I was browsing somethingawful.com the other day and came across a thread talking about a site called “Rap Stats.” The site catalogs the lyrics of rap songs down through the ages, and lets you do awesome stats-based analysis like comparing the relative popularity of different words over time. Naturally, the first thing I did was throw three calibers into their search engine and wait patiently for the results . . .
It looks to me that 9mm is the most popular caliber according to rap lyrics, but something interesting happened in the early 1990’s. For a few short years, .380 surged and was actually more popular than .45 ACP for a while. In fact, throughout most of the last 20 years 9mm and .380 popularity seems to be tied to one another — when 9mm becomes more popular, .380 is right there behind it.
But that all stopped in 2010 when .380 tailed off despite while the popularity of 9mm took off. And yet, .45 ACP seems to be holding steady.
My conclusion: rappers prefer capacity over “stopping power” — 9mm rules.
Its easier to say quickly and it rhymes with more also.
In rap “songs”…anything can be pronounced so that it rhymes.
“nine” and “more” don’t sound anything alike.
You should do a search on ‘chopper’. That would tell us how many prefer 7.62×39.
Little good ever comes from a statement which begins with: “I was browsing somethingawful.com…”
Even less so from: “Do a search on somethingawful.com for…”
Jus’ saying.
I prefer my 9 over the .380.. Im just better wit it… wait..did I just say wit?
Why is the fo’ty not included in the study?
Because “forty” in rap parlance refers to a 40 ounce can of malt liquor, not a .40 caliber pistol. As in a “forty and a nine”…
Yeah like twin glock fo’ties! Wait…
I guess I missed that particular rap…
Good point… was wondering that myself since ‘forty’ rhymes well.
Shorty wit a fo’ty has a nice ring to it.
40 is the caliber for the po-lease
I think my IQ dropped while reading this article.
I gave up on hibbidy-hop when I heard a lyric about loading a .357’s clip, since I don’t think hibbidy-hop stars buy Coonan pistols.
Clearly they are referring to their speed loader which could actually be considered a type of clip. So ha 😛
Moon clip?
.357 or Trey Fiddy Seven?
It was .357 sig no doubt.
Could be the DE in .357
Hilarious!
I would say a 1911 has much greater “bling” factor than a G19 though…
I recall .22 (duece duece) being a big player during my short-lived rap phase about 25 years ago.
TEC-9s were only available in 9mm, and nothing ‘flows’ with hi-point……yo
Rappers rapping about the .380? LMAO
Shady with the .380 old school diploma, I’ll leave that ass in a coma
Dress up like ladies and burn em with dirty 380s when the come to kill our babies. That’s all out, I got gats that blow the wall out, kill them all out, f**k the fallout.
Biggie was maybe not quite as good a rapper as 2pac, but you can’t argue those are some solid tactics.
These rappers must not be up on their firearms history. Everybody knows that General Keith ended the caliber wars in 1934 with the .357 magnum. 😛
Dey steady forgot “Deuce-Deuce”
They also prefer FMJ to JHP……because cheap and available to low life street thugs, doesn’t say much for their ballistic sensibility.
I thought rappers only rapped about Glocks and 9mms. This article has been very informative for me.
I approve of this article.
Yet more shoddy statistical analysis. Clearly the research shows that the impact of the 9mm on popular music is to cause rap lyrics to be more violent. The .45 and .380 less so. And because rap lyrics are frequently demeaning to women, the 9mm can be concluded to also be against women, thus is a cornerstone in the right wing war on women.
Ergo, the 9mm should be banned so that no woman is ever hurt by a domestic abuser again. A useful corollary being that the never-ending caliber wars can be brought to an abrupt halt.
No no… You need to ban the scariest looking or sounding, but least used caliber like .50 BMG. That will cut all gun violence by 100%! Going after the most-used caliber will just alert everyone to your end-game too early.
Chip-away slowly…
I doubt even bob ross could weld a wider brush.
I suppose I’d wonder which caliber Eazy E had in his Mac 10…
Interestingly, it appears that firearms-related lyrics in general are on the decline from their peak in the ’90s “gangsta rap” period:
http://genius.com/rapstats?q=gat%2C%20gun%2C%20glock
Nick, I’m still waiting for the answer to the big question:
Who popped Tupac?
Suge Knight
Tupac was in the car with Knight. Both were hit. It isn’t likely that Knight would call down fire on his own position.
It’s more likely that Compton gang called the Southside Crips knocked off Tupac since he’d been in a nasty brawl with them just before the shooting.
Learn something new every day.
I thought the gang was called “The LAPD”
That was the Notorious B.I.G.
Nuke them all from orbit. Like cockroaches, it’s the only want to be sure.
The forty four wins in the Blues version of this chart, I’m sure.
I am of the age where I love Rap. While I may not agree with the handling of firearms in the average rap song, they are not worse than “Down By The River” by Neil Young, or “I Don’t Like Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats. They are just stories. Except for the Mondays song, that really happened.
All the stories nowadays involve da’ club. I’ve not found a story worth hearing.
What caliber is a “GAT”?
Gat is a very old slang term for a gun. I guess you don’t watch too many Bogart movies.
“Gat” is short for “Gatling” and is used to refer to automatic firearms only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTBRVZi2C4E
“Forty calibre” is mentioned in this song.
Don’t forget that early rapper, Bob Dylan:
“In Search Of Little Sadie”
Went out last night just to take a little round
I get my little Sadie and I brought her down
I run right home and I went to bed
With a forty-four smokeless under my head.
What about the “Foty”, as in “Glock Foty”?
45 isnt a good judge of caliber discussion as Colt 45 is malt liquor
Pray and spray with the super 9.
“A lotta beer, a lotta girls an a whole lotta cursin’ – twenty two automatic on my person” Beastie Boys, late 80’s
I would say 9mm wins by a landslide if you factor in every reference to a “nina.” 7.62×39 comes in second when you count “chopper.”
There is actually a street crew in Chicago named after the 40cal…but yeah nine wins. It’s one reason murders are down and shootings are up in the city. Yeah I know all rappers aren’t gang membersLOL
Must be that Al Gore rhythm I here them talking about.
Coolio has his “10 in his hand” in Gangsta’s Paradise. Any other 10mm references?
Method Man spits a .41 Revolver on New Year’s Eve… and I think he’s the only one.
Good thing I’m “standin’ behind the deuce-deuce-tray…”
😉
“I didn’t even have to use my ak. I have to say, today was a good day.”
Ice cube – Today was a good day
I guess on pirates rap about the uses of the 7.62x54R.