Jessie Murph (ft. Gucci Mane) – "Donuts" (2025)

I-I-I’m in the parkin’ lot 

Hittin’ donuts, donuts

As I write this post, much of the country is being hammered by snow, sleet, and freezing rain.

Everyone understands what snow is, but a lot of people don’t understand the distinction between sleet and freezing rain.

Fortunately, the internet provides a crystal-clear explanation of the difference:

That’s brilliant – after all, who doesn’t understand the difference between glazed donuts and donuts with sprinkles?

*     *     *     *     *

I don’t know who first thought of using a donuts graphic to illustrate how sleet and freezing rain differ, but he should have gotten a copyright on the idea because every television station in the country is using it.

Here are a few examples:

*     *     *     *     *

I’m a little late to the Jessie Murph party, but better late than never – it would have been a tragedy if my loyal 2 or 3 lines readers had missed out on the toothsome 21-year-old hip-hop/country artist.

2 or 3 lines is a big fan of Gucci Mane, who is featured on “Donuts” – which was released only a few months ago on Jessie’s second studio album, Sex Hysteria. 

From Jem Aswad’s review of that album in Variety:

As the title suggests, the lyrics are NSFW and up-front: there are lots of songs about sex and lust and partying and, to quote one lyric directly, “You f*cking f*ck, f*ck you” (which takes up three of the album’s 36 f-bombs in five words).  But they’re just as unsparing about the issues stemming from her “sh*tty father” and rough upbringing.  The most harrowing of those, the deeply personal “Man That Came Back,” almost could be a Dixie Chicks song (and is the only one here that could even vaguely be considered country), while the opening “Gucci Mane” looks at the fallout from the daddy issues (“I know I love sh*tty men/They normally contribute to the state that I’m in”), even as it ends on a humorous note: “I’ll sample ‘Lemonade’ to make Gucci Mane proud.”

Click here to read the 2010 2 or 3 lines that featured Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade.” 

Click here to listen to “Donuts.”

Click here to buy “Donuts” from Amazon.

Clipse -- "I'm Good" (2009)

Today is a good day

Ice cubes on my chest

When you listen to "I'm Good," you just hear a song.  Maybe you like it, maybe you don't . . . either way, it's just a song to you.

When I listen to "I'm Good," I hear a virtual Christmas fruitcake, full of sonic pecans, raisins, and chunks of pineapple, dates, and cherries.

Every time I stick my thumb into "I'm Good," I pull out a plum -- metaphorically speaking, of course. 

Plums

In this case, my plums are not drupe fruits with an epicuticular wax coating that gives them a glaucous appearance, but rather are lines and phrases that pay homage to other rap lyrics.

The lines quoted above are an obvious reference to a famous rap song.  Can you name the song and the rapper who recorded it?  

No?  How about you?

Anyone?  (Bueller?  Bueller?)

Surely you've  heard of the rapper, Ice Cube?  Ice Cube (who was born O'Shea Jackson) was an original member of the greatest gangsta rap group of all time, N.W.A.  After leaving N.W.A., Ice Cube starred in movies (e.g., Boyz n the Hood, Three Kings, and Barbershop), produced and starred in the TV series Are We There Yet?, and had a successful solo career as a rapper. 

One of his big hits as a solo rapper was "It Was a Good Day," which gets a shoutout in the lines quoted above.  

Ice Cube

That's far from the only reference to a famous hiphop lyrics you'll find in "I'm Good."

The first line of today's featured song is "You can find me in the streets," while the first line of 50 Cent megabit, "In Da Club" is "You can find me in the club."  (Coincidence?  I think not?)

50 Cent

"I'm Good" mentions "yellow diamonds," which brings to mind Gucci Mane's "Lemonade," a fabulous rap song that mentions yellow diamonds several times.  (According to Rap Genius -- an authoritative source if I ever did see one -- Gucci sports yellow diamond earrings and a massive diamond pinky ring.)  

Gucci Mane

And who could hear Clipse's line, "Cruisin' on them twenty-twos got me sittin' pretty" and not think of the inimitable T.I.'s great "What You Know," which includes the line, "See me in your city, sittin' pretty."

T.I.

What does all this mean?  It means that 2 or 3 lines pretty much knows the rap oeuvre cold.

I can't tell you how pleased I am with myself that I know so much about rap that I can pull these references out of my head like others can decipher the lyrics of American Pie.  (Which is child's play . . . just sayin'.) 

You don't master a pop music genre by taking a class or reading a few books, boys and girls.  No, you can have to live the music.

Believe me, it's not easy for an old white guy to live rap music.  Believe me, the expense of going to strip clubs, popping bottles full of bub, and making it rain would discourage a less determined observer.

But if that's what it takes to speak hiphop like a native, then 2 or 3 lines is ready to make the necessary sacrifices.

The Thornton brothers

Clipse is a rap duo that features brothers Gene "No Malice" Thornton and Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton, who hail from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

"I'm Good" was released on Clipse's third studio album, Til the Casket Drops, in 2009.  It features a guest appearance by Pharrell Williams, whose single "Happy" recently became insufferable virtually overnight.

Here's "I'm Good":

Click below to order the song from Amazon:

Gucci Mane -- "Lemonade" (2009)

Lemons on the chain with the V-cuts

Lemonade in shade with my feet up

Lemon pepper wings and a freeze cup

Lemons in their face watch 'em freeze up

Time to leave the 1970's briefly – my marketing department thinks we'd have better luck monetizing this blog if our demographic skewed a little younger.  Ergo, this post.  

*     *     *     *     *

I love this record, but Atlanta-based rapper Radric Davis (a/k/a "Gucci Mane") might as well be singing in Lithuanian because I have got no clue what he's talking about.

Here's a link to RapGenius, a website that provides explanations of what rap lyrics mean.  

According to RapGenius, the first line quoted above refers to yellow-colored diamonds of very high quality (VS or even VVS – or "V-cuts").

The lemonade mentioned in the second line is no doubt mixed with prescription cough syrup containing codeine.  (Another line in the song is "I'm movin' slow 'cause codeine syrup's in my lemonade.")  References to cough syrup mixed with Sprite, Mountain Dew, lemonade, or other soft drinks – the mixture is often called "purple drank" because the dyes in the cough syrup turns the mixture purple – can be found in dozens of rap lyrics, especially those by rappers from the South.  (The first pick in the 2007 NFL draft, QB JaMarcus Russell, who is rumored to be a long-time purple drank user, was arrested this summer for possessing codeine cough syrup without having a valid prescription.)

A "freeze cup" is a kind of homemade popsicle – frozen Kool-Aid served in a plastic or styrofoam cup – that could be found in neighborhoods where Good Humor trucks feared to drive.

The last line quoted above is another reference to those yellow diamonds, according to RapGenius.  When you put diamonds ("ice") in someone's face, it's not surprising that they would freeze up.

Reading RapGenius's translation of the rest of the lyrics of this song was a real eye-opener for me.  Mostly it opened my eyes to the fact that I am very old and very white.

*     *     *     *     *

"Lemonade" is from the 2009 album, The State vs. Radric Davis.  Gucci Mane has spent time in jail for cocaine possession, assault, and violating the terms of his probation.   He was involved in the fatal shooting of a man in 2005, but murder charges were dropped the next year when he persuaded prosecutors that the victim was killed in self-defense. 

Click here to view the official music video for "Lemonade."

Click here to buy "Lemonade" from Amazon.