If you don't know ANYTHING about me, you gotta know that I absolutely believe on everything that I love, that The Wire is the dopest television show EVER! No rap with me about that one. If you disagree...kill yourself. I love The Wire so much that my first two instrumental albums "Through the Wire Seasons 1 & 2" were a mixture of my beats and dialogue from the Wire. So last week when my man E hit me up on Twitter with this list that Esquire Magazine put together on the top 25 characters from the Wire, I was a 'lil skeptical at first. I mean, this is Esquire we're talking about and guess what? I had every right to be skeptical cause this list could very well be the worst list I've EVER seen. Yeah, it's THAT bad. So, just like when Complex came out with their wack list of the top 50 Root's songs and I had to show cats how it should be done with my own list, ya'll already know that I had to come up with my own list of my top 10 dopest Wire characters.
#10 D'angelo Barksdale
"This look like money motherfucker? Money be green."
How do you not feel sorry for this dude. Born into a family of drug dealers and he's in no way about that life. Whether he was writing a note to Gant's family or the fact that he had to use Weebay's war stories to impress his new crew in the pit, it was obvious that D' was a pathetic excuse for a drug dealer. It's sad that dude ended up taking a L like he did but when cats think you're gonna snitch, you're definitely gonna catch that L. Just ask Wallace...
#9 Bubbles
"Ain't no rules for dope fiends."
Bubs was one of the few street cats on The Wire who not only survived all 5 seasons but actually ended the series in the best shape of his life. I'm not gonna front, I wasn't a big Bubbles dude like that til Season 4 when he accidentally killed Sherod but through his pain and transformation, dude won me over.
#8 Bodie
"The game is rigged man. We like them little bitches on the chessboard."
What can't you say about Bodie? Dude stayed truer to the game then Lord Finesse and never even thought for a second about leaving the streets. Even when Barksdale was weak and dude was on his own and ended up working for Marlo, Bodie never got on his String jawn of getting out the game and going straight cause he was loyal to the game. The sad part is the game that Bodie lived for, is the same game that he died for.
#7 Weebay
"You got 20 thousand dollars D, coming into your shop and you ain't even around to see that shit right."
Not too many folk are harder then Bay when it comes to soldiering. It's like Avon said in season 1, "Weebay's a rock." And it ain't like Bay only used that muscle on the streets of Baltimore cause when it came down to his son he sure gave DeLonda some "promises" of what would happen to her if she didn't let go of her grip on Namond. I guess being locked for a minute had Bay using his powers for good instead of evil.
#6 Chris & Snoop
"Why ain't in your vocabulary no more nigga" - Chris
Come on...you can't separate these two so don't think that this number 6 pick is some kinda tie or nuthin like that. It's just, these two are like EPMD, Outkast, Gang Starr, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, etc. It's like Marley & Craig said they're the dopest duo! You can't see one with the other. And not only were these two cold hearted killers but they were both hilarious as hell! Whether it was Snoop in Hardware Barn (The Wire's knock off Home Depot) or her and Chris talking about 92Q not only were these to gonna fill up some vacants but they were also gonna keep you laughing. These two mos def go down as my favorite hitmen in the history of the game...EASY!
#5 Avon Barksdale
"I ain't no suit wearing business man like you. I'm just a gangsta I suppose. And I want my corners"
Esquire had the audacity to have damn near the main character of the entire show at #12! Did ya'll get that? #12!?!?!?? These dudes had Avon behind Jay Landsman, you know Bunk's boss who looks like dude from Rosanne? Yeah, him. I told ya'll their list was wack as hell. Now, depending on your personality (wanting to stay in the game vs. getting out) has a lot to do with where Avon lands on your list but there's no way you can deny this man's greatness to the show. Hell, is there even a show without Avon? Probably not. Which is why he is, where he is. Now, the thing I loved the most about Avon was he was just a straight up and down gangsta. None of the clean money, we got houses in our name talk coming outta Stringers mouth did anything for dude. All dude wanted was his corners, a shoot out here and there and for those eastside bitches to know it was westside for life.
#4 Jimmy McNulty
"They can't do the right thing. It ain't in 'em."
I'm sure most folk were expecting a list of all the street cats from The Wire but McNulty is EASILY one of my fave characters. You're talking about a police who was willing to do any and everything to get the job done. Whether that was throwing his bosses under the bus or making up a damn serial killer in Baltimore to get more officers out on the streets, this dude was willing to do whatever it took to get the job done. The ill thing about McNulty was he had the same make up as Chris & Snoop or Bay cause once he had his eyes set on you, he was gonna move heaven and hell to make sure he got you. Too bad ain't too many real police out here in the streets like McNulty...
#3 Marlo Stansfield
"The crown ain't worth much if the nigga wearing it always getting his shit took."
Marlo is Jay Z, NWA, MOP, Mobb Deep, Big Noyd, Pusha T, 50 Cent, G Unit, Beanie Sigel, State Property, Capone & Noreaga, Meek Millz, Raekwon, Roc Marciano, Scarface, Eazy E, Ice T, Schooly D and basically any other gangsta rapper I forgot to name, all rolled into one. I mean, you don't get any more gangsta then Marlo, and that's a fact. From his first scene in season 3 with the "well do or don't" line to his infamous "my name is my name" line, you simply knew that Marlo didn't give a fuck. Plain and simple. And THAT'S exactly why I rocked with dude.
#2 Omar Little
"Boy, you got me confused with a man that repeats himself."
There's a gay stick up kid who has the ENTIRE city (not just the westside) shook and can walk to the store in his pajamas on the humble and STILL get niggaz to run their ish without even asking? Yeah, like Kid Hood said, that's a bad, bad man...
#1 Stringer Bell
"You're gonna buy one way or another. Whether it's with the bodies we lost or gonna lose. Time in the joint that's behind us or ahead of us. I mean, you gonna get some shit in this game but ain't shit for free."
Not too many folk can honestly get mad at Stringer being my #1. It's just like I always say with the who's the dopest MC debate. My #1 is BIG but I'm not mad if you say Jay, Nas, Rakim, KRS or Kane. Name anybody other then those folk and then we're gonna have a nice 'lil convo. So, no matter who your number one is, Stringer better be in your top 3-5. If not I gotta question your Wire pedigree. See, from day one, String was my dude. Probably cause he reminded me of myself. The dude who's in the game but wants to play it smart and find a way out. The dude who's taking business classes to understand that other side of the game. Yeah, that dude. So, while Avon wanted his corners back, Stringer was good with handling the day and day of the B&B business, running the xerox store and the Co-op meetings. I knew as soon as Avon got outta jail, that things were about to fall apart cause it's like Jay Z said, there's only one presidential suite and both String and Avon couldn't stay there. The crazy thing about String's death for me, is that it's right up there with Cochise's and Ramo's! I told ya, String was my dude.
And I'm sure that after reading this list, that ya'll about to tool up and break out your Wire boxset to watch it for the 1,000,000th time but do me this justice and check out both of my Through the Wire Albums Season 1 & Season 2 albums. Trust me, if you like hip hop and The Wire, there's absolutely no way you're not rocking with these jawns!
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