"Throw Ya Gunz" is the first single by American hip hop group Onyx from their debut album, Bacdafucup.

The original version, "Wake Up Dead, Nigga," featured obscure New York rapper Tek-9, and was not released on any of Onyx's studio albums.

[citation needed] The song signifies the Jamaican tradition of a gun salute as a show of respect to the men on the mic.

(from Billboard magazine - May 15, 1993) In 1995, in an interview on BET's Teen Summit Sticky Fingaz explains the meaning of this song: "'Throw Ya Gunz' is a salute to hip hop.

In November 1992, the single was delivered to radio, and although it was getting played, program directors "were complaining" about the profanity and violence in the lyrics.

"Funkmaster Flex was one of the first DJs who played "Throw Ya Gunz" on his show Friday Night Street Jam on the radio Hot 97.

[2][3] WPGC-FM (95.5), Washington's top-rated radio station, rejected Onyx's hit single "Throw Ya Guns in the Air" and no longer plays songs that could be construed as advocating violence.

"In 2010, Fat Joe recalled how he first heard the Onyx's song "Throw Ya Gunz" in Club 2000 in Harlem, saying "it was one of the most classic hip-hop events I've ever been to".

For this promo spot we used 298 different heads from South Park and licensed Onyx's track "Throw Ya Gunz", and then designer Brandon Campbell was able to take my direction of "Think fallen leaves on top of a speaker, rippling as they are moved by the bass waves" and turn it into this club banger.

"The song is featured in Forest Whitaker's award-winning 1993 HBO drama Strapped and in a 2003 video game Def Jam Vendetta.