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'A to the K' / 'A to the mother fuckin' C' meaning (WildStyle Clip-R)

JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
edited March 2014 in Strut Central


Yall know the scene...yall know the line. Wtf does it mean? I hear people say it means AK-47...but dude pulls out a saw'd-off. Anyone know what it actually means? It's something that I think about every few years and cannot find the answer to. Charlie Ahearn has said in interview that "those lines weren't in the script...they were just the words they used" but I can't find any legit attempt to say what the hell it means.
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  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    Haha great question
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    A to the muthafuckin Z.
  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Face palm
  • milliondollarsmilliondollars 568 Posts
    correct answer wins Stark Reality 2LP... just fu**ing arround.

    serious!

    i was asking myself the same thing for years...
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    i always liked how friendly dude was before he pulled the gun. "it's chilly out here, right?"
  • RecordBeastRecordBeast 99 Posts
    man they shoulda seen that comin a mile away.. Anyone you don't know who asks you what time it is, how the weather is, and so on.. is absolutely looking for trouble.
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    JectWon said:
    I hear people say it means AK-47...but dude pulls out a saw'd-off. Anyone know what it actually means?
    The way I've always heard it is that the first dude is referring to an AK-47--which would have been a pretty exotic bird on the NY streets in those days--and the second dude's response is basically saying "Fuck that fancy shit--what I've got here will take care of everything, A to Z."

    Now, as to why the first dude brings up AK-47s in the first place, or why he uses that classic pitch-man type phrasing ("You've heard about it on the radio, seen it on the TV..."--see also that Jungle Brothers song where Mike Gee says "You've heard about it, read about it, now be a part of it"), I have no idea.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    james said:
    JectWon said:
    I hear people say it means AK-47...but dude pulls out a saw'd-off. Anyone know what it actually means?
    The way I've always heard it is that the first dude is referring to an AK-47--which would have been a pretty exotic bird on the NY streets in those days--and the second dude's response is basically saying "Fuck that fancy shit--what I've got here will take care of everything, A to Z."

    Now, as to why the first dude brings up AK-47s in the first place, or why he uses that classic pitch-man type phrasing ("You've heard about it on the radio, seen it on the TV..."--see also that Jungle Brothers song where Mike Gee says "You've heard about it, read about it, now be a part of it"), I have no idea.

    Seems to make the most sense. Here is the interview where Charlie explains the behind the scene deal on those dudes....starts at 1:10 (apologies if you can't stand Jay Smooth):



    Considering these dudes where just asked "hey do you wanna play stick up kids" and they had their own hardware...I wonder if it was just some ill shit they said as a crew in real life and they decided to do it in this scene as well.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    RecordBeast said:
    man they shoulda seen that comin a mile away.. Anyone you don't know who asks you what time it is, how the weather is, and so on.. is absolutely looking for trouble.

    Haha, Zoro knew he deal...he was shook but had no recourse...that was always my take, at least.
  • JATXJATX 258 Posts
    "A to the muthafuckin' C" could be a reference to the aforementioned line "It's cold out here, ain't it?"

    AC=cold.

    You're welcome,

    A stoned English major
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    Alright...one of the named "gangsters' listed in the Wild Style credits is Vernon Pookie Daniels...a quick google search shows that there is an Abdullah Muhammad in the NY area who has Vernon Daniels and Pookie listed as aliases...there is also an accompanying mugshot and description of a sex offense as well as his last known address in Albany NY...

    What NY Strutter will man up and knock on dude's door....for the sake of Hip-Hop history?

    http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/NY11193/Abdullah-Muhammad.html
  • herbacios tweedherbacios tweed 445 Posts
    WHO'S GONNA SOURCE POOKIE MUHHAMED?
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    JATX said:
    "A to the muthafuckin' C" could be a reference to the aforementioned line "It's cold out here, ain't it?"

    AC=cold.

    You're welcome,

    A stoned English major

    its Z.
  • herbacios tweedherbacios tweed 445 Posts
    I always felt kind of bad for Ahearn. Wild Style never led to another production budget, except for some minor shit ages later. All the while he's sent to Japan and Europe, colleges and art museums to give interviews and symposiums on his signature film ad nauseum. He must get sick of talking about it sometimes.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    herbacios tweed said:
    I always felt kind of bad for Ahearn. Wild Style never led to another production budget, except for some minor shit ages later. All the while he's sent to Japan and Europe, colleges and art museums to give interviews and symposiums on his signature film ad nauseum. He must get sick of talking about it sometimes.

    Ehhh, what can ya say, man? A to the K, you know? A to the mother fucking Z, man....
    Yemsky
  • leftrightleftright 101 Posts
    JectWon said:
    Alright...one of the named "gangsters' listed in the Wild Style credits is Vernon Pookie Daniels...a quick google search shows that there is an Abdullah Muhammad in the NY area who has Vernon Daniels and Pookie listed as aliases...there is also an accompanying mugshot and description of a sex offense as well as his last known address in Albany NY...

    What NY Strutter will man up and knock on dude's door....for the sake of Hip-Hop history?

    http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/NY11193/Abdullah-Muhammad.html

    hmm. i live in Albany. let me go knock on his door and get to the bottom of this
  • diggingworldwidediggingworldwide 5 Posts
    i have not seen the movie for a while, but i am pretty sure the dvd commentary by Charlie Ahearn and Fab 5 Freddy they mention an explanation, related to the naming of the streets,

    "They're in Alphabet City.

    "Avenue A, you're all right.
    Avenue B, you're brave.
    Avenue C, you're crazy.
    Avenue D, you're dead."
  • PlantweedPlantweed 394 Posts
    JectWon said:
    Alright...one of the named "gangsters' listed in the Wild Style credits is Vernon Pookie Daniels...a quick google search shows that there is an Abdullah Muhammad in the NY area who has Vernon Daniels and Pookie listed as aliases...there is also an accompanying mugshot and description of a sex offense as well as his last known address in Albany NY...

    What NY Strutter will man up and knock on dude's door....for the sake of Hip-Hop history?

    http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/NY11193/Abdullah-Muhammad.html

    Ha, Elk St., that's West Hill, it's "hood" but not too bad. If I'm in the area maybe I'll stop and knock. I'm only a few blocks away right now but I'm workin'.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    Plantweed said:
    JectWon said:
    Alright...one of the named "gangsters' listed in the Wild Style credits is Vernon Pookie Daniels...a quick google search shows that there is an Abdullah Muhammad in the NY area who has Vernon Daniels and Pookie listed as aliases...there is also an accompanying mugshot and description of a sex offense as well as his last known address in Albany NY...

    What NY Strutter will man up and knock on dude's door....for the sake of Hip-Hop history?

    http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/NY11193/Abdullah-Muhammad.html

    Ha, Elk St., that's West Hill, it's "hood" but not too bad. If I'm in the area maybe I'll stop and knock. I'm only a few blocks away right now but I'm workin'.

    All joking aside...it could be interesting. That being said, keep in mind, I have no idea how accurate that address is.
  • NYCGunHillNittyCrew NYCGunHillNittyCrew 1 Post
    I know, I am late to this post, seven years to be exact. I am from the Bronx, I was featured in the movie Wild Style as a graffiti writer which I was a prolific graffiti writer in the late 70s early 80s,  I know exactly what Pookie said. 

    Pookie was a known older member of a street gang known as the  9-Crew which were the West Bronx off-shoot of the disbanded Black Spades Gang division from University Avenue. Slick Rick referenced University Avenue in his song Children's Stories because it was the infamous border line between The Casanova Crew and the 9-Crew in the South / West Bronx area mainly and strictly controlled by the 9-Crew. It was a 9-Crew member that shot and killed DJ Scott La Rock on University Avenue in 1987 shortly after he and KRS One burst on the rap scene. 

    The 9-Crew were mostly stick-up kids and membership into the crew was 3-fold;
    a). You had to own a .9 millimeter gun and carry it with you at all times;
    b). You had to have robbed someone using the .9mm in the presence of an established 9-Crew member;
    c). You had to live in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. 

    If you listen to Pookie he asked Patti Astor’s character do you smoke and she replied I had enough then he asked her do you sniff, do you want to sniff ? She replies no , not right now. He was talking about sniffing cocaine. That is when his partner said the line “ Look, here people you've heard it on the radio, you seen on the TV show.” Then the other actor sats “Aid to the cane.” meaning aid to them getting cocaine. It was a quite common saying from older stickup dudes as they were always sniffing cocaine back then. They would come up anyone, they did not care if they knew you or not. If you lived in their building on the same floor it did not matter to them. If you were rolling solo with no street crew affiliation then you were fair game like anyone else. They would say “Yo, yo whats up wit ya ? Aid to the cane. In other words give me money so I can go buy cocaine.  Pookie then while pulling out the sawed off shot-gun said A to the motherfucking C a shorten version of aid to the cane. This is what was said 100 percent. If you were from the Bronx back in the early 80s and you were living that life OR you got victimized by a stick up crew then you know what was said. I was affiliated quickly after I got stuck up for my down coat in 1978 at gun point. I vowed that was never going to happen to me ever again. I was 14 in 1978. I got jumped by 2 dudes who were 17 and 18 both with guns walking home from junior high school. That was the life in the Bronx back then. 
    staxwaxketanklezmer electro-thug beatsDORbillbradleyElectrodeppadilhaDuderonomykicks79YemskyYaga.Reactions.RecordLimit.Plural
  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    Wow - much props for this explanation! Pretty sure this is the first accurate description. A to the K is an oft quoted phrase, I even have an Acapulco Gold t shirt somewhere with it, and Cypress Hill have a song on the White Man Cant Jump soundtrack and of course they also took it as a reference to the AK47.


    If you dont mind me asking, being a graff head/historian myself - what did you write?



  • klezmer electro-thug beatsklezmer electro-thug beats 1,393 Posts
    Awesome first post! 
    Duderonomy
  • billbradleybillbradley You want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,914 Posts
    Welcome to Soul Strut NYCGUNHILLNITTYCREW. Thanks for coming in and clarifying.
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    NYCGunHillNittyCrew said:
    They would say “Yo, yo whats up wit ya ? Aid to the cane"



        2 THA

    Yemsky
  • dizzybulldizzybull Eerie Dicks 339 Posts
    Well I didn’t see this coming. 
  • YemskyYemsky 711 Posts
    How do you even find a post from 7 years ago with some personal relevance to comment on in your first post?
  • billbradleybillbradley You want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,914 Posts
    Probably googling for Wild Style
  • RustledustRustledust 57 Posts
    Thanks for dropping knowledge. 

    Are the Casanova's and 9-Crew you mention what KRS One alluded to in South Bronx? 

    Patterson and Millbrook projects
    Casanova all over, ya couldn't stop it
    The Nine Lives Crew, the Cypress Boys
    The real Rock Steady taking out these toys 
  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    Found my T - love this graphic!
    Duderonomydj_cityboyYemsky
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,905 Posts
    Anyone know JectWon? Someone should send him a link to the thread to give closure. ha.

    Always nice when an actual answer comes through, on an question I never thought we would get such a detailed answer on. NYCGunHillNittyCrew best first post in a long time.



    Yemsky
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