Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: Throwin' Bows Like Johnny Cage

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Crime Mob's instant classic "Knuck if You Buck" may be the most misunderstood rap song of all time.

Well, at least it was to me, until I decided to look it up on Urban Dictionary.

You see, I've had this song all wrong since my friends and I made a 3 am trip to Steak 'n Shake when I was a junior in high school. We were talking about the song and asking just what the hell it meant. Our waiter came up and explained:



"He's saying why knuck if you buck. Knucking is fist fighting, like, with your knuckles, and bucking is to shoot someone. So the song is basically saying, 'why bother fighting when you could just shoot someone in the face."

It sounded perfectly reasonable at the time, though I must admit that 3 am Steak 'n Shake runs were not when I was at my most lucid in those days. I had always thought he said "boy, knuck if you buck, boy" and not "why, knuck if you buck, why" but our waiter was black, and we were a bunch of suburban white kids. Surely he knew better than us when it came to matters of Crime Mob translation.

But something didn't sit right… Why would Crime Mob talk about "jumpin' off from on the stage, thrown' bows like Johnny Cage" if they were just going to shoot people? This seemed like more of a fighting song. After all, the chick from Crime Mob was known for going in da club, shakin' her dreads, throwin' dem bows and bussin' doz heads.

Well guess what? He totally steered us wrong! So, on this weekend that my old high school is set to play football on ESPN (Here we go AHS!), I want to finally make this right. Here is the explanation from Urban Dictionary.

Knuck if you buck

A phrase used to express the intent of violence, literally translated as "knuckle up if you're buck wild". As popularized by Crime Mob.
Rowdy Clubgoer #1: "You just stepped on my $%^& Timbs...."
Rowdy Clubgoer #2: "Well whatcha gonna do n*gga?! Knuck if you buck!!"

Well, I'm glad we got that figured out!

I also feel I must point out my favorite line in the song:

"In my eyes you wasn't wise, I think it's time I knuck you ho."

Which loosely translates to "from my perspective, you made foolish decisions, I believe it is time for me to punch you in the face prostitute."

Oh, and at one point they compare themselves to a tag team featuring Saddam  Hussein, Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. Anyways, I think you just need to watch this classic again for yourself below.