order the tracks are in, but the list is:

1. Da Rockwilder - Method Man and Redman

2. Danger Zone - Big L

3. Respect- Notorious B.I.G.

4. N.Y. State of Mind - Nas

5. Brownsville - M.O.P.

6. Liquid Swords - Genius/GZA

7. School's In - J-Live

8. Gettin' It - Too Short

9. Smoke II Much - The Fixxers

10. Ten Crack Commandmants -Notorious B.I.G.

11. Hits From the Bong - Cypress Hill

12. Verbal Intercourse - Raekwon

13. Ether - Nas

14. Let's All Get Down - Mac Dre

15. Sunny Meadowz - Del tha Funkee Homosapien

Enjoy. If you don't have some of these songs and want them, I can do my best to upload your requests one-by-one. The Big L, M.O.P., J-Live, and Del all come from Oh Word's 50 Greatest Rap Songs You Need to Hear Right Now, and are all highly suggested.