Me and my Girlfriend
This song came out the summer after I finished sixth grade. I was eleven and I remember listening to it when it would play in power 99 or 103.9(the other hip/hop rand b station at the time in philly) on this boxy gray, medium sized radio/recorder(i have no clue where it came from). Well anyways on this small radio I used to tape songs off the radio onto casette tapes(glances at my ipod to see how far I've come.) Me and my Girlfriend was one of those songs. At the time and years to follow I have NO idea he was referring to a gun in this song.
Was it because I was stupid? Oh, no my friends; it is the way Tupac(or Makaveli the name he recorded this song under) wrote it is incredibly ingenious. Clever as all hell. When you listen to the lyrics he talks of love for "his girlfriend"(the gun). (lyrics below will prove my point). Yet, he never says its a woman. At one point he does say "had many women in my bed, but you the realest". He is not literally talking about a female. I mean he uses the term girlfriend because his gun, which he keeps upgrading, ("picked you up when you was nine,.....bought you some shells when you turned 22,....baby forty five but she still fine)" All of these numbers are all names for guns "my nine, "22", "A "forty five", I'm sure you know that, but yet in the song initially you think he's talking about her age.
But he loves his "girlfriend" because its always been there for him. In the song he's always been around her and she has always excited and enticed him. She's always been down for whatever and ready to "bust a riot". In the song he tells his mother that his girlfriend, "is the only girl he adores and "would trade my life for yours"(the gun). In the song he is jealous when his girlfriend hangs with the fellas. Why would I have at first thought he meant a gun?
Despite what you may feel about guns, you cannot deny that his poetic style weaved into his blunt, but carefully crafted rhymes has made this song one of the most clever songs of his. Throughout the entire song he is personifying this gun, which is why at first listen we think he is "in love" with his chick. He does mean what he is saying, but we just dont know until afterwards he's talking about a gun, not a female. He obviously intended for it to be this way.He could of just came out with a song called "me and my gun", but its almost as if he wanted you to actually listen to the song first before you judged. But when you look back at the lyrics it does make sense that he is indeed talking about his gun. It is also tricky in the song when the female(I believe it is Lady of Rage, correct me if I'm wrong), breaks in through the middle and says,
"What!! I'm bustin on you punk ass niggaz *automatic gunfire*
Run nigga run! *gunfire* I'm on yo' ass nigga! *gunfire continues*
Run nigga, duck and hide! Nigga I'm bustin all you bitches!
Run nigga, yeah! Westside! Uh uh uh! Die nigga die!"
We are lead to believe then that this is the voice of his "Bonnie", "his chick", "his down ass bitch". Clever right?
I admit when I found out it was about his gun, I was somewhat disappointed. I thought it was a love song in honor of his devotion to his woman. I admit i was sore. But then I began to respect it as the work of art it was. I respected his ability and skill to get his point across through underlying language and usage of phrases. If you had never none it was about his gun, you may have never figured it out! Unless by listening to it twenty million times and then analyzing. Of course there are various clues within it, but he did a great job with making you think it was about a girl, but having every hint in the song that it isn't. And that was his style, he was brilliant at whatever he did. If he was enraged you felt that, if he was devoted you felt that, if he was sensitive you felt that, if he was apologetic, you felt that. Definitely the most versatile artist in hip hop history, or maybe of all time(at least in my opinion).
Of course there are other hip hop songs that have a similiar theme to theme of where you think you know what they are talking about when there is a hidden meaning in the song, but this one stands out so far.
some key phrases that should of clued me in: automatic gunfire, bought you some shells when you turned twenty-two, Talkin loud when I tell you be quiet you move the crowd
Bustin rounds, activatin a riot, that's why I love you so
"My girlfriend, blacker than the darkest night
When niggaz act bitch-made she got the heart to fight
Nigga my girlfriend, though we seperated at times
I knew deep inside, baby girl would always be mine
Picked you up when you was nine, started out my life of crime
wit you, bought you some shells when you turned twenty-two
It's true, nothin compares to the satisfaction
that I feel when we out mashin, me and my girlfriend"
"I was too immature
to understand your ways, inexperienced back in the days
Caused so many arguments and strays
Now I realize how to treat ya, the secret to keep ya
Bein faithful now cause now cheatin's lethal
We closer than the hands of time, deeper than the drop of mankind
I trust you dearly, I shoot blind
In time I clock figures, droppin niggaz as we rise
We all soldiers in God's eyes -- now it's time for war
Never leave me baby, I'm paranoid, sleepin witcha
loaded by my bedside crazy
Jealous when you hang wit the fellas, I wait patiently alone
anticipated for the moment you come home
I'm waitin by the phone this is true love, I can feel it
I've had a lot of women in my bed, but you the realeast
So if you ever need me call, I'll be there through it all
You're the reason I can stand tall, me and my girlfriend"
Was it because I was stupid? Oh, no my friends; it is the way Tupac(or Makaveli the name he recorded this song under) wrote it is incredibly ingenious. Clever as all hell. When you listen to the lyrics he talks of love for "his girlfriend"(the gun). (lyrics below will prove my point). Yet, he never says its a woman. At one point he does say "had many women in my bed, but you the realest". He is not literally talking about a female. I mean he uses the term girlfriend because his gun, which he keeps upgrading, ("picked you up when you was nine,.....bought you some shells when you turned 22,....baby forty five but she still fine)" All of these numbers are all names for guns "my nine, "22", "A "forty five", I'm sure you know that, but yet in the song initially you think he's talking about her age.
But he loves his "girlfriend" because its always been there for him. In the song he's always been around her and she has always excited and enticed him. She's always been down for whatever and ready to "bust a riot". In the song he tells his mother that his girlfriend, "is the only girl he adores and "would trade my life for yours"(the gun). In the song he is jealous when his girlfriend hangs with the fellas. Why would I have at first thought he meant a gun?
Despite what you may feel about guns, you cannot deny that his poetic style weaved into his blunt, but carefully crafted rhymes has made this song one of the most clever songs of his. Throughout the entire song he is personifying this gun, which is why at first listen we think he is "in love" with his chick. He does mean what he is saying, but we just dont know until afterwards he's talking about a gun, not a female. He obviously intended for it to be this way.He could of just came out with a song called "me and my gun", but its almost as if he wanted you to actually listen to the song first before you judged. But when you look back at the lyrics it does make sense that he is indeed talking about his gun. It is also tricky in the song when the female(I believe it is Lady of Rage, correct me if I'm wrong), breaks in through the middle and says,
"What!! I'm bustin on you punk ass niggaz *automatic gunfire*
Run nigga run! *gunfire* I'm on yo' ass nigga! *gunfire continues*
Run nigga, duck and hide! Nigga I'm bustin all you bitches!
Run nigga, yeah! Westside! Uh uh uh! Die nigga die!"
We are lead to believe then that this is the voice of his "Bonnie", "his chick", "his down ass bitch". Clever right?
I admit when I found out it was about his gun, I was somewhat disappointed. I thought it was a love song in honor of his devotion to his woman. I admit i was sore. But then I began to respect it as the work of art it was. I respected his ability and skill to get his point across through underlying language and usage of phrases. If you had never none it was about his gun, you may have never figured it out! Unless by listening to it twenty million times and then analyzing. Of course there are various clues within it, but he did a great job with making you think it was about a girl, but having every hint in the song that it isn't. And that was his style, he was brilliant at whatever he did. If he was enraged you felt that, if he was devoted you felt that, if he was sensitive you felt that, if he was apologetic, you felt that. Definitely the most versatile artist in hip hop history, or maybe of all time(at least in my opinion).
Of course there are other hip hop songs that have a similiar theme to theme of where you think you know what they are talking about when there is a hidden meaning in the song, but this one stands out so far.
some key phrases that should of clued me in: automatic gunfire, bought you some shells when you turned twenty-two, Talkin loud when I tell you be quiet you move the crowd
Bustin rounds, activatin a riot, that's why I love you so
"My girlfriend, blacker than the darkest night
When niggaz act bitch-made she got the heart to fight
Nigga my girlfriend, though we seperated at times
I knew deep inside, baby girl would always be mine
Picked you up when you was nine, started out my life of crime
wit you, bought you some shells when you turned twenty-two
It's true, nothin compares to the satisfaction
that I feel when we out mashin, me and my girlfriend"
"I was too immature
to understand your ways, inexperienced back in the days
Caused so many arguments and strays
Now I realize how to treat ya, the secret to keep ya
Bein faithful now cause now cheatin's lethal
We closer than the hands of time, deeper than the drop of mankind
I trust you dearly, I shoot blind
In time I clock figures, droppin niggaz as we rise
We all soldiers in God's eyes -- now it's time for war
Never leave me baby, I'm paranoid, sleepin witcha
loaded by my bedside crazy
Jealous when you hang wit the fellas, I wait patiently alone
anticipated for the moment you come home
I'm waitin by the phone this is true love, I can feel it
I've had a lot of women in my bed, but you the realeast
So if you ever need me call, I'll be there through it all
You're the reason I can stand tall, me and my girlfriend"