You gonna get down or you gonna fuckin' lay down?
State Property is a 2002 Hood Film produced by Jay-Z's Roc-a-Fella music label and distributed by Lionsgate. It stars Jay-Z's protege Beanie Sigel portraying "Beans", a lowly thug aspiring for something greater. Co-stars include pretty much the entire Roc-a-Fella roster, with some stand outs including label heads Jay-Z, Dame Dash, and notable star Memphis Bleek as "Blizzard".
State Property provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: The finale. The huge shootout in the courtroom was just Beans imagining a much more exciting way to lose everything as he gets booked.
- Arc Words: Get down or lay down?
- Author Avatar: Beans is portrayed by and pretty obviously based on Beanie Sigel himself. This goes for just about every other rapper starring in the film, most notably Dame Dash as "Boss" Dame and Jay-Z as "Untouchable" J.
- Ax-Crazy: Damn near everybody, but special mention goes to Blizzard who shoots at his friends for honking at him and Beans himself, who will shoot just about anybody for any reason.
- Badass Boast: When Beans is fighting off the law in the courtroom."I'll lay all you motherfuckers down! This my city!"
- Butt-Monkey: E, a member of Beans' crew.
- Catchphrase: "You gon' get down or you gon' fuckin' lay down!" or some variation thereof for Beans.
- Downer Ending: Beans gets into a shootout with the police as he goes to trial, ending with his friends being killed and a hitwoman shooting him in the back with his girlfriend and daughter nearby, who cry over his body. The reality isn't much better; Beans actually just gets booked and becomes "state property". The shootout is what he'd rather have happened.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a total psychopath, Beans clearly loves his girlfriend and daughter dearly, and does what he does partially for their sakes.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- When Blizzard becomes too unstable, Beans decides to call the police on him to set him up. Just ignore the fact that he hates snitches.
- When Beans is killed in the courtroom, he laments that his daughter had to see the massacre. This despite the fact that he did most of the killing.
- Femme Fatale: The hitwoman hired by Untouchable J, who kills Beans after he mows down waves of law enforcement. Even though that was just a fantasy Beans had, the very fact that J hired her is evidence enough she would've been capable of doing it for real.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Beans can be set off by anything.
- I Have Your Wife: Dame kidnaps Beans' girlfriend Aisha when she goes to the club with her friends. Thankfully, he saves her life.
- Killed Mid-Sentence:Beans: I'll lay all you motherfuckers down! This my city- *is shot by the hitwoman*
- Lack of Empathy: When Aisha is venting about having just been kidnapped and the death of her friend, Beans asks if she's still thinking about it as if it's nothing to worry about.
- No Name Given: The hitwoman played by Amil who Untouchable J hires to kill Beans.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Beans, who hates the idea of snitching, tips off the police on Blizzard when he becomes too unstable, getting him killed in a shootout.
- Shout-Out: To say this film was a little inspired by Scarface (1983) would be an understatement. In the final shootout, Beans fights off many law enforcement officers and wins, mouthing off about how he'll kill as many as they throw at him. An assassin humbles him by shooting him in the back.
- The Stool Pigeon: Despite hating snitches, Beans has no problem snitching on Blizzard when he proves to be too volatile even for him.
- Stupid Evil: This can describe most of Beans' behavior. There's also his goons coming to kill C-Zer in the courtroom even after he paid for his silence. Subverted when it turns out that was just Beans' Imagine Spot anyway.
- Title Drop: Beans gets sent to jail for all of his deeds, becoming "state property", as he calls it.
- Too Dumb to Live: Beans' goons come to kill C-Zer in the middle of the courtroom during Beans' trial. They both get shot and killed by the police for their trouble. Subverted as it was just Beans imagining a much more climactic ending for himself.
- Villain Protagonist: Beans is a complete psychopath.
