Breaking Down the Boston Marathon Bomber’s Twitter Rap References Posted by Nathan S. on 04/19/13 | Filed under Top Stories, Opinion

A stunning amount has happened since I recorded the new Boston dedication podcast with J The S just 24 hours ago. Overnight police engaged in a massive gunfight with both Boston Marathon bombing suspects, killing one while the other is currently on the run. Now that police have identified the suspects as 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev (now deceased) and his 19-year-old brother and current fugitive Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the media has begun searching for clues into their history and potential motives, in the process turning up the Twitter account of Dzhokhar (@J_tsar).*

The most remarkable thing about Dzhokhar's tweets are how unremarkable they are. They're essentially indistinguishable from any college kid: debates about "Breaking Bad" vs "Game of Thrones", jokes about girls, and the occasional rap reference.

Wait...rap reference? Goddamnit. This is going to be exactly the kind of thing the media blows way out of proportion, right? I bet the cable news channels are going to devote entire hours to ignorantly analyzing every lyric he ever quoted.

Fox News, you're up first:



Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I was expecting.

I want to make it very clear that I'm not being glib here. Of course the world's fascinated by the identity of a young man currently the subject of the largest manhunt in U.S. history. And of course we're all desperate for clues, any clues, that would help us understand how he could have done something so terrible.

But on behalf of anyone who knows anything about hip-hop, mainstream media, please, let me assure you that the rap references on his Twitter account don't provide any of those clues. They're incredibly common, incredibly ordinary references that I'm willing to bet almost everyone reading this has made at some point. What's more, they don't show any particular taste in a specific artist or sub-genre beyond "rap pretty much everyone has heard".

See...

Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got somethin to say but nothin comes out when they move their lips; just a bunch of gibberish

— Jahar (@J_tsar) April 17, 2013

Obviously a quote from Eminem's verse on "Forgot About Dre". Ironic considering how often Eminem has already been blamed for being a bad influence, although there's absolutely nothing incendiary about that line.

Ain't no love in the heart of the city, stay safe people

— Jahar (@J_tsar) April 16, 2013

Maybe a Jay-Z reference, maybe just a reference to a relatively common phrase.

Now we aint come here to start no drama, we just looking for our future baby mamas

— Jahar (@J_tsar) April 12, 2013

Most likely a quote from 50 Cent's "Outta Control (Remix)".

Keep max b in jail

— Jahar (@J_tsar) March 31, 2013

Naaah I'm just kiddin freeee the waaave

— Jahar (@J_tsar) March 31, 2013

Completely forgettable joke about Max B.

No one is really violent until they're with the homies

— Jahar (@J_tsar) March 28, 2013

Maybe possibly a reference to Kendrick Lamar's "The Art of Peer Pressure". This is the one quote you could probably find the most meaning in, but again, in the context of all his other tweets I don't think it teaches us much.

There are 1,000 meaningful storylines that will arise our of this tragedy, and the media will doubtlessly come up with another 1,000 just to fill air time, but let me assure you, the rap lyrics on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Twitter isn't one of them. Please journalists, just let this one go. I guarantee you these rap references won't do anything but distract from the more important questions.

Now if only they'd listen...

* I feel obligated to throw in an asterix here. Several news outlets are reporting that this is indeed the Twitter account of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned out to be a fake. Either way, that's the information out there now, I wanted to respond to it.

See Also:  This Is My Rifle: Bombs Over Boston, Finding Solidarity in Tragedy