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Do It To It

Xah Lee, 2006-07.

Artist: Cherish
Song title: Do It To It
date: 2006

Lyrics:

「• The “A” here refers to the city Atlanta↗ , Georga, USA. Atlanta is the city where snap dance and this music band originated, which this song is about. “A” will be referred many times in this song.」
[Cherish] 
A A A A A Aaaa
...
「• playa = a black slang for “player”, meaning something like smooth operator among the youngsters. See http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=playa 」
[Sean Paul] 
A Town 
Sean Paul Young Bloodz wiv my homegirls Cherish 
Yea A Town 
Hey yo vito we got u one here playa
「• Caddy refers to Cadillac↗, and DeVille↗ is a particular model of Cadillac. Cadillac is associated with the black rap community. (because for some reason rapping-enriched blacks like to ride Cadilacs as their choice brand of car for wealth show off.)」
「• The “base of steel” refers to car's shiny chrome wheel hubs that spins. It is fashionable among Black rap community.」
「• Youngbloodz↗ refers to the rap band Youngbloodz, which is from Atlanta. Of which, Sean Paul is a main singer, which also is the male singer of this song. 」
[Cherish] 
Step out tha caddy DeVille
Its on a base of steel 
Them boys checkin us out 
Kno wen we dress to kill 
Strut in the club 
Its dark but still got my shades on 
I hear the DJ mixin Youngbloodz to that whispa song
We from tha city that make it OK (A A A A) 
To turn that clubbin in year round holiday 
So if ya feelin right 
Brotha kryptonite it 
This ya song tonite 
Then its on tonite
「• “Bounce wit it”... these lines are sexualized reference to the movements of snap dance. Snap dance↗ is a particular type of dance of black community, originated from Atlanta about 2006 or possibly much earlier. The essential characteristics of snap dance is that the dancers snap their fingers and freeze their body for a fraction of a second on each beat of the song.」
[Chorus] 
Bounce wit it, drop wit it 
Lean wit it, rock wit it 
Snap wit it 
All my ladies pop yo backs wit it 
(All my fellas tip yo hats wit it)
Do it do it do it do it 
U kno tha world be rockin to it to it 
So do it do it do it to it 

[Cherish] 
No need to ask where im from 
U already know 
I represent the A from my head and to my toes 
Step on tha dance floor watch & learn 
Cuz here i go 
I throw my hands up and work my body to tha floor 
We from tha city that make it OK (A A A A) 
To turn that clubbin in year round holiday 
So if ya feelin right 
Brotha kryptonite it 
This ya song tonite 
Then its on tonite 

[Sean Paul] 
Wats Up CoCo (waz up coco) 
Wats up 44 (wats up 44) 
I lean i rock (i lean i rock) 
I drink i smoke (i drink i smoke) 
Might snap my fingers (might snap my fingers) 
Might clap my hands (might clap my hands) 
Dont get it twisted pimpin this a hood dance (hood dance) 
So walk ya hood man (man) 
Roll up some good man (man) 
They hang cuz they cant do it do it do it man (cherish: do it do it do it) man (man) 
I ride good man (man) 
U quick to boo it man (man) 
Im in da club 10 grand in tha rubber band (band) 
Damn right im crunk (im crunk) 
Damn right im clean (im clean) 
They got that walk (that walk) 
They got that lean (that lean) 
We make a pool palace (palace) 
I make ya shoulder lean (shoulder lean) 
And ima show it, nah mean?

The youth and energy in this song is incredible. It embeds tremendous amount of linguistic, sexual, ethological information about the young human animals of black colored skin living in USA of 21st century.

First of all, this is a lovely dance beat. Sung by four young black girls and a black guy at the end. Then, after reading the lyrics, immediately calling your attention is their spells and slangs. The spelling, is a familiar black form, where, unvoiced syllables are often dropped as in their speech. Then, the slang part is a bit hard to decipher; it goes without saying, especially if you are not a part of their community (i.e. teen blacks).

The girls, sing about the clubbing scene. As we know, dancing is a mating ritual, and dance clubs are modern grounds for matingship. In the lyrics, Caddy means Cadillac. And A refers to the city of Atlanta, which is the birth place of snap dance, as well as this band.

Now, the second part of the song, is sung by a black male. Here, understandably, the content and its meaning deepens. I don't really understand meaning of the slangs, but as one can see, it is less about dances, but more about daily power struggle among males.

If ur a black teen girl and unstand the lyrics, holler me explanation plea.

YouTube search: Do it to it, Cherish↗

The girls are beautiful, and after watching the video, it makes the song more innocent than the lyrics by itself suggests. naaah mean?

For more about the singers, see: Cherish↗

After checking out Cherish's site http://www.cherishsisters.com, apparently the lyrics in the chorus is a sexualized reference to Snap dance↗ moves, which also occupies half of the guy's lyrics.

Some deciphering of the slangs used:

What is snap dance? Here's some fascinating vids and references:

(Thanks to Jon Novak, who corrected my lyrics and also helped explain several critical parts of the verse. See his email: do_it_to_it.txt

Related essays:

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Page created: 2006-07.
© 2006 by Xah Lee. (excluding mirrored pages or images.)
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