Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I can tell, 2Pac was the first. (Okay, somebody did—thanx!) In 1996, almost two months after his passing the legendary rapper’s 2Pac's first posthumous LP, Makaveli, dropped, featuring a song dubbed “Me and My Girlfriend.” While Jay-Z’s 2003 remake “’03 Bonnie & Clyde” took the title more literally, ’Pac painted a picture of a relationship with a woman on the original to flip a metaphor for his relationship with his gun.

While Makaveli never did it for me (I was more into All Eyez on Me) I always had to give it up to ’Pac for “Me and My Girlfriend.” Since then, there have been a handful of other gun/bullet as a metaphor songs, but the question is: Where any of them better than Pac’s?

A couple weeks back I found myself in a heated debate with some friends about that aforementioned question, which ended in s stalemate. So, today, I decided to open the floor to you guys (and that one gal) to see what you thought. Feel free to shoot off at the mouth on this one. —Anslem Samuel

2PAC “ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND”
The song that started it all—I think—Pac fantasized about seeing his girl naked on their first date and loved her because she was always had the heart to fight.

Lyrical bullet: “Nigga, my girlfriend, though we separated at times/I knew deep inside, baby girl would always be mine/Picked you up when you was nine/Started out my life of crime/Wit you, bought you some shells when you turned twenty-two/It's true, nothin’ compares to the satisfaction that I feel when we out mashin/Me and my girlfriend.”

NAS "I GAVE YOU POWER"
When Nasir decided to flip the script he bypassed the relationship metaphor and presented himself as the weapon of mass destruction. Hands down one of the best songs of its kind.

Lyrical bullet: “Always I'm in some shit, my abdomen is the clip/The barrel is my dick, uncircumcised/Pull my skin back and cock me, I bust off when they unlock me/Results of what happens to niggaz shock me/I see niggaz bleedin’ runnin’ from me in fear/Stunningly tears fall down the eyes of these so-called tough guys/For years I've been used in robberies, givin’ niggaz heart to follow me/Placin’ peoples in graves, funerals made cause I was sprayed.”

ORGANIZED KONFUSION "STRAY BULLET"
When it was Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch’s turn to take a shot at the metaphor, the Long Island pair went even deeper. Not only did they speak from the perspective of a bullet, but they took things a step further by exploring the path of a stray bullet, which often times never hits its intended target. The result: a social commentary on street violence.

Lyrical bullet: “No remorse for the course I take when you pull it/The result's a stray bullet/Niggaz who knew hit the ground runnin’ and stay down/Except for the kids who played on the playground/‘Cause for some little girl she'll never see more than six years of life, trif-le-ing/When she fell from the seesaw/But, umm, wait, my course isn't over/Fled out of the other side of her head towards a red, Range, Rover, then I ricochet/Fast past a brother's ass/Oh, damn, what that nigga say, ‘Aww, fuck it,"/Next target's Margaret's face (*bang*) and I struck it.”

PHAROAHE MONCH “WHEN THE GUN DRAWS”
While this is a dope song, I was actually kind of disappointed with Monch for double-dipping on the concept. Sure, there was a 16-year gap between songs, but basically doing another song from the perspective of a bullet came off as a bit lazy to me. But, like I said, the song was still hot—I just wish he came from a different angle.

Lyrical bullet: “Good evening, my name's Mr. Bullet/I respond to the index when you pull it, the trigger/So make a note, take a vote/Quick man, nickname's Quaker Oates 'cause/Whether domestic violence or coke deals/See how less has changed brain matter to oatmeal/And when I kill kids they say, ‘Shame on me’/Who the fuck told you to put they names on me?”

G-UNIT “MY BUDDY”
50 and company took a more direct approach on this one. Instead of a girlfriend or looking at things from a different angle, they went right in on their Scarface tip and introduced everybody to their little friend.

Lyrical bullet: “My buddy got a temper, he dying to pop off/Last time he did the cops had the block all locked off/Take him with me to hustle, stashed him in a trashcan/My fingertips off before hours I bag grams/You meet him, your destination's hell or heaven/Cause I only bring him out for that 187/He don't have a heart, I just keep feeding him shells/He get it popping in the hood, so his name rings bells.”

STICKY FINGAZ “MY DOGZ IZ MY GUNZ”
A lot of people slept on Sticky’s solo disc, Black Trash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones but this album is an underrated gem that gave a heavy nod to Prince Paul’s Prince Among Thieves. The concept album approach served Stick well, especially when he unleashed his dogz to lick shots at the rap crown.

Lyrical bullet: “I got two dogs, one named Nigga, one named Bitch/Bitch is the one with the pretty gold clip/Nigga's the one with the taped up grip/I'll make 'em empty simultaneous 'till you get hit/Fuck fightin' in the streets, life is a struggle put on a silencer, now they're wearin' a muzzle/I hate Puppies, little guns, I need power/You small time, a .22, you a Chiwauwa/Teeth growin', bullets we never run out of my dogs mate with new guns, I feed 'em gun powder/They ain't home trained, nor house broken/Mouth open, droolin', that means the barrel is smokin'.”

BONUS: MONEY SHOT
STICKY FINGAZ FEAT. RAEKWON “MONEY TALK”
Okay, I know this one has nothing to do with guns or bullets, but I really like Black Trash and wanted to give Stick his proper dues for flippin’ yet another metaphor on that album.

Lyrical bullet: “I've been saved, I've been buried alive/Say my name enough and any nigga testify/Who you think led that whole-seller ass that time/All by myself, I created Black on Black crime/I'm America's most, I'm tatted up with ghosts/Even my hand got big, from net to gross/I'm emotionless, yet I breathe jealousy and envy/People kill for me or die to defend me/But in the end am I really worth the sun?/Rich people make me work for them/And poor people work for me/Who am I? Nigga, I'm money.”

id="130"]

More From XXL