On his debut studio album A Gangster and a Gentleman (2002), perhaps one of my favorite of the artist’s, lyricist Styles P of The LOX featured a track entitled “We Thugs (My Niggas).” Lyrics of the chorus are as follows:
We thugs, my niggas
Ride to the death with my man, ‘cause I motherfuckin’ love my niggas
We ghetto, my niggas
Any time, any place, we don’t give a fuck, we bust metal, my niggas
We gangsta, my niggas
You oughta keep your mouth shut
Watch what you sayin’, ‘cause we shank you, my niggas
We D-Block niggas, we don’t play games
We just hit you in your frame, ‘cause we pop niggas
I’ll address the lyrics shortly. Before I do so, it’s worth stating that I cherish A Gangster and a Gentleman, because I played it frequently upon its released and during a time in which I experienced significant administrative and legal problems when serving in the Marine Corps.
From 2002-2003, I was apprehended by fellow military police (MP) about a dozen times. My commanding officer (CO) was overzealous in his enforcement of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and used MPs as a dictatorial taxi service when requiring an audience with me.
During daytime and nighttime, MPs took me into custody – sometimes with pistols drawn. On one of the most dangerous events, I was awoken in a barracks room at night with Beretta M9 pistols pointed at me. For years thereafter, I experienced posttraumatic stress symptoms.
One of the contributing factors to my CO’s treatment of me was that I exercised an apparently nonexistent First Amendment right when speaking out against his treatment of me. I contacted state representatives, senators, and others in positions of authority regarding the abuse of power.
Ultimately, I learned that military personnel who were subject to the UCMJ didn’t fully enjoy inalienable rights afforded to United States (U.S.) citizens. In my case, full protections of free expression ostensibly didn’t apply. Thus, I couldn’t merely speak out against an abuse of power.
Now, I’ll address lyrics from the chorus of “We Thugs (My Niggas).” To do this, I’ll view the content through the lens of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).
REBT theory maintains that when an unexpected Action occurs and a person uses an irrational Belief about the situation, it’s one’s unhelpful attitude and not the undesirable circumstance that causes unpleasant cognitive, emotive, sensational, and behavioral effects as Consequences.
On “We Thugs (My Niggas),” Styles P uses one of the four major self-disturbing beliefs known as demandingness. When this irrational self-narrative is used, terms such as “should,” “must,” or “ought” are used in an absolutistic, or authoritarian, style similar to how my CO ruled.
In particular, the lyricist states “you oughta keep your mouth shut” which is an absolute Belief that causes unproductive Consequences related to busting metal (using firearms), shanking (stabbing with sharp objects), and popping people (using firearms to harm others).
The unhelpful Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection associated with this authoritarian style of interfacing with the world can be quite dangerous. Essentially, Styles P presumably advocated an absolute conditional whereby one either obeys his commands or will endure his violent behavior.
This was a similar approach used by my CO. Using his B-C approach to commanding the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar was for me to either acquiesce to the loss of my civil liberties or experience frequent MP apprehensions.
With both Styles P and my CO, the main self-disturbing belief was, “You oughta keep your mouth shut!” When that self-narrative is violated, people upset themselves and can end up harming or oppressing other individuals.
Rather than remaining self-disturbed, REBT invites people to try Disputation which may lead to an Effective new belief that’s used in place of an unproductive self-narrative. With the ABC model, individuals learn to stop needless suffering which is caused by unhelpful assumptions.
Unfortunately, there are systems at play within societies that afford B-C connections to be reinforced. When this is done, perverse incentives strengthen unaccommodating self-disturbance. Perhaps a pragmatic example is worth highlighting in order to illustrate this point.
The First Amendment expressly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Unlike a so-called “positive right,” which requires others to provide something to people, a “negative right” protects individuals from interference by others, thus guaranteeing the freedom to be left alone. The latter means that the government is prohibited from infringing upon the right.
First Amendment protection isn’t afforded in full to U.S. military service members, because a contract of voluntary indentured servitude under demandingness of the UCMJ ostensibly denies military personnel this right for a predetermined amount of time (i.e., period of enlistment).
Even people subject to the auspice of U.S. green card status arguably enjoy more free speech protections than military personnel. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“ICE”), people with green cards will be “protected by all laws of the United States, your state of residence and local jurisdictions.”
Granting the proposal that the “Constitution is the supreme law of the land” in the U.S., U.S. green card holders are fully covered by First Amendment protections. Although a military member apparently “oughta keep your mouth shut,” permanent residents can speak freely. However, according to one source:
President Donald Trump warned Monday [3/10/2025] that the arrest and possible deportation of a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University will be the first “of many to come” as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza.
Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident who was a graduate student at Columbia until December, was detained Saturday [3/8/2025] by federal immigration agents in New York and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana.
Herein, I’ve used information from ICE to illustrate that people like Khalil enjoy full rights afforded to U.S. citizens. Interestingly, Styles P dropped “A Gangster and a Gentleman,” making no attempt to mask violent behavior which he advocated through expressed B-C narratives.
Yet, Trump appears to serve as a gangster and a gentleman whose administration purportedly values free speech, though he uses unconstitutional behavior to enforce his will. Noteworthy, on February 14, 2025, Vice President JD Vance, a former Marine, stated the following:
In Britain, and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.
And in the interest of comity, my friends, but also in the interest of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation—misinformation like, for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaped fr—leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth.
So, I come here today not just with an observation but with an offer. And just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that.
Only a matter of weeks has passed since Vance’s talk about free speech served as a word of caution to Europe. Now, the administration under which he serves is stifling free speech by apparently telling people like Khalil, “You oughta keep your mouth shut,” more or less.
I reject B-C authoritarianism (period) As a former Marine, Vance probably understands what it’s like not to enjoy full access to negative rights. Now, where are his actions which back up his eloquent words from mere weeks ago? Where is his championing of free speech protection?
In closing, I argue that there’s no logical and reasonable position in support of the Trump administration’s apparent attack on free speech. Israel as a country, Israelis as a people, and practitioners of the Jewish or Hebrew faith aren’t constitutionally protected over other U.S. citizens (period)
Although I’m not self-disturbed about this matter, because I actively practice REBT, I maintain that in the interest of justice this matter is worth addressing. “You oughta keep your mouth shut”? No! Freely speak, especially when such free expression is in opposition to war. Respect.
If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
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