Vietnam
1999 · Source 243 8477182 9 · France
- Artist
- Big Red
- Title
- Vietnam
- Release
- Big Redemption
- Year
- 1999
- Label
- Source # 243 8477182 9
- Format
- CD · Album
- Language
- French
- Country
- France
- Genre
- Hip Hop · Rap
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Rap / Hip Hop Songs
Obscure French Hip Hop group, which released the song "Vietnam" (Source # 7243 8477182 9). It's one of the few songs on here to focus on the battle zone, narrated from a combat perspective: "I camp in the woods, blood and sweat, it's my daily life, people dying in fear all around me". It noted the use of napalm: "I was dropping the napalm, I saw that the Cong were not weaklings" - chemical weapon Napalm B - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973. (1) (2) (3) The song criticised politicians for sending people to war: "by what right do you condemn me to die in Vietnam, behind your office you're clean". Also note the reference to three Vietnam War films, Apocalypse Now, First Blood (Rambo), and Hamburger Hill: "we force you to crawl on a Hamburger Hill, you're ready for the Apocalypse Now... you don't have the balls of Rambo", and thus another example of the major cultural impact of Vietnam War films and its influence on music.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho
Themes
Napalm · Anti-Government · Rambo · Apocalypse Now · Film · City & Community Violence · Hamburger Hill · Violence Metaphor · VC