Bitch, you thirsty, please grab a Sprite
My Crips lurking, don't die tonight
I just want to dance with you, baby
Just don't move too fast, I'm too crazy
Man down, Downey Ave, it gets shady
Take a nigga mind off that
We can dip, fuck in the whip, slide right back in the function
One wrong word, start busting
Put that on my Yankee hat
I'm a gangsta Crip, fuck gangsta rap
Where the ladies at? Where the hoes? Where the bitches?
Every real nigga know the difference
Bandana brown like the dope daddy shooting in the kitchen
Real Norfside nigga, never went to Poly, Wilson, or Cabrillo
Cocaine color of a Creole
T-Skrap moving for the D-low, and he know
[Chorus]
I ain't never ran from nothing but the police
I ain't never ran from nothing but the police
I ain't never ran from nothing but the police
From the city where the skinny carry strong heat
Norfside, Long Beach (Norfside, Long Beach)
[Verse 2]
Hit the corner, make a dollar flipping
Split the dollars with my mama children
Folks need Porsches, hoes need abortions
I just need y'all out of my business
Never no problem playing no bitches
Never no problem spraying no witnesses
No face, no case, been with the shit
Hopped out broad day, then emptied clips
Cut class 'cause it wasn't 'bout cash
School wasn't no fun, couldn't bring my gun
Know a change gon' come like Obama 'nem say
But they shooting everyday 'round my mama 'nem way
So we put an AK where Kiana and them stay
And that's for any nigga say he got a problem with me
How I'm Cripping where I'm living, come and follow me
Pistol popping, Poppy Street
I ain't never ran from nothing but the police
I ain't never ran from nothing but the police
I ain't never ran from nothing but the police
From the city where the skinny carry strong heat
Norfside, Long Beach (Norfside, Long Beach)
[Verse 3]
Nate Dogg still here 'cause of niggas like me
Police still scared 'cause of niggas like me
In the hood, like a dollar sweet tea or a Louis Burger
You ain't with the business, nigga, who you murdered?
You ain't heard of Coldchain? Best thang smokin' out the city
Riding 'round with the same shotgun that shot Ricky
Lil' nigga should've zig-zagged, then he got his back wet
Naughty running Norfside, niggas better fact-check
Fronting with the gun talk, I ain't heard a clap yet
All my niggas from the street, they the niggas best yet
'Cept for Lil' Halftime, brody bang the Five Blocks
Sorry, I hit your homie five times, better grab chalk
Did it, got away with it out the Civic
We Cripping, Long Beach City, pay a visit
Park Ramona, Pop-block the corner
Giving hell 'til it's frozen over
I ain't never ran from nothing
About
One of three Clams Casino produced tracks on Summertime ‘06, “Norf Norf” finds Vince Staples pridefully repping his origins; the Norfside of Long Beach, CA. Vince talked about the city in an interview with self-titled:
[Long Beach is] the suburbs—not in the sense of safety or of how it looks, but in the sense of how it’s set up. Everyone knows everyone; it’s a small place, not one you get out of. And it’s really difficult, whether you talk economically, racially—it’s not the same as LA at all.
Nobody do nothing in Long Beach but gangbang. But we’ve been doing that our whole life.
In October of 2016, a video of a Christian mother analyzing the lyrics surfaced. The video went viral and the song was made popular again, a year after its release.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
In October 2016, an 11-minute video of a Christian mother of four ranting about Vince’s “Norf Norf” being played on 104.5 radio surfaced social media. After expressing how she was displeased with the words she heard while dropping off her daughter, the woman went on to say “we need to pray guys, for our youth.”
Read Genius' full article here!
In an interview with Tyler the Creator, Vince has said that the concept of the video was based off the Andy Griffith Show specifically mimicking the emotion-vs-content contrast in that it’s a “light-hearted show about people being inside of a jail”.
Vince talks about his intentions to communicate the irony he sees in Long Beach by creating “the Andy Griffith Show in reverse”:
“It’s such a beautiful place and it’s such an angry atmosphere. We’re in the best place possible—we’re at the end of the fucking Earth where everyone wants to be—and we have the wrong outlook on life. I just wanted to show that clash.”
- 2.Lift Me Up
- 3.Norf Norf
- 4.Birds & Bees
- 5.Loca
- 6.Lemme Know
- 7.Dopeman
- 9.Señorita
- 10.Summertime
- 12.3230
- 13.Surf
- 14.Might Be Wrong
- 15.Get Paid
- 16.Street Punks
- 17.Hang N’ Bang
- 18.C.N.B.
- 19.Like It Is
- 20.’06