19 Hip-Hop Bars That Will Leave You Scratching Your Head

I need these rappers to explain what they mean by some of the lyrics listed.

Hip-hop can be profound, witty, and everything in between.

In most cases, the wordplay in hip-hop records is thought-provoking and impactful, however, in other instances, some hip-hop song lyrics will have you confused. Below are 19 hip-hop lyrics that will have you scratching your head. 

1. Ye — "I got a light skin friend that looks like Michael Jackson / Got a dark skin friend that looks like Michael Jackson"

Atlantic

Ye has some attention-worthy hip-hop bars, and this one from his 2003 single, Slow Jamz, is one of them. Obviously, Ye was describing the varying complexions of Blackness, however, why he chose to compare those complexions to Michael Jackson is bizarre.  

2. Rick Ross — "Put a molly in her champagne / she ain't even know it / I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it"

A1

Rick Ross connoting date rape in his verse on Rocko's "U.O.E.N.O" was creepy and unwarranted. It also made you question Ross' character slightly. 

3. Nicki Minaj — "Maybe it's time to put this pussy on your sideburns"

Young Money

How is it possible for Nicki Minaj to put her p**sy on someone's sideburns when sideburns are on the side of someone's face? It must be one of hell of a sex position if this a possibility like Yung Money's "Bedrock" proposes. 

4. Tyga — "If you ain't got no ass bitch wear a poncho"

Young Money

Aside from Tyga wrongfully body-shaming small booty women in his "Rack City," the fact that he suggested that women with slender backsides wear ponchos is perplexing.

5. Yung Miami — "Diddy let me put it in your face like them roaches / and put yo' rich ass to sleep buenas noches"

Quality Control

I still can't believe that Yung Miami rhymed the Spanish phrase for good night "buenas noches" with "roaches" in "Rap Freaks."

6. Snoop Dogg — "Waiting on the Pizzle, the Dizzle and the Shizzle, G's to the bizzack, now ladies here we gizzo"

Doggystyle Records

Snoop Dogg needs to translate this bar from his song "Drop it Like It's Hot" for all the squares in the world.

7. The Ying Yang Twins — "Now can I play with yo' panty line"

TVT Records

Do you think the Ying Yang Twins meant panty line or panty liner in their song "Get Low?"...?

8. Drake — "Yeah, you a star in my eyes / You and all them white girls, party of five"

Young Money Records

I never understood what Drake meant by his bar, "you and all them white girls, party of five," from Nicki Minaj's "Moment For Life."

9. Missy Elliot — "I put my thing down flip it and reverse it / Ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup I"

Atlantic Records

Since 2002 Missy Elliot had us all wondering what the heck she was saying in the chorus of "Work It", and it wasn't until circa 2017 that we had a collective awakening. It seemed like Missy Elliot was rappin' gibberish in the "Work It" chorus, but it was literally a lyric reversed. For years Missy had us all trying to decode the infamous unintelligible bar, and the whole time it was just a production effect. 

10. The Game — "All these new video bitches tryin to be Melyssa Ford / But they don't know Melyssa Ford drive a Honda Accord"

Geffen Records

The Game's bar about seeing video vixen Melyssa Ford driving a Honda Accord in his song, "Wouldn't Get Far", is particularly confusing since it turned out to be a lie. Like, who would lie on someone in a hip-hop lyric just to make their song pop?

11. Bone-Thugz-N-Harmony — "Let's all bring it in for Wally, Eazy sees uncle Charlie, Little boo, god's got him and I'm gonna miss everybody"

Ruthless Records

Of all the Bone Thugz members, Bizzy Bone has to be the hardest to understand since he raps the fastest out of all the group members. In the intro verse on Bone-Thugz-N-Harmony's "Tha Crossroads," Bizzy Bone raps something that is hard to catch, but makes the song a classic. For those who always wondered what Bizzy Bone was saying, it's this: "Let's all bring it in for Wally, Eazy sees uncle Charlie, Little boo, god's got him and I'm gonna miss everybody."

12. Ludacris — "Watch out for the medallion / My diamonds are reckless / It feels like a midget is hanging from my necklace."

Def Jam Records

Not politically correct, but a Ludacris bar in "Stand Up" is a comical descriptor nonetheless. Of all the comparisons he could've used, I'm curious to know why Luda thought that this simile would hit the most.

13. Eminem — "Chuba chuba chuba chuba chuba chuba chubby. I don't have any lines to go right here, so chuby Teletubby."

Aftermath Records

One bar in Eminem's "Just Lose It" made absolutely no sense, but I guess that was expected since Eminem acknowledged he ran out of lines in the same bar.

14. Sir Mix-A-Lot — "Oh, Rump-o'-smooth-skin, you say you wanna get in my Benz?"

American Recordings

The pun on Rumpelstilskin that Sir-Mix-A-Lot used in his song, "Baby Got Back", was so corny that it tickles me whenever I hear it. Sir Mix-A-Lot has to be one of few rappers that has ever made a Rumpelstilskin reference. What do you think Sir Mix-A-Lot was thinking when he incorporated it and why so? I'm still figuring it out...

15. Lil Wayne — "Ridin' through the city in a Tonka toy / I got old money, coulda bought a dinosaur."

Young Money Records

Lil Wayne's hyperbolic bar from "S on my Chest" will have you pondering about why dinosaurs are on Lil Wayne's list of things he could've bought. 

16. Digital Underground — "I like my beats funky / I'm spunky / I like my oatmeal lumpy"

Tommy Boy Records

Never knew why Shock G felt the need to admit to liking lumpy oatmeal in Digital Underground's "Humpty Dance."

17. Trina — "See if I had the chance to be a virgin again I'd be fucking by the time I ten"

Slip-N-Side Records

Trina's bar "See if I had the chance to be a virgin again/I'd be fucking by the time I ten" in "Baddest Bitch" just makes you go why...

18. Young Thug — “Double R, that’s a Rolls, paint it yellow like it’s dairy.”

Cash Money Records

Most dairy is white, but according to Young Thug's bar on Drake's "Sacrifices" dairy is yellow. I guess he's technically right since American cheese is a yellow color.

19. Timbaland — “There’s no need to lie folk / Why you sleeping with ya eyes closed?”

Columbia Records

Timbaland asking the question, "Why are you sleeping with ya eyes closed" in Destiny's Child's song, "Get On The Bus", is bewildering since that's how sleep works. When your eyes are closed.