Tony Yayo, "Bullets Whistle"

In a fine example of what Ann Powers defined as “violator art” in a 1999 Village Voice article-one which is now being taught as a four-credit humanities course at Mt. Holyoke!-50 Cent’s G-Unit henchman Tony Yayo has been making some great, awful rap music lately.

A couple weeks ago, he leaked a song called “Obama” that will appear on a new mixtape, Gun Powder Guru. “Obama,” Yayo says in rhyme, is a new brand of heroin he’s selling. (“Dope bags stamped ‘Obama,” as he puts it, to go with “Sammy Sosa” cocaine, and “Lady Gaga” ecstasy pills. This is the best celebrity drug nomenclature since U.G.K. labeled marijuana “Bobby” and coke “Whitney” on 2007’s “The Game Belongs To Me.”)

Now, even better, is “Bullets Whistle,” which makes murder sound sexier than one would maybe hope murder could sound. The beat, with that cold worm synth reminiscent of vintage Dr. Dre.

And the video. Jesus Christ! Tony Yayo sure likes guns. And grenades, apparently, one of which he swings around on his finger before pretending it’s a basketball and miming a fadeaway-jumper. If there was ever a time to warn kids not to try this at home. What can you say about this? It’s terrible. It’s terrific.