Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)

The previous line refers to the infamous, and never-seen bully, The Gooch, from the classic 80s show Diff'rent Strokes. B.I.G now takes on that same imperceptible tormenter role, as this lyric was meant to be inconspicuous to average listeners who wouldn’t realize that he is bullying Craig Mack. B.I.G. then proceeds to dismiss Mack by telling him to “vamoose” and disappear, and asserting how he honestly feels about Mack (“you’re wack to me.”)

Later, Craig responds to this line by saying that he will “reappear” and “pump fear” into B.I.G.’s heart. Even further on in the song, Busta Rhymes hilariously chimes in on the fun, stating, “When I get down I disappear, reappear, and blow up everywhere, fucking with these flavas in your ear.”

Also, note the classic Biggie technique of using internal rhyme, to add even more musicality and rhythm to songs, when he uses “vamoose” to rhyme with “their boots” and “The Gooch.”

Diff'rent Strokes Return of the Gooch | Arnold Faces the Bully with Karate — Heliotricity | Daniel Shams

Diff'rent Strokes - The Return of the Gooch (1 of 4) Arnold Faces the Bully with Karate. Diff'rent Strokes - The Return of the Gooch (2 of 4) Diff'rent Strokes - The Return of the Gooch (3 of 4) Diff'rent Strokes - The Return of the Gooch (4 of 4)

LL Cool J self-references his movement from Hollis Queens to Hollywood (becoming more commercial and making more mainstream ventures). But is he good?

LL would later use this as the hook for his song “Hollis To Hollywood”.

PRO-Keds are a retro basketball sneaker brand known for its durable rubber toe.

At the beginning of his career, Rampage went by Rampage the Last Boyscout. He would release his first two singles, “Beware of the Rampsack” and “Wild for da Night,” under that name. Before the release of his debut album Scouts Honor… by Way of Blood, Rampage retired the long name.

In 2014, Rampage’s shelved, first album Red Oktoba was finally released and was appropriately credited to “Rampage the Last Boyscout.” It also featured a previously unreleased song titled “The Last Boyscout.”

Diddy is known for his hip-hop remixes, which usually take old school R&B samples and combines them with popular breakbeat drums.

It is a style credited to NYC DJ Ron G, and popularized by Diddy who dropped an EP in 2002 titled We Invented the Remix.

With this “Flava In Ya Ear” remix, Diddy kept Craig Mack’s original beat intact, but decided to add a number of guest MCs to give the song new life.

After “Flava In Ya Ear,” a number of other remixes followed this same formula. Songs like Brandy’s “I Wanna Be Down” remix and Total’s “No One Else” remix were reminiscent of the Craig Mack standout.

A play from the previous line when he’s telling her to give him dome. when she’s on her knees she brings her ankles in (coil) and clicks the her heels together whilst giving brain. (let your timbs tap)

I believe this is LL saying “He,She” because the dancer when he says this line is trans. I believe the second part may be implying that this same trans dancer gave (good) head to many rappers.

You suck at freestyles.

This also refers to the prior line. The way Biggie’s nemesis raps is so horrible, someone is eventually going to shoot at him to shut him up. Since he is inevitably going to be shot at, it would be better for this person to be a police officer, who can expect to be shot at and trained to react, than a horrible freestyler.

B.I.G continues his assault on Craig Mack, suggesting that Mack take is weak rhymes “back to the factory.” This pun is a reference to the idea that Mack needs to take his underdeveloped rhymes back to the drawing board to be remanufactured. In this case, the factory just happens to be the world famous (now-defunct) Hit Factory recording studio where “Flava in ya Ear” was recorded.

B.I.G notes that he recognizes (emphasized by the line break, “I see”) Mack’s pathetic, gimmicky skills and uses his signature, smooth-like-butter internal rhyme technique (“gimmicks/the wack lyrics, pathetic/please forget it) to highlight how wack Mack really is.

“A fair one” is a safe, legal job. Rather than a 9 to 5, Biggie partakes in criminal activities to get paid. The ski mask is used to conceal BIG’s identity during a kidnapping—which explains the ransom notes—or any other illegal act.

Ironically, Craig Mack wasn’t around next year since his contract was demolished by Bad Boy Entertainment.

This interlude before LL Cool J’s verse is based on the hook from his song “Jingling Baby”.

Praline is a type of candy typically made from nuts and sugar syrup, and sometimes with chocolate.

Pralines aren’t the only type of nuts she’s gonna be getting!

He’s talking about gold-capped teeth, which references back to his line about “bite the flavor”.

Here, Biggie uses the 80’s rock band, Guns N' Roses to say that he has a lot more dangerous guns than he does harmless roses.

The Gooch was a character from the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. He was a classmate of Arnold’s who used to pick on him. Although mentioned frequently The Gooch was never seen on screen, hence invisible bully.

Since the release of the “Flava…” remix, many people, including Kanye West, misheard the line and thought that Biggie was calling hip-hop band The Roots a bully. in actuality, BIG had been a fan of the band. Per Questlove of The Roots' account, Biggie had even come up to the band and told them the lyric was not directed at them.

Keith is R&B singer Keith Sweat of “I Want Her” fame.

This line acknowledges the beef between B.I.G. and Craig Mack as the first two rap artists under Bad Boy, as both were vying for top-billing under the fledgling label. Biggie’s masterful rap style made admirers out of everyone, not just Craig Mack, which assuredly made Mack “mad.” Or at the very least, envious. Which leads into the UPS suggestion on the next line.

Rampage shouts out three NYC hip-hop radio stations: 107.5 WBLS, HOT 97, and 98.7 KISS.

A Tec-9 was a common semi-automatic firearm. Despite its high rate of fire, the Tec 9 was notorious for having a high kick, which made it hard to fire accurately.

Tri-State area is New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Another name for it is the Greater New York Area, or the NY Metro area.

This line suggests that law enforcement is the antithesis of hip-hop, and as such the subject of the lyric would be better as a cop because they are not hip-hop material.

At this point in time, Rampage was a member of the Flipmode Squad along with, most notably, Busta Rhymes, Rah Digga, and N.O.R.E.

A reference to the movie The Warriors and Puffy’s record label.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=NwwY9y6O3hw

A play on the name of Rap-A-Lot Records, a famous Houston-based hip hop label that has produced music by rappers such as UGK, Scarface and Geto Boys, and Devin The Dude.

He’s referring to the 5 artists on the track as Flava’s (due to the title of the track) These five artist are:

Biggie
Craig Mack
Rampage
LL Cool J
Busta Rhymes

Do you feel the heat?

Also, notice the alliteration
“Five new flavors on a beat, feel the fucking heat"

LL references Guess Jeans, a division of the brand Guess.

It’s been rumored that Biggie and Craig Mack were beefing at the time, due to Biggie coming out in an interview and saying he dislikes Craig.

In this video, Biggie is asked if Craig will be on Ready to Die, to which Biggie says “I don’t fuck with that dude.” In retaliation Craig sneak dissed him, saying “Your album couldn’t fuck with one line” basically saying he didn’t even want to be on the album anyway and that it’s wack and his lyrics are too good for it.

With these lines he’s letting us know how tough he is.

Piranha’s are infamous for their biting, so tongue kissing one would be suicide, Cool J definitely wouldn’t be licking his lips anymore.

Equally, attempting to electrocute a barracuda (a large fish) would most likely end up in electrocuting yourself too.

On another note, these same lyrics would be used again for LL’s 1995 single “No Airplay”.

A reference to Digable Planet’s hit single Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)

Cee Knowledge (aka Doodlebug), one of the members of Digable Planets, also appears in the video.

Biggie’s making everybody jealous because he gets more cheeks than an ashtray gets cigarette butts

Here, Biggie uses a pretty cool double-entendre : UPS is the world’s largest delivery company and rap is all about delivery too. Therefore, he is suggesting that other rappers admiring his style still can work for UPS, because their “delivery” will never be good enough for the rap game.

A line that would later be borrowed by Biggie Smalls on the song “You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)” from Life After Death:

So don’t you get suspicious
I’m Big Dangerous, you’re just a Lil Vicious