BEASTIE BOYS – Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun (1989)

“Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” is the 10th track on the album Paul’s Boutique by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989. The track contains the most live instrumentation on Paul’s Boutique, with guitar and bass played by Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch respectively. The song was later covered by the band Anthrax for the 1993 compilation album The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience. The lyrics “Get hip don’t slip knuckle heads/Racism is schism on the serious tip” were repeated in the Sublime song “Don’t Push.”

Paul’s Boutique is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, by Capitol Records. Produced by the Beastie Boys and the Dust Brothers, the album’s composition makes extensive use of samples, drawn from a wide range of genres including funk, soul, rock, and jazz. It was recorded over two years at Matt Dike’s apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles.

I’m rolling down the hill, snowballing, getting bigger An explosion in the chamber, the hammer from the trigger I seen him get stabbed, I watched the blood spill out He had more cuts than my man Chuck Chillout

24 is my age, and 22 is my gauge I’m writing rhymes on a page, I’m going off in a rage Because I’m out on a mission, a stolen car mission Had a small problem with the transmission

Three on the tree in the middle of the night I have this steak on my head ’cause I got into a fist fight Life comes in phases, take the good with the bad You bought those coins on the street, and you know you got had

Because it’s all high spirit, you know you gotta hear it Don’t touch the mic’ baby, don’t come near it It’s gonna getchya, it’s gonna getchya It’s gonna getchya, girl, it’s gonna getchya

Looking down the barrel of a gun Son of a gun, son of a bitch Getting paid, getting rich

Ultra violence be running through my head Cold Medina, y’all making me see red Rapid fire Louie like Rambo got bullets I’m gonna die harder like my kid Bruce Willis

I love girlies, waxing and milking Coordinating chicks is my man Dave Scilkin Predetermined destiny is who I am You got your finger on the trigger like the Son of Sam

I am like Clockwork Orange going off on the town I’ve got homeboys bonanza to beat your ass down Well I’m mad at my desk, and I be writing all curse words Expressing my aggressions through my schizophrenic verse words

You’re a headless chicken chasin’ a sucker free basin You’re looking for a fist to put your face in Get hip don’t slip knuckle heads Racism is schism on the serious tip