Necro's Favorite Songs About Death

As told to Dharmic X

Necro is not a household name, but that doesn’t make his impact to the hip-hop community any less important. Consider this: In 2011, a rapper from Brooklyn named Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire rapped over the instrumental for “Scumbags,” a 2003 song produced by Necro. He called the song “Huzzah,” and it went on to become one of his biggest songs. The remix, which featured Despot, Danny Brown, Das Racist, and El-P, has over one million views on YouTube. The buzz that followed led to eXquire signing a deal to Universal/Republic. That’s the influence Necro continues to have on the music, twenty years into his career. As the owner of Psycho+Logical Records, Necro was one of the people who paved the way for the independent model in hip-hop, the model that has led to so much success for groups like Atmosphere and Tech N9ne.

In 2013, Necro is getting ready to release an album with hip-hop royalty, Kool G. Rap. Together, the group is known as The Godfathers, and the album is called Once Upon A Crime. As the king of “death rap” finishes up his the new album, he took the time to break down his favorite songs about one of his favorite topics: death. Get in the mood for Halloween and into the mind of one of rap's most morbid characters.

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2. Metallica - "Ride The Lightning"

Necro says:

The song came to mind because it’s about the electric chair. He [James Hetfield] says on the song, “Oh please God help me/They’re trying to take it all away/I don’t want to die.” That song definitely embodies what it feels like to be on the verge of death.

Metallica is my favorite group. I love the band for life. They changed my life. Their first album was released indie, and everybody slept on them. They were so groundbreaking and still are. The fact that they’re still around. Their last record was produced by Rick Rubin. I’m not going to say that I sit here all day and listen to that particular album, but I don’t really listen to a lot of shit. In general, I can enjoy Metallica’s last album. It’s full of riffs and very enjoyable. Anyone that doesn’t get it, they just probably weren’t around at the time when Metallica was the best that they’ve ever been. If you’ve ever experienced Metallica at their best, you will worship them for life.

They get on stage and kill it, and they don’t even play simple guitar riffs. I can’t play some of it, and I’m a guitar player. You have to have a super-strong arm to be able to down pick like James Hetfield does, and do it night after night on stage. And sing. They are one of the most technical bands ever. Their songs are extremely complex. You can put on their debut album, which came out in 1986, and it’s more complex than anything that’s out now.

3. Necro - "Creepy Crawl"

Necro says:

“Creepy Crawl” is about the [Charles] Manson murders [Charles Manson led a cult called the Manson Family and was eventually convicted on murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges. He is currently incarcerated for life in California]. I basically describe the murders in verse one and verse two.

The Manson murders might be the most infamous murders in history. What other rapper has ever done what I did? If you go into the history of hip-hop, there’s never been a black rapper that did it. I like to do things that nobody has ever done before. I like to do subjects that are brutal. I’m the first rapper to talk about human trafficking. So while everyone does the same song about liquor and cars, and guys in the underground do backpack shit, and others rap about guns and drugs, I kind of incorporate everything. It’s more intriguing to me. If I’m going to do hip-hop, I have to stand out. How’s Necro going to stand out from every other shithead?

In some ways, it kind of backfired on me. I’ve turned a lot of people off. I have a cult fan base that loves me and worships me, but there’s just some people that don’t get it, or they’re offended, or it’s just not for them. There’s just something in me that wants to create this type of art. It’s my release. It’s also very artistic. All the lines coordinate with each other, it’s done very poetically. It’s not easy to create a masterpiece about butchering somebody. I could rap about flowers, but I don’t know how many people would be interested. And honestly, I was never really into flowers. Meanwhile, death happens every other minute. Every second someone dies. Someone just died. Another one’s dead. And again, someone just died. Etc. That was one of my hooks in 2003. A lot of people ask me why I do this, but it’s like, why do people die then? Why is there death in the first place?

I don’t dwell on death. I don’t sit in my own house, hanging out in my own feces and piss, wearing black makeup on my eyes. I’m not an emo weirdo. I make hip-hop. But I come from the streets, so I choose to make it hardcore. And if I’m going to make it hardcore, I’m going to make it different, looking to attack different subjects. There’s a whole lot of positive that comes out of what Necro does negatively artistically.

4. Necro - "Dead Body Disposal"

Necro says:

That’s one of my classic tracks off my Gory Days album. I’m explaining in detail how to get rid of a corpse. I’m teaching the listener how to kill and how to not get caught. It’s a manual for getting rid of a corpse.

If I didn’t do hip-hop, I’d probably be killing people. Or something gangster. I have a lot of aggression in me. The music allows people like me to release it. When I write, I don’t know if it’s because I like it, but I’m sure subconsciously it’s to let off steam. I don’t think I’m doing it on purpose.

5. Slayer - "Angel Of Death"

Necro says:

This is a huge, classic record. It’s talking about the Nazis putting Jews in gas chambers. It isn’t something I’m happy about because I’m a Jew, but those guys say they’re not racist. They said that it was just them describing what happened and describing the Angel of Death coming to kill.

I got into Slayer as a kid. When I was eleven years old, I was playing death metal and opening up for bands like Sepultura, Obituary, and Biohazard. Obviously, Slayer and Metallica are gods of metal. And Rick Rubin produced “Angel of Death,” too. The song is a culmination of a hip-hop producer working with a metal band and creating their best record ever.

6. Metallica - "Disposable Heroes"

Necro says:

"Disposable Heroes" is a song about soldiers dying and war. It’s also one of Metallica’s most incredible songs. On the hook, he [Hetfield] is singing, “You will do what I say, when I say/Back to the front/You will die when I say, you must die.” It’s just talking about being forced to the front line without a voice. You have to follow orders. It’s a fucking Godly track, one of the best.

7. Necro - "Murder Ya Life"

Necro says:

This song is basically me rapping Death Rap. It’s me rapping about butchering people, which is my way of releasing aggression. The song is about the listener dying, and me doing the killing, verbally. The way everything is done in the song is intense.

I call my style death rap, and not horrorcore or anything corny. Horrorcore would be “Yo, I’m going to fucking shoot you with the gun/You don’t want it son/You’re done.” That’s how those guys rhyme. Like fucking morons. Now, if you notice in my rhymes, there's complexity. On the Godfathers album (with Kool G. Rap) I said, “Let off the pistol chrome/At any Joe Pistone/Confess to an Episcopal Bishop as my biscuit clips domes.” That’s a real lyricist. We’re not just rapping. We’re coming with more fucking substance. It’s gourmet. At the same time, the subject matter is harsh.

8. Necro - "Keep On Driving"

Necro says:

The whole song is me rapping extremely technically. I’m covering all the famous horror movies, from Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Hills Have Eyes. But it’s very complicated; it’s not me just saying “I’m coming at you with a ‘Machete.’” It’s not cheesy. I’m saying very lyrical lines. It’s one of my most technical tracks actually. It’s three verses of brutality. I compared Leatherface to looking like meatloaf. And then I rhyme that with oaf. I’m painting the pictures of legendary films.

My favorite horror movie would have to be Blood Sucking Freaks. It was made in 1976 by Joel Reed, and it’s the only movie he ever made that matters. It’s probably one of the sickest horror movies ever because it’s all about human trafficking. It’s very tongue-in-cheek, but it’s so fucking sick story-wise. It takes place in the West Village in Manhattan, so it’s real East Coast New York. It has a real Puerto Rican midget with a gun who shoots people, kills people, and eats their eyeballs. It’s a legendary horror movie, and I’ve incorporated it into my music by sampling from it and referring to it.

9. Necro - "Sharon's Fetus"

Necro says:

This is off my last album, Murder Murder Kill Kill. That’s the prequel (aka the “pre-kill”) to “Creepy Crawl.” So while “Creepy Crawl” is Tex Watson and the Manson girls going into Sharon Tate’s house and then butchering them, “Sharon’s Fetus” is before that happened. It’s describing all of the plotting that leads to them going to the house. It’s also about Sharon Tate’s baby getting murdered.

What’s real clever about that is that I sampled Rosemary’s Baby. Rosemary’s Baby was a movie made by Roman Polanski, whose wife is Sharon Tate. So I basically made a song about killing Polanski’s wife with the fucking music from his own movie. I don’t think he knows or cares, but it wasn’t done to insult him. It was done from an artistic perspective.

10. Obituary - "Slowly We Rot"

Necro says:

Obituary is one of my favorite death metal groups, and this is off one of my favorite death metal albums. Obviously he’s talking about death, because as human beings, we’re dying every minute. Our hourglass of life is ticking away. It sounds depressing, but that’s just a fact of life. There music is just so brutal that it brings you closer to death in a way. You hear it and it’s just so heavy, I can’t even explain it. It’s like the gateway to Hell.

11. Metallica - "Fade To Black"

Necro says: 

This song is classic. It is kind of a depressing song. It has a suicidal feel to it. Fading to black is dying.

I’ve felt suicidal myself a couple of times. I own a lot of guns, so occasionally, I’ll look at my shotgun and imagine myself blowing my head off. And then I think to myself, “That’s a real pussy move.” Sometimes you want to, you’re under mad pressure. But I let it out by looking at the gun, imagining it, and then asking myself if my mother would be able to deal with that. My mother would be so depressed and sad. I would never want to put her through that; she’s been through enough.

When I think of suicide and people that have done it, I just imagine how fucked up that must be. It’s one thing if somebody dies, but knowing that that person killed themselves, that means that they thought there was nobody that loved them. It’s fucked up. I usually get depressed for like a day or two, every two months, and then I get over it and go back to trekking through all the shit and being positive. I think everyone does. I think anyone who says they never get depressed is a little fishy and weird, and a little robotic. You should be smart enough to know that shit gets better. You could be sad today, but then the next day you get an e-mail from somebody who wants to do something really cool with you. Or a girl wants to give you head.

12. Metallica - "One"

Necro says:

This song is basically about going to war and being a soldier: Dying, watching your friends die. It’s a deep song. It’s one of Metallica’s ballads. I would suggest you listen to this song, because it’ll blow you away. If it doesn’t blow you away, I would question your taste in music. When something is that dope, and you’re not feeling it, then that would just make you wonder about you. I don’t expect everyone to love everything, but there’s certain joints where even if you don’t like that particular artist, you still have commend the song.

I wouldn’t be Necro without Metallica’s influence. As a group, they inspired me to keep pushing even when things were messed up.

13. Slayer - "South of Heaven"

Necro says:

“South of Heaven” is a continuation of “Angel of Death,” because it’s the record that came after that. They’re talking about Hell, which obviously is a part of death. It’s a heavy track that makes you feel dark. It lets you release your demons. It’s hard to explain, but if you have demons in you and you’re listening to “South of Heaven,” your demons will step up and talk to you. Your demons will say, “Just play Slayer for me once a week, and I’ll back off.”

I have a picture that I took with Kerry King, at Metal Hammer in England. He was very cool. I met Jeff Hanneman. He wasn’t the coolest when I met him, but rest in peace, he was still a legend. I met Tom Araya, the lead singer. I didn’t want to bother him, because I know that people don’t want to get bothered. When he walked past me I just said “Reign in Blood,” which is one of their most legendary albums, and he turned around and smiled at me. That’s my way of saluting him. It lets him know that I’m a real Slayer fan.

Some metal legends have reached out to me before I ever reached out to them. One of the first people to reach out to me is Sid Wilson from Slipknot. He e-mailed me in 2001 to come to Jones Beach and hang with him on stage while they were playing, because he was a Necro fan. I couldn’t even believe that. He showed me a lot of love. One of my favorite bands ever, Sepultura, also reached out to me. Igor Cavalera, the drummer, hit me up on Myspace in 2005, saying that he was a fan. And then another time, Mark Morton from Lamb of God, invited me to hang out, and he went on to play on my album.

I’d say that metal legends are pretty cool to me. It’s just the metal fans that are more close-minded because I’m hip-hop. Metal heads in the bands love hip-hop, because they’re the cream of the crop and can be open-minded. It’s the same thing in hip-hop. A lot of hip-hop fans don’t like metal, but then you’ll find a guy like Scarface who loves Pink Floyd, and Suicidal Tendencies.

14. Death - "Leprosy"

Necro says:

Death is one of the most legendary death metal bands and “Leprosy” is one of their best albums. Basically, he’s talking about the disease. I thought that really defines death, and the band’s name itself is "Death." They’re incredible and groundbreaking. The band’s founder, Chuck Schuldiner, died too.

15. Megadeth - "Wake Up Dead"

Necro says:

“Wake Up Dead” is another legendary song by another group that has “death” in their name. The character is sneaking into his house after cheating. He doesn’t want to “wake up dead,” because his wife will kill him if she found out, or “woke up.” It’s a weird subject, but it has some of the best riffs in metal ever. Megadeth is ying and the yang to Slayer and Metallica.

16. Necro - "Die!"

Necro says:

I sampled Shocking Blue’s “Love Buzz,” and I snatched out the part that goes, “Die… When I hurt you, you die.” I’m pretty much rapping Death Rap on it. I just figured since we were talking dying and death rap, and that’s the name of the album also, that this song made sense.

I watched my uncle [Uncle Howie, whom Necro’s brother Ill Bill has rapped about repeatedly and also paid homage to with his record label] die around the time I was putting out this album. I literally watched him die, down to the last second. He went from living to not living in front of my eyes. I was in tears. I told him about the album as he was dying, and about how fucked up the situation is. It was tough time for me in general. I got sued by Ani Defranco for sampling her. My career kind of died, and then I brought it back together. I had to rebirth myself and recoup my money. I am very much alive right now.

17. Necro & Kool G. Rap (The Godfathers) - "High Tension" and "Unsub"

Necro says:

There are two songs on the new album that I would consider “death rap.” One song is called “High Tension,” which is paying homage to the horror movie. That movie is also on my top-five list. My verse describes the movie in detail. It talks about getting my dick sucked by a cut-off female head, which is one of the first scenes in the movie. There’s another song on the record called “Unsub.” An unsub is an unknown murder suspect. It’s an FBI word. I got the idea from Criminal Minds, because I’m a huge fan of that show. I came up with the title because when I got G. Rap’s verse, he was talking about serial killers. Every rhyme he has names out a serial killer. When I heard it, I thought it was a cool concept, and I decided to finish the song by name dropping serial killers G. Rap didn’t list. I wanted to give the song a creative name instead of just “Serial Killers,” so I went with “Unsub” because at one point, all of these killers were unsubs.

Note: Necro & Kool G. Rap's Once Upon A Crime album is out November 19.

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