B.o.B isn’t the best comparison cause it’s a whole somg with some messaging.
I think it’s more akin to the biggie line “Im getting paid, blowin up like the World Trade” it’s pretty much a throwaway line, not inherently offensive or meaningful.
I think somebody green lit it thinking the same thing then once it was public some higher ups made a call & here we are.
Im not saying its 1 to 1 but I’m sure people were still mourning & effects were still being felt. Either way, the point is the line didn’t really mean anything other than a current event simile unlike B.o.B
Us bombed Iraq in 1999. The song was written in 1999. You know if you actually don't know what you are talking about you dont have to respond. How many times do you think Iraq was bombed in the 90s?
I mean, I definitely was alive at that point in time. I double checked the facts. The US bombed Iraq in 1998, I do not see any mention on Wiki of bombings continuing past Dec 16-19 1998,
I would be open to hearing any evidence of such bombings, my recollection that in 1999-2003 there was a deep tension but not active military attacks. There was a lot going on in Kosovo in 1999, but I'm not sure I can see evidence of the US bombing Baghdad in 1999.
March 1, 1999: U.S. F-15 fighter jets dropped dozens of laser-guided bombs on communications and anti-aircraft artillery sites in northern Iraq. [
1]
March 6, 1999: U.S. warplanes struck five military and artillery targets in northern Iraq after Iraqi air defenses targeted coalition patrols. [
1]
Ongoing 1999 Strikes: The U.S. and UK engaged in frequent low-level conflicts—sometimes referred to as a "silent war"—responding almost daily or weekly to Iraqi radar tracking or anti-aircraft fire in the no-fly zones. [
1,
2,
3,
4
Easily found on wikipedia]
Nobody's disputing that bombs were falling in Baghdad. That doesn't make every reference to bombing equivalent.
A song about a war and a joke about a specific attack that just happened aren't the same thing simply because both involve bombs.
Acknowledging that bombing has a long history in rap doesn't mean every reference to it is interchangeable regardless of context. And whether you call it a joke or a comparison doesn't resolve the criticism either. Comparisons can be insensitive too.
Edit: Pretty hard to respond when you block me lol
you literally disputed it buy minimizing it when its a huge part of rap history. you keep referring to it as a joke but he didnt tell a joke. he made a comparison to a place that had been bombed recently. which was bombed? i hear what your saying and i completely reject that bs. hold that energy for the saudi prince instead of max caster maybe. im glad you edited your comment to adress stuff i mentioned instead of replying. really good conversation. lmao like i dont rmemeber you mentioning comparisons and suddenly its the last sentence in your post. fn weird man
For the record: when BoB was released in 2000, the US had not bombed since December 1998, having not bombed since 1996 before that, and 1993 before that. IT was three years before the US invasion of Iraq.
So ... yeah, your timings are a bit off. (But it does support your point in that it wasn't release the day after a bombing, to be a one-off one-liner.)
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u/cricketjoe 1d ago
"generic bomb bars" what do you think was going on in Baghdad when that song dropped?