The NY Post, never failing to demonize rap
A Times Square bloodbath was narrowly avoided because the machine-pistol-toting thug who fired at a cop flipped the gun on its side like a character out of a rap video, causing the weapon to jam after two shots, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.
Or maybe the character from a Netflix classic movie? It seems the sideways gun hold is a symptom of the “Yagottahavescarfaceitis” aka where rappers imitate the Hollywood elite playing gangsters.
To look Hollywood, of course. Journalists and gun experts point to the 1993 Hughes brothers film Menace II Society, which depicts the side grip in its opening scene, as the movie that popularized the style. Although the directors claim to have witnessed a side grip robbery in Detroit in 1987, there are few reports of street gangs using the technique until after the movie came out. The Hughes brothers didn’t invent the grip, though. In 1961’s One-Eyed Jacks, Marlon Brando used it, as did Eli Wallach in 1966’s The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Directors may prefer the style because it makes it easier to see both the weapon and the actor’s face in a tight camera shot.
via Why do rappers hold their guns sideways? – By Brian Palmer – Slate Magazine.
Yes, its the Brando-Wallach gun grip, Lazy New York Post writers.