Naughty By Nature
O.P.P.
from the album: Naughty By Nature
released: September 3, 1991
break/doWn: the classics
takin' it on back with an old skool track
by: matt halverson
Are you like us? Do you think today's hip-hop is all about the money? A little too much about bank rolls and platinum grills? (That's "teeth" to the uninformed.) Do you yearn for the more innocent days when it was less about money and more about promiscuous sex? So do we. So to satisfy that urge for the simpler days of rap, we decided to take a trip to the hip-hop hall of fame and pull out an old school classic. Nothing quite exemplified the carefree ways of party rap in the early '90s better than "O.P.P." Are you down with it?
Original Lyrics
Army with harmony
Dave drop a load on 'em
O.P.P., how can I explain it
I'll take it frame by frame it
To have y'all jumpin', shoutin', singin' it
O is for Other, P is for People scratch your temple
The last P...well...that's not that simple
It's sorta like another way to call a cat a kitten
It's five little letters that are missin' here
You get on occasion at the other party as a game 'n
It seems I gotta start to explainin'
Bust it
You ever had a girl and met her on a nice hello?
You get her name and number and then you feelin' real mellow
You get home, wait a day, she's what you wanna know about
Then you call up and it's her girlfriend or her cousin's house
It's not a front, F to the R to the O to the N to the T
It's just her boyfriend's at her house (Boy, that's what is scary)
It's O.P.P. time, other people's what you get it
There's no room for relationships, there's just room to hit it
How many brothers out there know just what I'm gettin' at
Who think it's wrong 'cause I'm splittin' and co-hittin' that
Well if you do, that's O.P.P. and you're not down with it
But if you don't, here's your membership
Chorus
You down with O.P.P. (Yeah you know me) 3X
Who's down with O.P.P. (Every last homie)
You down with O.P.P. (Yeah you know me) 3X
Who's down with O.P.P. (All the homies)
As for the ladies, O.P.P. means something gifted
The first two letters are the same but the last is something different
It's the longest, loveliest, lean - I call it the leanest
It's another five letter word rhymin' with "cleanest" and "meanest"
I won't get into that, I'll do it...ah...sorta properly
I say the last P...hmmm...stands for "property"
Now ladies here comes a kiss, blow a kiss back to me, now tell me exactly
Have you ever known a brother who have another like a girl or wife
And you just had to stop 'cause he look just as nice
You looked at him, he looked at you, and you knew right away
That he had someone but he was gonna be yours anyway
You couldn't be seen with him and honestly you didn't care
'Cause in a room behind a door no one but y'all are there
When y'all are finish, y'all can leave and only y'all would know
And then y'all could throw the skeleton bones right in the closet do'
Now don't be shocked 'cause if you're down, I want your hands up high
Say O.P.P. (O.P.P.), I like to say with pride
Now when you do it, do it well and make sure that it counts
You're now down with a discount
Chorus
This girl ah tried to O.P.P. me
I had a girl and she knew that matter-of-fact my girl and I
Had a fall out, disagreement, yeah an argument
She tried to do me so we did it in my apartment, bust it
That wasn't the thing it must have been the way she hit the ceiling
'Cos after that she kept on coming back and catchin' feelings
I said, "Let's go my girl is coming so you gotta leave"
She said, "Oh no, I love you Treach" I said, "Now child please"
"You gots to leave, come grab your coat, right now you gotta go"
I said "Now get yourself to the stairs and to the stairwell
This was a thing, a little thing, you shouldn't have put your heart
'Cause you know I was O.P.P., hell, from the very start
Come on, come on, now let me tell you what it's all about
When you get down, you can't go 'round runnin' off at the mouth"
That's rule number one in this O.P.P. establishment
You keep your mouth shut and it won't get back to her or him
Exciting isn't it, a special kinda business
Many of you will catch the same sorta OPP
Is you with him or her, for sure is going to admit it
When OPP comes, damn – skippy I'm with it
Chorus 3x
broken/doWn
How can I help you understand the subject of infidelity?
For you monogamous people, I'll go slow
And by the end of this song, you'll be just as enamored with the idea as I am
The first two letters of this acronym will remain constant
But the final letter changes with the sex of the person it's applied to
In the case of women, it refers to "pussy," a derogatory slang term for "vagina"
But for the purposes of this song, it can also refer to women in general
I can see I've already lost you, so how about an example?
Time to take notes
There's nothing quite like catching a girl's eye from across the room, is there?
Then you chat, and what do you know, she's willing to give you her number
Important note: Don't call too soon or you might scare off a beautiful baby who's ready to party
But in our hypothetical, you call and a mysterious man answers the phone
Don't worry, she didn't give you the wrong number on purpose
You just happened to call when her significant other was visiting
Bada-bing! You've just had your first lesson in O.P.P.
Now it's critical to take advantage of the situation - she may have a boyfriend, but that doesn't mean she's not willing to have cheap, meaningless sex with you
So have you caught on yet?
Do you think I'm a bad person for sleeping with another guy's girlfriend?
If you do, that's fine, but just remember, your girlfriend may be next on my list
Now if you liked the scenario I just described, continue reading
Chorus
Are you in favor of infidelity? Cause my background singers are
How many people have I won over with just the first verse? Apparently everyone
Would you sleep with your brother's girlfriend? You'd be surprised how many people would
Anyone else want me to go on explaining the concept of casual sex with multiple partners? Alright then!
As you may have guessed by now, women indulge in sleeping around as well
In their case, however, the second "P" in "O.P.P." refers to the male genitalia
There are too many names for it to count, so I'll make it simple:
It stands for "penis"
But this is a family song, so I won't dwell on the literal translation
To maintain a PG rating, we'll say the acronym stands for "other people's property"
Back to the story. Ladies, does the following situation sound familiar:
You knew a guy who happened to be in a committed relationship
But you couldn't help yourself because he was just too damn hot
As soon as you made eye contact with him
You knew you were going to make it your only goal to steal him from his girl
You had to be sly, you couldn't let her see you two together
But how could she see you if the only time you spent together was rolling around in bed?
And once you had your conquest it would be over
As long as you both knew how to keep a secret
I know I've probably offended those of you with conservative sexual mores
But come on, you can't say it doesn't sound a little fun, can you?
Me, I love telling everyone what a man-whore I am
Just make sure that if you do cheat with someone,
It isn't that guy with the buck teeth and funny hair
Chorus
Now let me tell you about a memorable experience I had
I met a girl, and she knew right away that I had a girlfriend
And he knew we were fighting, so she tried to take advantage of the situation
And wouldn't you know it, we ended up having sex at my place
But I don't think she was happy just because she got me in the sack
It was my god-like sexual technique that sucked her in
But I had had my fill of her, so I was about to show her the door
When she told me she loved me (I must be better in bed than I thought)
That was all I needed to hear - I picked up her clothes and pushed her to the door
I told her which way to go so she wouldn't bump into my girlfriend on the way out
But she was distraught - obviously she didn't realize it was only a one-time thing
Apparently my reputation as a man-whore isn't as pervasive as I thought
Before she left, I took her aside and laid down some rules:
I emphasized the fact that she couldn't tell her friends about our fling
Keeping a tight lip is the most important part of cheating
Because as long as you don't leave any evidence lying around, it's the only way you can get caught
Now that I've briefed you on it, you're kind of interested, aren't you?
And even if you're not, you'll experience it sooner or later,
Because chances are, your partner will cheat on you
And if your partner is a girl, you better believe she'll end up in my bed
Chorus 3x
Note: Lyrics in break/doWns are not necessarily 100% accurate.