Normally I write about something on this blog to share an opinion on something in music; a few times I write an article for presentation online to get me to think something through or clarify my opinion for myself (or put effort into curating a playlist which I can enjoy).
This week, I really just want to put an artist in front of you - without commenting or opining.
This is about Punchmade Dev, an incredibly brash artist even for rap. I'm featuring him here not because his music is so incredible (though it's good for modern hip-hop) or his rhymes are so tight (they are). It's because his music has been DELETED by two record companies, came back and got even bigger himself - with songs that call out Rosa Parks because Punchmade Dev likes sitting in the back of the bus, "Special Needs Kid" which I don't even want to talk about, and songs that are instruction manuals for wire fraud and credit card scams https://www.complex.com/music/a/tracewilliamcowen/punchmade-dev-wire-fraud-tutorial-removed-youtube
I'm resisting the temptation to draw a line between Punchmade Dev's music and the toxic modern attitude of "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying" and "all about the Benjamins", where money is everything. I'm NOT taking the bait.
Quick Punchmade Tutorial
Provocateurs are not new in music. Stravinsky, Frank Zappa, John Cage, The Sex Pistols main goal was to challenge their audience. A few weeks ago I celebrated Randy Newman and his ability to pose as awful characters in a lot of his songs.
Rappers and hip-hop artists have forever been about braggadocio and attempts to burnish their street cred. The last 30 years have been an arms race in rap for proving who's the biggest bad-ass, not giving a fuck about cops, etc. Well if you want to talk about not giving a fuck, how about publicly rapping instructions about how to create phony credit cards.
Videos
Wire Fraud Tutorial
Internet Swiping
Lyrics
Here are the "Wire Fraud Tutorial" lyrics. Seriously, this is a song and not a schematic crime diagram:
Everybody listen up, this a-, damn, I said that last time
Listen up, I’m finna show y’all how to hit a bank
Just pay attention, this a quick way to jug in any state
First you wanna get a bank log from a trusted site
Do your research because the information must be right
You gotta be on point, don’t be sittin’ ’round tryna get high
Hit a big play, don’t get booked for a petty ass crime
Do they got Verizon or do they work with Sprint?
You gotta know that if you wanna hit this lick
You gotta call up to the company and sim-swap that bitch
So you could get the phone calls and text message that they get (Easy)
You need that so you could log in with the code
But before you do that, make sure that you don’t do this wrong
Don’t let me find out that your dumbass tried to login through the phone (Dumbass)
You gotta change your location into their home
For that you’re gonna need a RDP server
It should come with their IP, you gotta plug it in the server
This might be a lil’ hard, but it’s hard being a worker
The bank’ll get they money back, so ain’t nobody hurtin’ (Access granted)
You just got in the account
Don’t be gettin’ too excited when you see the first amount
’Cause there’s a certain way you gotta wire all the money out
Don’t be fuckin’ up the play or you gon’ sit there down and out
Now you need a runner you can wire all the money to
Make sure ’em break off a good amount, they gon’ want money too
You might need ’em for another play, let them run in for you
Some banks be askin’ hella questions, so it’s hard to do
Okay, you sim-swapped, got a runner, and a bank
Now it’s time for you to wipe down all the money that they made
Go and send the wire out, send it straight the runner’s bank
If you did everything right, then it’s gonna be a piece of cake (Easy)
Now that the wire went through, listen up
The money’s basically yours if you don’t somehow fuck it up
I can’t forget my first play, I was somewhere turnin’ up
Make sure you hit it while you can because the ham’s gon’ burn it up
Have the runner go inside, tell ’em "Withdraw all the pay"
And if it’s a big play, have somebody wait outside the bank
’Cause they might try to run off, but we don’t play about our pay
Imagine doin’ all that work and someone run off with yo play
