Why He Say This and Not That? Lyrics You Woulda Changed

[Avisible Man]

Hey what's good y'all. Have u ever listened to a song and asked urself, "why'd he say this like that? Why didn't he say it this way?" I have. One song that I can think of is 50's "Gotta Make it to Heaven."



The lyrics in question:

In the hood nikkas runnin round actin crazy
Buyin lil Air Jordans for maybe babies
See it might be his and it might be yours
Cuz them broads in the projects is straight up whores

What's wrong with this picture? Really there ain't shyt wrong with this picture. The song is dope. But what always stuck out to me here was how Curtis says "maybe babies," as in the babies may be this nikkas or the babies may be yours. In the next line tho, Fif says "it MIGHT be his and it MIGHT be yours." He just identified them as "Maybe Babies" so to keep it consistent and to maintain parallel construction, he should have said, "See it MAY be his and it MAY be yours." This woulda rhymed with the end rhyme of the next line "straight up whores." Instead, the "might be his and it might be yours" works as a slant / sight rhyme, as both might and straight end with the suffix "ight."

I think it woulda sounded better and tied in better tho if this is what we got:

In the hood nikkas runnin round actin crazy
Buyin lil Air Jordans for maybe babies
See it may be his and it may be yours
Cuz them broads in the projects is straight up whores

But u know, that's just me. You ain't got to tell me if you feelin this shyt cuz I hear what I what I'm saying, I know I'm killing this shyt.

What do y'all think? Do you have any songs where u woulda switched some of the lyrics? Like, why did he say that? Why ain't he say it this way? It's so obvious. What are the songs and what are your lyrics that would make them better?

 

[H. Selassie]

When Pimp says…

Even though I’m gaining street fame coming from this rap game
Lustful thinking and compulsive drinking is a normal thang”

…always felt like saying natural instead of normal would have made a better rhyme and still conveyed the thought.

 

[Avisible Man]

When Pimp says…

Even though I’m gaining street fame coming from this rap game
Lustful thinking and compulsive drinking is a normal thang”

…always felt like saying natural instead of normal would have made a better rhyme and still conveyed the thought.

Yeah rap game and nat-ural game definitely are slant rhymes and woulda worked better and still conveyed the thought like u said. Pimp coulda paused slightly after saying "nat" to emphasize the rhyme with rap and finished with "ural thang" to complete the multisyllabic rhyme.

 

[boskey]

50 saying blood twice on What Up Gangsta. Could’ve said thug

 

[Avisible Man]

50 saying blood twice on What Up Gangsta. Could’ve said thug

Thug woulda worked there. Blood, cuz, thug, all slant rhymes, without the repetition. When I think about it now, it makes a lotta sense to say it ur way

 

[Avisible Man]

Just thought of another 50 song, "Poor Lil Rich."



The hook goes:

I was a po nikka
Now I'm a rich nikka
Gettin paper now ya can't tell me shyt nikka
You can find me in the fo dot six nikka
In the back seat fondlin ya bytch, nikka

We know 50 is one of the hook gods but he coulda changed "Gettin paper now you can't tell me shyt nikka" to "I'm gettin dough, now u can't tell me shyt nikka."

Changing "gettin paper" to "I'm gettin dough," maintains the four syllables that were already present and maintains the internal rhyme that matches "po" in the previous line, then "fo" in the following line of the hook.

shyt was still great tho but that's a change that made sense from a poetic standpoint.

 

[Yehuda]

Dope concept, can't think of anything right now.

 

[1-8-7-Skillz]

Good thread idea

 

[Double Burger With Cheese]

This is an example of why Puff Daddy is not a musical genius. They always say this non equipment touching ass nikka is a great producer cause he doing other things, like coaching people in the studio. My argument to that has always been, the average music fan has that skill. As we can see by the OP. What’s harder to do is be the actual creator. Either writing the lyrics, performing them, making the beat, etc…Not some bisexual ass nikka talking about, turn that hi hat down and say it this way. nikka how bout you make a beat or write some damn lyrics.

 

[Erratic415]

Canibus having the skills to eat a nikka’s ass

 

[Cladyclad]

On do it again

I always say “ I seen the same thang happen to Kane”

But Jay say “I seen the same shyt happen to kane”


It’s a nitpick but I think my way would sounded better

 

[Avisible Man]

On do it again

I always say “ I seen the same thang happen to Kane”

But Jay say “I seen the same shyt happen to kane”


It’s a nitpick but I think my way would sounded better

I came back and it's plain

Y'all nikkas ain't rappin the same

fukk the flow, y'all jackin our slang

I seen the same shyt happen to Kane

---

When u consider that Jay started his verse with:

How the fukk you gon' talk about MC's on our heel?

When we just cop them THANGS

That's a miss from Hov. He was speeding the flow up and slowing it down. He absolutely shoulda said thang instead of shyt. Woulda extended the internal rhyme further.

Now I'm thinking how he coulda maintained (that word woulda did it) the internal rhyme in the third line. He coulda went with:

Part of the game... fukk that y'all jackin out slang

Then every line woulda had an internal and coulda looked like this:

I came back and it's plain

Y'all nikkas ain't rappin the same

Part of the game...fukk that y'all jackin out slang

I seen the same thang happen to Kane

Ain't is a lil slantish but phonetically it's close enough to same that it works.

 

[JustCKing]

This is an example of why Puff Daddy is not a musical genius. They always say this non equipment touching ass nikka is a great producer cause he doing other things, like coaching people in the studio. My argument to that has always been, the average music fan has that skill. As we can see by the OP. What’s harder to do is be the actual creator. Either writing the lyrics, performing them, making the beat, etc…Not some bisexual ass nikka talking about, turn that hi hat down and say it this way. nikka how bout you make a beat or write some damn lyrics.

Big difference in what the OP is doing and what Puff or any producer would do. Yeah, what the OP is suggesting works in theory, but it might not sound as good as it is read in this thread and as it is imagined vs actually hearing it. There is a reason why Puffy has hit songs to his credit and you're stuck on a a message board looking like the mad producer.

 

[Double Burger With Cheese]

Big difference in what the OP is doing and what Puff or any producer would do. Yeah, what the OP is suggesting works in theory, but it might not sound as good as it is read in this thread and as it is imagined vs actually hearing it. There is a reason why Puffy has hit songs to his credit and you're stuck on a a message board looking like the mad producer.

This why you on my dikk fakkit ass nikka. You dudes stay being sassy on here. I get a lot of money dumb ass. I make beats for a hobby, not for a profession. Don’t ever in your basic ass life mistake me for some struggling artist. Slap yourself.

 

[JustCKing]

This why you on my dikk fakkit ass nikka. You dudes stay being sassy on here. I get a lot of money dumb ass. I make beats for a hobby, not for a profession. Don’t ever in your basic ass life mistake me for some struggling artist. Slap yourself.

You just said you make beats for a hobby and not for a profession. You're not a producer. I also make beats for a hobby. What's your point? I never asked how much money you made. Could care less. I simply pointed out that you look crazy downplaying someone who has actually created classic iconic albums with other artists, producers, and writers, but are on here talking about a hobby. Basically, you really are a mad producer. It's basically someone who plays basketball for fun thinking they could coach better than Steve Kerr. Dude has rings both as a player and a coach.