From tenuous sardine links between “truckin’ music” and “gangsta rap” yesterday, we move onto an explicit link: drug smuggling! No, “pinball” wasn’t drug slang, but you bet your ass “white lightning” is!

Truckin’ pop culture is rife with liquor smuggling, from The Dukes of Hazzard to Smokey & the Bandit, aka the best advertising Coors ever got. I know that sneakin’ beer and moonshine across state lines seems quaint and friendly compared to the crack trade, but witness this old chart, taken from a copy of The Baffler I happened to be reading this week:

Really, what’s the difference between Young Jeezy and Young Drusky?

THE RE-UP

The ol’ smell of the corn wakes me every morn,
I drive to the still for a twenty gallon fill

FUCK THE POLICE

I built a tricky little bumper on the back of my car and it came in handy one day
the federal boys locked bumpers with me I pushed a little button and I got away

STACKIN’ PAPER (with bonus fatalism!)

with one state dry and the other one wet
I’m gonna end up to be a millionaire yet
that is if I don’t meet my death
from runnin’ the White Lightnin’ Express

SLANGIN’ FISHSCALE

from East to West I’m mashin’ the best

Roy even has a DOWN-ASS BITCH

I take my moonshine baby along
and she’s gettin’ pretty good at all of my tricks
if the tenpenny nails don’t slow down the law
she’ll pour out the oil and run ‘em in a ditch

The only things missing are vulgarity and overt threats of violence against police and snitches! And, well:

Ol’ Roy apparently starred in his own pseudo-autobiographical self-lionizing hustlin’ film based on the song (later inspiring the Burt Reynolds film seen above), prefiguring another rap trend.

So come on, get ready to break some laws and get tore up with the original D-Boy, Roy Drusky!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.