Before you start reading, check out the original version of “Down 71: The Getaway”:
I’m extremely excited because whilst trolling for something to write about tonight (bandied about the idea of kickin’ some Palin teeth in once and for all, thought about posting that new Gold Leaves [Arthur & Yu side project] but they’re already on a million copycat blogs, even considered talking fresh ‘n’ frank-ly about Anthony Wiener‘s loooooong, mostly erect man-wiener [good god the jokes are so rich you could drizzle them over steaming hotcakes] I was so desperate) I found a music video for an alternate version of, to me, one of the only Bone Thugs -N- Harmony cutz that revealed how much they truly could have changed music if they’d kept spittin’ and refrained from putting out soul-poop garbage unfit to line the litter box of nature’s most diarrhea-prone kitty kat: “Down 71 The Getaway.”
I remember hearing “Getaway” for the first time. I was drinking with some back-home friends (I had moved to Colorado) in the dark Washington state woods when I heard it crawl into fruition. Later on, I came to memorize it, but not in the classical sense, as I had to substitute a lot of the terms and phrases I didn’t understand with rhytmic jibberish (which I just realize I still do to this day when trying to flow with this song; maybe I’ll run through the old version, which is much clearer, a few times and suss out the differences).
Bone Thugs always struck me as tacky — good rapping chops and even decent singing voices, but the production was never poignant enough to match the vocal bravado.
Not so via “The Getaway”; the backing is raw, slow, churning and peppered with gun shots, shattering 40-oz bottles (I realize my AP style on “40-oz bottles” might not be on-point but it’s fucking 4:23 a.m., bro), random black-guy/gangsta chatter, police sirens and car-chase audio.
But I haven’t even addressed the rhymes — they are nearly flawless. Hearing the older verision (again, hear it below), if anything, demystifies the quick-skipping, tongue-gnarling (twisting is for pussies) album version, but I still get a righteous charge out of hearing the complex interwoven narratives of this almost-certainly faux story of crime, drinking, drugging and, ultimately, a shootout.
To return to the point I was making earlier about the potential Bone Thugs -N- Harmony wielded in those days, it’s a shame tracks like “Down 71 The Getaway)” weren’t heard by more people. I suppose its themes of rampant violence, crime and drugs preclude that, but Bone could of hit a soft spot with the average music listener (just to make it clear, I can in no way relate to the average music listener, but hey, you already know that) if they would have continued to match their soft, eloquent voices with killer production and stayed GANGSTA. As the whitest man on mother Earth, sworn and confirmed, it feels weird to type that last sentence, but it’s true; Americans love danger and, perhaps even more, dangerous black men. Match that mistique with hardcore rapping, subtle melodies and RZA-style productions and I swear you’ve got a hit even in the Here and Now.
Anyway, it’s a good song.
