It helps, sometimes, to think of the average rap verse as a commercial: Built to sell a rapper’s technical skills or life story or artistic vision in between hooks. Every now and then, though, a rapper’s verse contains a bar, phrase, or ad-lib that either renders the hook useless — a single moment become’s the song’s chorus. Some of the best examples of this phenomenon include Offset’s “Wooh wooh wooh wooh wooh” on “Bad & Boujee” or Young M.A.’s infamous “Headphanie” line on “OOOUUU.” The next song to potentially enter that pantheon is 3ohBlack‘s “All Talk.”
Released in April, a less than 10-second clip from the song’s video has become a micro–meme. During “All Talk’s” second verse, 3ohBlack raps signature phrase: “There’s four niggas walkin’ up and it’s just me / Now it’s just three / Now it’s just two / Now it’s just me.” In a vacuum, the bars amount to nothing more than quintessential tough talk, but when coupled with the nonsensical visual it’s elevated to high art.
THIS GOTTA BE THE HARDEST LINE IN RAP HISTORY 😳🔥 pic.twitter.com/7E1msmKOJo
— GLOCK (@GlockRivers) August 9, 2019
The entire concept for the “All Talk” video is that 3ohBlack’s enemies are predictably “all talk.” Over 4-minutes, the envious assailants are in search of 3ohBlack’s money and will follow him from a hotel to an apartment in search of it. The climax happens when 3ohBlack runs past a bag of empty Outback Steakhouse to shoot his would-be robbers one-by-one, punctuating the end of each bar with a gun noise before cheap, cartoonish, VX blood erupts from each antagonist’s head. 3ohBlack’s acting anchors the entire scene, and culminates with him dancing at the expense of his deceased foes.