Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases the 1988 Hip Hop track (song) "Rollin With Kid N Play" and includes information about that track and a clip from the movie House Party that features that track. In addition, this post provides explanations about American vernacular English terms and sayings that are found in "Rollin With Kid N Play" lyrics.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, linguistics, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Kid N Play for their musical legacy. Thanks to all who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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The idea for this post came to me as a result of happening upon a website that features text (word only) examples of more than seventy camp songs - Camp Maripai, a Girl Scout camp in Prescott, Arizona. One of those camp songs clearly borrowed its beginning lines from "Rollin With Kid N Play". Here's the link to the pancocojams post that features that camp song and several other camp songs from that website that include lyrics from contemporary (post 1960) African American sources: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/ooh-ungowa-funky-chicken-five-other_19.html.
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INFORMATION ABOUT KID N PLAY
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_%27n_Play
Kid 'n Play is an American hip-hop act from New York City that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher "Kid" Reid (born April 5, 1964) and Christopher "Play" Martin (born July 10, 1962) working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eastmond.[1][2] Besides their successful musical careers, they are also notable for branching out into acting.[3]
History
Music career
[...]
Kid 'n Play recorded three albums together between 1988 and 1991: 2 Hype (1988), Kid 'n Play's Funhouse (1990), and Face the Nation (1991). Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor, the producer for Salt-n-Pepa (who had been a member of The Super Lovers with Play) served as Kid 'n Play's manager and producer during the early portion of their career. All three albums focused upon positive lyrics backed by pop-friendly instrumental tracks. Among the group's most successful singles were 1989's "Rollin' with Kid 'n Play" (#11 on the Billboard R&B singles chart), 1990s "Funhouse" (#1 on the Billboard rap singles chart), and "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody" (another #1 rap hit). The group's stage show highlighted their teen-friendly personalities, and dances such as their trademark, the Kick Step. Kid's visual trademark was his hi-top fade haircut, which stood ten inches high at its peak. Martin regularly wore eight-ball jackets.
Kid 'n Play were also notable for their dance known as the Kid n' Play Kickstep, first seen in their video "Do This My Way," and described in the song "Do the Kid n' Play Kickstep," from their first album, 2 Hype. Also affectionately known as the "Funky Charleston," it was influenced by the 1920s era dance The Charleston. The Kid n' Play Kickstep featured the new jack swing-aerobic dance moves typical of late 1980s urban street dancing. Unlike the original Charleston, The Kid n' Play Kickstep requires two participants instead of one. This dance also was made quite popular in Kid 'n Play's feature film House Party, in which Kid and Play have a dance competition with Tisha Campbell and A.J. Johnson.
Acting careers
In addition to their music, Kid 'N Play have starred together in five feature films, all of them based around hip hop characters and themes. The duo also appeared on the soundtrack albums to these films. Four of the Kid 'n Play films were entries in the House Party series.[4] The first two House Party films (1990's House Party and 1991's House Party 2) also featured the then-relatively unknown Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell, later stars of the TV sitcom Martin. House Party 3 (1994) featured hip-hop/R&B girl group TLC as the music group Sex as a Weapon. Kid 'n Play were absent from the fourth film House Party 4 (2001), which has no connection to any of the prior films or the subsequent film, House Party 5 (2013) in which the duo make a cameo appearance, revealing how successful their characters have become since the events of House Party 3....
Kid 'n Play even had their own NBC Saturday morning cartoon, Kid 'n Play, for one season from 1990 to 1991. On the show, Kid 'n Play were regressed to teenagers, but their recording careers remained intact, as did their comic personas"...
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Additional information & (pancocojams) editorial comments:
Kid 'N Play's 1988 track "Rollin' With Kid 'N Play" samples Ripple's 1973 track "I Don't Know What It Is, but It Sure Is Funky"
"Sample appears at 0:32 (and throughout)" http://www.whosampled.com/sample/22055/Kid-%27N-Play-Rollin%27-With-Kid-%27N-Play-Ripple-I-Don%27t-Know-What-It-Is,-but-It-Sure-Is-Funky/
**
"Rollin With Kid N Play" uses the call & response format that is characteristic of Washington D.C.'s Go Go music* throughout the track, with the rappers Kid and Play taking turns being the caller or responder or completing each other's sentences. The background singers also use call & response while singing the catchy chorus "O la o la eh/Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now".
* Read information about "Go Go" music below.
**
"Rollin With Kid N Play" serves three purposes besides the creation of a highly danceable jam:
1. Introduce "Kid N Play" (as well as the duo's DJ & producer) and promote the duo, largely through self-bragging, but also with some taunting unnamed Hip Hop competitors
2. Introduce/promote Go Go music
3. Encourage listeners to become their fans
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Rollin' With Kid 'N Play - Kid 'N Play (1988)
djbuddyloverootsrap, Uploaded on Oct 25, 2011
"Rollin' With Kid 'N Play" was the most successful single release from "2 Hype", the debut album by rap duo Kid 'N Play. The album was released in 1988 for Select Records and was produced by Hurby 'Luv Bug' Azor and The Invincibles. "2 Hype" was a success for the duo, reaching #96 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and being certified Platinum by the RIAA. Three singles found success on the Hot Rap Singles chart, "Rollin' with Kid 'N Play" (#2), "2 Hype" (#19) and "Gittin' Funky" (#24). In 2008, "Rollin' With Kid N Play" was ranked number 63 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.
Kid 'N Play is a hip-hop and comedy duo from New York City that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher 'Kid' Reid (born April 5, 1964 in The Bronx, New York City), and Christopher 'Play' Martin (born July 10, 1962 in Queens, New York City), working alongside their DJ, Mark 'DJ Wiz' Eastmond (born March 21, 1966 in Queens, New York City). Besides their successful musical careers, Kid 'N Play are also notable for branching out into acting. This channel is dedicated to all the great rap music from back in the day. The music that started the whole hip-hop revolution, the incredible music from the 70s, the 80s, and the early 90s . . . The Roots Of Rap are here!
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I reformatted this YouTube video summary to increase its readability.
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Example #2: Kid N' Play - Rollin' With Kid N' Play (Video)
kennylavish, Uploaded on Aug 24, 2010
FROM THE ALBUM "2 HYPE" (1988).
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This is a scene from the first House Party movie.
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LYRICS - ROLLIN WITH KID N PLAY
(as performed by Kid N Play*)
Chorus:
O la oh la eh.
(O la oh la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.)
O la oh la eh.
(O la oh la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.)
Kid - Now ,Play, I don�t know what is it about that beat that we have here,
but it sure is funky.
Chorus:
O la O la eh.
(O la O la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.)
O la O la eh.
(O la O ha eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.)
Play: Yo, Kid,
I don�t know what is it about this groove that here makin us move,
but it sure is funky.
O la O la eh.
(O la O la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.)
Play- It is time to rap.
Kid - Shall we?
Play - Sure.
Kid- Kid N Play back goin strong.
Play- Dope and dap, we can get funky with the best.
We just hypin it up.
Kid - You know, just how it had to be.
Play - Just take a look around, boy. Can�t you see that
I�mma bum rushin.
Kid - Girls are just watchin,
Play - Wiz got the scratchin
Kid - while Hurby�s all percussion.
We�re settin the stage
for the stage to get set off
I want some rhyming and dancing to jet off.
So get off �cause you bit off
Play- more than you can chew.
Kid- Now watch the dynamic duo
do a little go go thang.
Play - Come on, rock and swing.
You gotta
Kid - roll with Kid N Play.
Play - Now everybody say:
Chorus
Kid- Now we�re the stars of stage,
wax, and video.
Play- We�re here to tear it up.
Kid and Play - So come on, here we go.
Kid- So pump it up, this is hot power stuff.
Play - Kid N Play can�t get enough
Kid and Play - of that funky go go rhythm.
Play - You wanted a dope jam
Well, that�s what we�re givin.
Play - We�re headed for fame
Kid - cause Kind N Play�s drivin.
Play- Boy we don�t shirk
Kid - and large is how we livin.
Play- We stay paid.
Kid- You know the boys have got it made.
Play- You see I�m a tramp.
Kid- And I�m am the fella with the high top fade.
Play- Gettin down to the sound.
Kid- You know, we �bout to turn it out.
Play- Come on with Kid N Play.
Kid and Play- Everybody shout:
Chorus
Kid - Now, I bet you ladies
Kid and Play - wanna see
Play - P. L. A. Y.
Kid - and K. I. D.
Kid and Play - We�re not like the rest.
Our style is def
and we present ourselves
Play - as the very best
Kid - on the microphone.
We relay to the
Kid and Play - soul.
Kid - Your whole damn body we will control.
So
stay calm, don�t get alarmed.
Gonna relax you ladies with a deadly charm.
Play - Gonna go to work on you fellas too
to make you wanna do the things we do.
Kid - �cause when ah
Play - Kid N Play is in your town
Kid - you gotta
Play - keep rockin to the go go sound.
Kid - You gotta
Play - keep rockin all day all night
�cause we�re different.
Kid - We�re like dynamite on the mic.
Kid and Play - So shake
Play - your butt, shake it down
�Cause we got the best
music all around.
Kid - Hurby�s our producer.
Play - Wiz is the DJ.
Kid and Play - Roll with Kid N Play.
Now, everybody say:
[Chorus]
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This is my transcription of "Rollin With Kid N Play". I made this transcription because i couldn't find the lyrics for this track online.
The words in the chorus that are given brackets designate that they are sung in response to the preceding "call".
Additions and corrections (including which of the duo spoke those lines) are welcome.
Also, if you know the name/s of the composer/s of this Hip Hop track, please share it in the comment section below. Thanks!
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EXPLANATIONS FOR AND INFORMATION ABOUT AMERICAN VERNACULAR TERMS/SAYINGS IN THE HIP HOP TRACK "ROLLIN WITH KID N PLAY"
Unless otherwise indicated, I'm sharing what I believe are the meanings for these American* vernacular English terms/sayings in the context of this song. I've written those words in italics to emphasize their importance, since vernacular terms often have multiple meanings. One quote from the lyrics that include these terms is given in parenthesis after some of these definitions.
This list also includes the meanings of certain lines in this Hip Hop composition.
Additions and corrections are welcome.
*I believe that most of the terms and sayings that are included in those lyrics are from African American Vernacular English.
A, B
"Bit off more than you can chew" - tried to do more than you are capable of doing ( in this context, other rappers can't do better than Kid N Play)
**
"Bum rushin" -a play on word with �bum" here meaning (a lady's) "butt" (meaning, trying to "romantically" pursue (meet up with) the ladies
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C, D
"Come on with Kid n Play" = invitation to become fans of Kid N Play (This is another way of saying "Come roll with Kid N Play")
**
"Dap" - (from the word "dapper") someone who looks good, stylish
**
"Def" (from the word "definitely", without any doubt very good ["Our style is def"]
**
"Dope" = very good; exceptional ("Dope and dap, we can get funky with the best."
**
"Drivin" -determined to succeed ("�cause Kid N Play is drivin)"
**
E, F
"Funky"
From https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=funky&page=2
"funky
Music that has a particular feel or groove.
"Earl King recently told me I was the first guy he ever heard use the term funky about music..."
" 'Think about Foley, how funky and dirty he stinks and smells. Think about playing the music just like that."
-Earl Palmer, Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story
"Damn, that's funky!"
#groove#feel#music#style#feeling
by bbmatt September 22, 2009"
**
G, H
"Get off" - [in the context of this Hip Hop track] spoken to any potential Hip Hop competitors]- leave the stage, leave the Hip Hop competition
**
"getting down to the sound" - really feeling the music and/or performing the music really well
**
"Going strong" - "from American English (still) going strong
?to still be successful after having existed for a long time:https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/still-going-strong
**
"Go go" (sound� music)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go
"Go-go is a popular music subgenre associated with funk that originated in the Washington, D.C., area during the mid-60s to late-70s. It remains primarily popular in the Washington metropolitan area as a uniquely regional music style...
Inspired by artists such as the groups mentioned above, go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and old school hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming in place of dance tracks, although some sampling is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion�.
In the mid-1960s, "go-go" was the word for a music club in the local African American community, as in the common phrase at the time going to a go-go popularized by a million-selling hit of the same name by The Miracles�...
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I added italics to highlight that sentence.
Here's some more information about "Go Go music" from From http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1167 The Beat!
Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. by Kip Lornell and Charles C. Stephenson, Jr:
"Its [Go Go music] super-charged drumming and vocal combinations of hip-hop, funk, and soul evolved and still thrive on the streets of Washington, D.C., and in neighboring Prince George's County, making it the most geographically compact form of popular music.
Go-go--the only musical form indigenous to Washington, D.C.--features a highly syncopated, nonstop beat and vocals that are spoken as well as sung�....
**
"Got it made" - "is certain to be successful and have a good life, often without much effort" http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have+got+it+made ("The [Kid N Play} boys have got it made.")
**
"Groove"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groove_(music)
"In music, groove is the sense of propulsive rhythmic "feel" or sense of "swing". In jazz, it can be felt as a persistently repeated pattern. It can be created by the interaction of the music played by a band's rhythm section (e.g. drums, electric bass or double bass, guitar, and keyboards). Groove is a key of much popular music, and can be found in many genres, including salsa, funk, rock, fusion, and soul.
�Musicologists and other scholars have analyzed the concept of "groove" since around the 1990s. They have argued that a "groove" is an "understanding of rhythmic patterning" or "feel" and "an intuitive sense" of "a cycle in motion" that emerges from "carefully aligned concurrent rhythmic patterns" that stimulates dancing or foot-tapping on the part of listeners."
**
"High top fade"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-top_fade
"A hi-top fade is a style of haircut where hair on the sides is cut off or kept very short while hair on the top of the head is very long.[1]
The hi-top was a trend symbolizing the Golden Era of hip hop and urban contemporary music during the 1980s and the early 1990s.[2] It was common among young black people between 1986 and 1993 and to a lesser extent in the mid-1990s (1994�1996).[3]"...
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High top fades are usually considered a Black male (natural) hair style ; �Kid� [one member of the Hip Hop duo �Kid N Play�] wore his hair in a high top fade, but all high top fades weren�t (aren�t) as high as his.
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"Hypin it up" - raising the energy of the [at the] event or with the music, making it more exciting
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I, J
"Jam" - a musical record, track, tune ("a dope jam")
**
"Jet off" = move fast "I want some rhyming and dancing to jet off"
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K, L
"Livin large" - being rich and living a life surrounded by luxury ("large is how we livin")
****
M. N
"N" - and ("Kid N Play")
****
O, P,
"On the mic - microphone; referent to a MC (rapper) rapping (spitting bars)
**
"Pump it up" - raise the energy, excitement higher (synonym - "Get hype") ("So pump it up, this is hot power stuff)
****
Q, R
"Rockin" - dancing to, moving to, performing ("Keep rockin to the go go sound")
**
Rollin (with Kid N Play) - "hanging with" (traveling with)Kid N Play, but with the meaning "becoming fans of this Hip Hop duo; the lyrics "Come on with Kid N Play" basically have the same meaning as "Rollin With Kid N Play"
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S, T
"Scratchin"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratching
"Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique used to produce distinctive percussive or rhythmic sounds and sound effects by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with African-American hip hop music, where it emerged in the mid-1970s, it has been used in the 1990s and 2000s in some styles of rap rock, rap metal and nu metal. Within hip hop culture, scratching is one of the measures of a DJ's skills."
**
"Tear it up" - do something exceptionally well (contemporary African American Vernacular English synonyms; "murdered" [it], "killed" [it] ) ("We�re here to tear it up")
**
Thang = thing
**
"Tramp" = Play's persona in the Kid N Play duo; In the context of this Hip Hop duo, "tramp" is a man who is a "playa" (note "Play's" stage name), a bad boy [man] or "dirty" man who has a lot of women (i.e. "loves them and leaves them", travels from one woman to the next; "bad" here means the opposite of good"; (I wonder was Kid's persona in this duo is a man who acts like a kid, providing some comic elements in his interactions with Play & others, and also providing a comic element regarding the height of his high top fade hair style.)
**
Turn it out � do really well (synonym "tear it up") ("We �bout to turn it out")
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U,V
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W, X
Wax = record, album, Cd
**
"We stay paid" = we always have money from gigs (work; concerts, record sales etc.)
**
"We�re settin the stage for the stage to get set off" - we're introducing ourselves (via this album) so that our successful career will begin
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Y,Z
"Yo" = Hey
**
"You bit off more than you can chew" - "to try to do something that is too big or difficult to do" http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bite+off+more+than+can+chew
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Kid N Play - Rollin With Kind N Play (information, video, lyrics, & vernacular explanations)
June 19, 2017
African American Hip Hop
African American Vernacular English
Kid N Play
Washington D.C. Go Go music