West Side Story and 'When the gun goes bang bang bang, who's going to know who's the one?'

I finally watched the video for the New Orleans duo the Knux ... "Bang! Bang!" ... which is a lot 'cleaner' than the version of the song I'm used to, but worth watching all the same, especially if you're a fan of West Side Story.

Here's the video.

I remember buying this album a couple of years ago and thinking "Bang, Bang!" the one song I was familiar with, was the only song I really enjoyed, but I have to give the album a better listen. This song, in my humble opinion, is spectacular, even though I can only make sense of every third sentence or so.

The gist of it, from what I can tell, is that this rock-rap duo are remembering their mispent youth, as every rapper from JayZ to Pit Bull to Fifty Cent tends to do, and kind of poking fun at all the tough-guy bullshit they had to put up with in the 'hood, and some of the shenanigans they dealt out themselves, like "jackin' them cars."

They go on to say they "flipped the script" on the gangster lifestyle and found a higher calling, despite their poverty:

"I don't wan' sound like a hypocrite, but momma raised me for greatness,
but we broke as fuck and hope is stuck and New Orleans defines the cage"

Here's another one of my favorite lines:

"Where they mommas at, where they mommas at? Nobody knows, nobody cares. To claim your hard, come go through the ward,come fuck with them,when nobody dares."

Given the subject matter, West Side Story was an inspired choice for the video, and the execution was spot on.

Here's the fully lyrics courtesy of Metro Lyrics, though I doubt whoever transcribed this understood each and every word verbatim:

When the gun goes bang bang bang, who's gonna know who's the one? No, nobody knows.When the gun goes bang bang bang, who's gonna know who's the one? No, nobody knows.

Takin' it back to 94, when niggas was dealin' the finest soul,
Crack the hit then fucked it up, and baby gangstas was full of they cluck.
Pluck the feathers up off the duck, you stuck like chuck if carried the banter

Pistol player knuckled up, then better to telling the children to scatter
Everyone knows don't fuck with them ho's drinking with keisha from out they yo
Full of that clearly pop a silly when niggas first heard the choppers city
And I was a dancin' b-boy who resorted to slinging them heat boys

And jackin' them cars, mackin' them broads, sadistic shit, then flipped the script.
I don't wan' sound like a hypocrite, but momma raised me for greatness,
but we broke as fuck and hope is stuck and New Orleans defines the cage hits

The animal house like getting out like takin' food from a animals mouth,roar roar like the dungeon dragon, takin' it back to the cannibals house

When the gun goes bang bang bang, who's gonna know who's the one? No, no nobody knows. When the gun goes bang bang bang, who's gonna know who's the one?

No, no nobody knows.

I'm from a place you couldn't imagine, beautiful women some Creole with ass

Them niggas are hazards, we bitchin' they crabbin', and changin lanes like benjamin massing
From 10 to 12 they thinkin' it's cool, something awful when they aint in the mood.

Don't get 'em bent, fuck that innocence, cause in a sense they film as you.
Where they mommas at, where they mommas at? Nobody knows, nobody cares. To claim your hard, come go through the ward,come fuck with them,when nobody dares

Your job, yes, ya ho-jocker, put that pop on you like Redenbacher
The things they say, the slang they use, catching kung fu while they bangin' the tools.

When the gun goes bang bang bang, who's gonna know the one? No, nobody knows.When the gun goes bang bang bang, who's gonna know the one? No, nobody knows.

Even when it's cold outside 'round here. It's a 100 degrees, I keep the heat around here.It's when you least expect it, people creep up from the rear,it's racking my brain cannot contain my fear.

'Cause even when it's cold outside 'round here. It's a 100 degrees, I keep the heat around here.It's when you least expect it, people creep up from the rear,it's racking my brain cannot contain my fear.

Copied from MetroLyrics.com