O.P.P. Lyrics

[Chorus]
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
Who's down with O.P.P.? (Every last homie)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
Who's down with O.P.P.? (All the homies)

[Verse 2: Treach]
Well, for the ladies, O.P.P. means something gifted
The first two letters 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 rhyming with "cleanest" or "meanest"
I won't get into that, I'll do it, uh, sort of properly
I'll say the last P, hmm, stands for "property"

Now lady, here comes a kiss
Blow a kiss back to me, now tell me exactly
Have you ever known a brother who had another like a girl or wife?
And you just had to stop a toast 'cause he looked just that nice?
You looked at him, he looked at you, and you knew right away
He had someone, but he was gonna be yours anyway
You couldn't be seen with him at all and still you didn't care

'Cause in a room behind a door, no one but y'all are there
When y'all are finished, y'all can leave and only y'all would know

And y'all could throw that skeleton bone right in the closet door
Now don't be shy, '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]
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
Who's down with O.P.P.? (Every last lady)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
Who's down with O.P.P.? (All the ladies)

[Verse 3: Treach]
A scab tried to O.P.P. me, I had a girl and she knew that
Matter fact, her and my girl was partners that
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've been the way she hit the ceiling
'Cause after that she kept on coming back and catching 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 look, you choose the stairs or choose the stair window
This was a fling, a little thing you shouldn't have brought 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 O.P.P. messing with
Him or her, for sure, I'm going to admit it
When O.P.P. comes, damn skippy, I'm with it
[Chorus]
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
Who's down with O.P.P.? (This whole party)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
You down with O.P.P.? (Yeah, you know me)
Who's down with O.P.P.? (This whole party)

[Outro: Treach]
Break it down

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About

Genius Annotation

Before they called themselves Naughty By Nature, the East Orange NJ rappers Tony “Double T Treachery” Criss, Kier “Kay Gee” Gist and “Vinnie Rock” Brown released an album for RCA Records under the name The New Style in 1989. Soon after, Criss flipped a local gangster’s epigram – “I’m down with O.P.M., other people’s money” – into a cheater’s anthem as “O.P.P.”

After writing down the phrase, “OPP, how can I explain it” in a notebook, Criss developed the concept by adding “catchy verses and phrases” to the song over several months:

We knew there had to be something for the guys and something for the girls. Pussy and penis. And the edited version of that was ‘property.’

The New Style began performing “O.P.P.” to enthusiastic crowds. Kay Gee remembered:

It did really well at live shows, with the call and response. We knew we had something, but we didn’t know how big it was.

After changing their name to Naughty By Nature, Tommy Boy Records (who initially passed on signing the group until a Warner Brothers VP convinced them to) released “O.P.P.” as the rebranded group’s debut single.

Initially, larger New York radio stations balked at airing the song, so Tommy Boy started a campaign to get the song played at pop-crossover stations – appealing to their love of Michael Jackson’s music, as he was sampled in “O.P.P.” Also, the song’s video became requested constantly on the show The Box – where viewers used a 900 number to call in their requests:

New videos would be introduced on Saturdays. I woke up that first Saturday morning, turned on The Box, and “O.P.P.” was playing. I was like, “Oh wow, what a great surprise!” Then another video came on, and after that “O.P.P.” came on again. And then again, right after that, back to back. Then another video, and “O.P.P.” one more time.

The song began gaining nationwide popularity, eventually climbing up the pop charts to #6 in late 1991. The phrase “Down Wit' O.P.P.” also became a nationwide craze, beginning with stickers, then t-shirts and more.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Naughty By Nature say about "O.P.P."?
Genius Answer

Rolling Stone published an article as well.

Credits
Executive Producer
Recording Engineer
Mixing Engineer
Mastering Engineer
Recorded At
Unique Recording Studio (NYC)
Release Date
August 24, 1991
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