Dance With The Devil Analysis

In 2001, rapper Immortal Technique released his track, Dance With The Devil, on his album Revolutionary Vol. 1, produce by 44 Caliber. Dance With The Devil tells the story of little William, AKA, Billy Jacobs, growing up in the hood and his quest for reputation. Hood life during the 80’s, 90’s, and early 00’s was tough. Most people couldn’t afford to live stable lives, so many reverted to gang violence and drug dealing to makes ends meet. Reputation is everything in the hood. For Billy, he lost his street creds when he snitched for a crime, forcing him to attempt to regain his reputation. In Billy Jacobs quest to gain reputation in the hood, he and his fellow members kidnap, brutally beat, gang-rape, and kill a women walking on the street.

Even though the legitimacy of the story comes into question, the conditions of the hood produce adverse effects on the youth growing up there. Specifically, when he says, “ [a] Nigga never had a father and his mom was a fiend… [But,] she put the pipe down.” For many African American families, children grow up without fathers due to their high incarceration rate, with mother’s being drug addicts. For some, they are able to get off drugs, and are then forced to raise a family alone. As he raps, Immortal Technique describes the various influences that exist in the hood. He says, “[Billy’s] primary concern was making a million…being the illest hustler that the world ever seen…[Billy] used to fuck movie stars and sniff coke in his dreams,” as a result of the illusion that the big hustlers of success around him gave off, all by the age of thirteen. Kids in the hood grow up wanting to make millions, just like anyone else, but the influences that surround them and the immense poverty often convince them that crime is the only way to achieve their dreams. On this path, many youths are locked up and sent to juvenile detention centers, ruining their dreams, and perpetuating a continuous cycle of crime. But, Immortal Technique gives a warning when he says, “Ask a nigga doing life if he had another chance…But then

Regardless of the facts behind this statement, it serves a purpose. By him saying this, it means he too grew up in this environment and helped to perpetuate the cycle, simply by participating in it. Even, Immortal Techniques background plays a major role in this story. He too, grew up in the hood (Harlem) in the 80’s, where drug use, crime, and gangs were prevalent. During his youth he too was influenced by the same factors that influenced poor Billy. He turned to violence and crime, but was able to escape it through education and good influences. Immortal techniques message is clear: that the conditions of the hood perpetuate an endless cycle of violence and it is up to the people and the government to stop this cycle. Without the help of the governmental intervention to provide financial support and stability to inner cities, who knows when or how the violence will end? The warning is clear, “when the devil wants to dance with you, you better say never…Because the dance with the devil might last you