Machine Gun Funk - Intellectual

This particular line goes way back to 1989, when the then 17-year-old Biggie engaged in a rap battle against Primo. Through this video, one can see Biggie delivering this line way before recording

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A great double entendre here by Biggie. He’s saying that he’s doing 16 shots for his n——‘s in the pen- in jail. So he’s still shooting shots and killing people, likely as retribution for people that snitched and got his homey’s locked up.

But, the other meaning is that “16 shots” also refers to how rap songs typically contain 16 bars. And so he’s saying that he does it for his n—-‘s “in the pen”, meaning that he’s giving his homeys 16 bars by writing with the pen now.

It’s a great double meaning that captures that he’s still part of the streets, but also now he’s transitioning into rhyming. Perfectly aligned with the theme of the song

Biggie’s days of hustling on the corner are long gone. These days he’s in the studio working on music.

‘The Ave’ is the local’s name for the Fulton Street in Brooklyn, as written in the October 1994 issue of The Source.

A lyrical nod to the Cutty Ranks dancehall classic “A Who Seh Mi Dun.” Hence the slight Jamaican accent that Biggie puts on here.

Biggie sold crack at the age of 13, and even dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to continue his hustle in the crack game. His drug dealing days ended once he was arrested:

At age 17, he was arrested on a cocaine-dealing charge in North Carolina and spent nine months in jail while waiting to make bail.

Noun. gat (plural gats) (archaic, slang, in old westerns) A Gatling gun. (originally 1920s gangster slang) Any type of gun, usually a pistol.

Biggie defines a sharp dichotomy in his life between robbing and dealing crack and blowing up into hip hop superstardom (in reality the line is more blurred – since he continued selling drugs well into the beginnings of his music career)

In songs like “Everyday Struggle” he focuses especially on the “crack-side,” whereas songs like “Big Poppa” chronicle the “rap-side.”

This line is likely influenced by the opening lines of Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.:”

I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side

Biggie uses wordplay on a series of levels here. “Hold your head” is a frequent phrase meaning to look ahead for a brighter future, and “bricks” are a slang for a kilogram of cocaine, a market in which he would have experience in. With the following line in mind, Biggie appeals to the glamorous highlights of the drug dealing lifestyle (even if he no longer lives it).

On the other hand, taking a more literal viewpoint of “hitting the bricks”, he could be warning others of the potential harm this way of living could entail, hence telling the listener to hold their head (as if to brace for impact). Also, head is a slang for fellatio, and again with context of the next line Biggie may be saying to prepare for such actions to take place.

Met a bitch at the Versace store
Said she suck it ‘til I ain’t got no more, only in L.A
Bust on bitches be-lly, rub it in they tummy
Lick it, say it’s yummy, then fuck your man

The proverb “sticks and stones may break my bones” means a fact that if you are attacked by someone, you will only go through physical pain. Eventually, you can be healed and the body becomes whole, but it will not affect your personality or bravery. On the contrary, the damage done by verbal abuse and hurtful words is always irreparable. The phrase is also used to encourage anyone to think of hurtful words as sticks and stones.

Biggie uses his own version to the proverb, while stating that a gat, which is a firearm, is more dangerous than sticks, stones, verbal abuse and hurtful words.

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Ike Turner was singer Tina Turner’s abusive husband – rappers loved mentioning them (Chris Brown and Rihanna have come to replace them)

Tina’s most popular song was “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”

What’s Love Got To Do With It? is also the title of her biographical movie released in 1992.

“I’m Dreaming” is a treacly New Jack Swing love song performed by Christopher Williams which is also sampled here. The song featured on the soundtrack to New Jack City, a film in which Williams also acted. Biggie and Williams were also label mates on Uptown Records in the early ‘90s.

In reference to 1973 blaxploitation film The Mack, about the rise and fall of a pimp. The term “mack” became hip hop shorthand for an extravagant lifestyle (cf Jay Z’s “Big Pimpin'” – “not for nothing, never happen, I’ll be forever macking”)

Despite moving on, Biggie still identifies with his past and those still living it. Potentially even being sarcastic/insincere in a way—he’s not going back, he won’t see them again if they’ve got life or recidivism. Arrivederci.

Bamboo is a character in the 1993 movie Strapped (played by Fredro Starr from Onyx), a former drug dealer who now sells guns for a living.

Yeah

Just as Biggie states on “Warning,” his trigger finger becomes itchier as he gets more intoxicated:

The more weed smoke I puff, the more dangerous

This line was later used as the hook on “Big Booty Bitches”, a Biggie track featuring Oakland rapper Too $hort, released on the Born Again album after Biggie’s death

Biggie has an affinity for tricolons. For example in

“Ready to Die”:

Mic ripper, girl stripper, the Henny sipper

and on “Going Back to Cali”:

Going back to Cali, strictly for the weather
Women and the weed – sticky green

Biggie claimed to live in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York City (however he was actually from nearby Clinton Hill)

This was a sneak diss on tupac because tupac had a loud delivery on his songs

Despite leaving the crime game for the rap game, Biggie still needs to keep a machine gun with him at all times, lest people try to rob him.

The siren sound effect was inserted to censor the words ‘blue suits’, a reference to envious white cops who hope to rob Biggie under the cover of the law (it also rhymes with bulletproof). You can hear him say ‘blue suits’ in the acapella.

He also rolls the Land Cruiser because it was popular among rappers at the time. He also mentions it in other songs such as “Who Shot Ya?” where he says

I make your skin chafe, rashes on them asses
Bumps and bruises, blunts and Land Cruisers

Even given the restrictive gun laws in NYC and his past criminal record, Biggie is not afraid to still carry a “nina” – a 9mm handgun.

He’s not interested in sticking within the misdemeanor category of the law – he willingly risks his freedom on a gun charge because he doesn’t give a fuck; cultivating his gangster image.