The 10 Best Osama Bin Laden Lyrical References

Now that he's dead, it's totally hip to start name-dropping him again.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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As you’ve probably already heard, the other day we finally killed Osama Bin Laden. Yay America! (Also, thank you Based God?) Bin Laden may have spent the last decade as America’s Public Enemy Number 1, but he was also one of your favorite rapper’s favorite people to reference in rhymes. See, after 9/11 everyone was talking about the Al Qaeda leader and for rappers everywhere he became an easy name to drop whenever you wanted to mention bombs, blowing things up, ultraviolent shit, and general terrorist activity.

That’s why over the past ten years or so, dozens of rappers name-dropped Osama Bin Laden—often times in a lazy way (Oh really? Osama rhymes with Obama? We had no idea!). So to celebrate a job well done by our Navy SEALS, we decided we decided to look at some well-done rhymes that refer to Bin Laden in a non-cliche way with The 10 Best Osama Bin Laden Lyrical References. USA! USA! USA!

Written by Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin), Andre Grant (@DreJones), & Julian Pereira (@Broadway_Jay).

Jay-Z f/ Kanye West “The Bounce” (2002)

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Lyrics: “Rumor has it The Blueprint classic, couldn't even be stopped by Bin Laden/So September 11th marks the era forever, of a revolutionary Che Gueverra.”

Complex says: Of all the people on this list, Jay probably has the best excuse to make a Bin Laden reference. Over an Indian-influenced beat provided by Timbaland, Jay reminded everyone how Bin laden got the Twin Towers to drop on the same day as Jigga dropped arguably the best album of his career. So we can’t front on that. Now that part about being revolutionary like Che Gueverra...

The Game f/ Fabolous “Jackin’ For Beats” (2002)

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Lyrics: “You don't wanna be in the news/‘Cause when I'm looking for you/Not even Bin Laden wanna be in your shoes, nigga.” (Fabolous)

Complex says: Actually, we’re pretty sure that Bin Laden would have much rather have been located by Fabolous last weekend instead of Navy SEALS.

Pastor Troy “Bless America” (2002)

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Lyrics: “Osama Bin Laden, we see you, we blasting/Buddy we want you, dead or alive/And when we catch you, got a surprise.”

Complex says: Move over Nastradamus, Pastor Troy is over here predicting the future.

Joe Budden f/ Jay-Z “Pump It Up (Remix)” (2003)

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Lyrics: “What the dealing? Like New York been soft since Bin Laden came through and crushed the buildings/Tryna restore the feeling, this is to be continued.” (Joe Budden)

Complex says: In a clever reference to a classic Jigga line (on a song where he shared flows and possibly subliminals with Jay himself) Joey established himself as the next big thing. We swear back in 2003 that line totally made sense to us.

Immortal Technique “Bin Laden” (2005)

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Lyrics: “They funded Al-Qaeda, and now they blame the Muslim religion/Even though Bin Laden, was a CIA tactician/They gave him billions of dollars, and they funded his purpose/Fahrenheit 9/11, that's just scratching the surface.”

Complex says: “Bin Laden” is one of Tech’s signature songs and it’s no surprise why. While most rappers foolishly made claims of dropping bombs like Bin Laden (Word son? Al Qaeda got an airforce now?), Tech dropped knowledge about the CIA’s shady dealings with Bin Laden back in the ‘80s.

Rick Ross f/ Dre “Blow” (2006)

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Lyrics: “Riding with them big things, looking like a bomb threat/Bin Laden beard, Afghan in a bomb vest.”

Complex says: First of all, Bin Laden’s beard was one of the most epic battles against the razor blade in modern history so Ross is definitely taking the L there. Also, Ross is underestimating the weight of a bomb vest. It’s sheer weight could cause Ricky to endure some very unexpected side-effects...like exercise.

Apathy & Celph Titled “Sound Of The Clap” (2006)

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Lyrics: “Fuck around, y'all will have bigger problems than dressing up as Bin Laden/And trying to rush the president while he's jogging.” (Apathy)

Complex says: That Bush sure did love to jog.

Lil Wayne “I Can’t Feel My Face” (2007)

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Lyrics: “Young God in the building, about to start a religion/About to call Bin Laden up, and order some missiles/Bring em straight to yo block and go to war wit you bitches/If you hit the head, then the rest fall in position.”

Complex says: Too bad Lil Wayne was beefing with President Bush at the time due to his poor handling of Hurricane Katrina. Because of all the things Bush needed to save his legacy in 2007, we’re pretty sure getting Bin Laden’s number from Weezy would’ve helped.

Cassidy “I Will Never Tell (Uh Uh)” (2007)

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Lyrics: “If you rat I ain’t fucking with you/I wouldn't even tell if I seen Bin Laden buying a fucking missile.”

Complex says: Sure, we’d love to commend Cassidy’s commitment to the code of the streets (ie. snitches get stitches) which can only be rivaled by Cam’ron’s infamous 60 Minutes appearance, but come on son, if you see a muthafucking terrorist buying a missile, say something! Yet another example of “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong.”

Raekwon f/ Ghostface Killah & Method Man “New Wu” (2009)

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Lyrics: “Ayo, jumping out of Benz wagons, my family live in the Hill/They call us Bin Ladens, laughing, turbaned up/Niggas get murdered up.” (Ghostface Killah)

Complex says: We can’t blame Ghost for thinking Bin Laden lived in the hills, back in ‘09 we could only assume the Al Qaeda leader spent his days trying to get cell phone reception in Tora Bora. But now we know Bin Laden was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. We're gonna go on a limb

and say the accomadations at the Wu Mansion trumps that though..

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