The Nigga Ya Love To Hate Lyrics

[Hook]
(Fuck you Ice Cube!)
Yeah, haha! It’s the nigga you love to hate
(Fuck you Ice Cube!)
(Ay yo baby, your mother warned you about me)
It's the nigga you love to hate
(Yo, you ain’t doin' nothin' positive!
Yo, you ain’t doin' nothin 'positive for the brothers, what you gotta say for yourself?)
(You don't like how I'm living? Well, fuck you)

[Verse 2: Ice Cube]
Once again it's on, the motherfucking psycho
Ice Cube the bitch-killer, cap-peeler
Yo, running through the line like Bo, there's no pot to piss in
I put my fist in
Now, who do ya love to hate?
Cause I talk shit and down the eight-ball 'cause I don't fake
You're begging I fall off
The crossover, might as well cut them balls off
And get your ass ready for the Lenching
The Mob is dropping common sense and
We'll gank in the pen', we'll shank
Any Tom, Dick and Hank, and get the ass spanked
It ain't about how right or wrong you live, but how long you live
I ain't with the bullshit
I meet mo' bitches, mo' hoes
Don't wanna sleep, so I keep popping No-Doz
And tell the young people what they gotta know
'Cause I hate when niggas gotta live low
And if you're locked up I dedicate my stylin'
From San Quentin to Rikers Island
We got 'em afraid of the funky shit
I like to clown so pump up the sound
In your Jeep, make the old ladies say
"Oh my god — brake, it's the nigga ya love to hate"
[Hook]
(Fuck you Ice Cube)
Yeah come on fool, it’s the nigga you love to hate
(Fuck you Ice Cube)
Yeah, what up, punk? It’s the nigga you love to hate
[Yo, who the fuck you think you are callin' girls bitches. You ain’t all that, all I hear is this bitch. I ain’t nobody’s bitch]
A bitch is a...ohhhh

[Verse 3: Ice Cube]
Soul Train done lost they soul
Just call it train cause the bitches look like hoes

I see a lotta others damn
It almost look like the Bandstand

You ask me: "did I like Arsenio?"
About as much as the Bicentennial
I don't give a fuck about dissing these fools
'Cause they all scared of the Ice Cube
And what I say, what I portray and all that
And ain't even seen the gat
I don't wanna see no dancing
I'm sick of that shit -- listen to the hit
'Cause yo if I look and see another brother
On the video trying to out-dance each other
I'ma tell T-Bone to pass the bottle
And don't give me that shit about role model
It ain't wise to chastise and preach
Just open the eyes of each
'Cause laws are made to be broken up
What niggas need to do is start loc-ing up
And build mold and fold theyself into shape
Of the nigga you love to hate

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  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

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About

Genius Annotation

Ice Cube’s classic (and often-borrowed; see here and here) polemical theme: you love to hate him! You hate to love him!

Ice Cube provided some background for this track:

That was originally supposed to be a song for N.W.A [lyrically, not the music]. I felt like mainstream America hated us [N.W.A], like they thought we was the worst thing to come out to America since… Columbus! [laughs] And that fired us up, because it meant that we was being heard. That was the most important thing. I mean, rap is the blues, especially gangsta rap, because you’re hearing our pain, whether you agree with it or like it or not. You’re hearing what we’ve got to say. If not, then you’re voiceless, you’re not even a number to a lot of these… people in high places.

We had different choruses for that song. One went, ‘Love, hate’ and then other things in there. And we was trying to find stuff that we could scratch in. I thought about it for a long time, like a whole day. And then I came up with, ‘Fuck you, Ice Cube!,’ like people were mad at us for doing hardcore rap. And everyone in the studio thought I was crazy, like, ‘How you gonna say ‘Fuck yourself’ on your own record?!’ We talked about it for a long time and then Chuck said that it was dope, he liked it. So we did it.

Producer Sir Jinx said the following about his discussion with Ice Cube about the chorus:

I'ma tell you something: me and Cube had a disagreement on the ‘Fuck you Ice Cube.’ I was like, ‘Why would you want somebody to say, 'Fuck you?’‘ And he loves this…

Q&A

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

Were the lyrics & music originally intended for an Ice Cube track?
Genius Answer

No. Ice Cube had originally written the lyrics of this track for an N.W.A song and Eric Sadler originally wrote the music for a James Brown-like singer who went by “The Baanleader”.

Credits
Copyright ©
Phonographic Copyright ℗
Performance Rights
Background Vocals
Co-Producer
Assistant Engineer
Mastering Engineer
Recorded At
Greene St. Recording (New York City)
Release Date
May 16, 1990
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