-izzle

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"-izzle" is a suffix or infix associated with a language game or code used by American English speakers, similar to Pig Latin, originating in African American communities during the previous century and revived by hip hop, and rap music artists. It is sometimes called "Snoop speak" [1] because it was popularized by Snoop Dogg. The code was first noted in music by Frankie Smith in his 1981 single "Double Dutch Bus". However, "-izzle" was introduced by E-40 within hip-hop. It is also described in some circles as the "sheng phenomenon".

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[edit] "Izz" infix usage

Although there are no hard-and-fast rules governing its usage, in general, the izz infix technique is performed by inserting izz, usually after a word's last pre-vowel consonant in its final syllable without deleting any letters.

Examples: minute becomes minizzute, and Kazakhstan becomes Kazakhstizzan. One-syllable words generally translate better with this technique: cream becomes crizzeam, for example.

It can also be performed by inserting izz at the beginning of a lone vowel: A becomes Izza and O becomes Izzo. This specific technique is implemented in Jay-Z's song "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" found on his album The Blueprint.

It can also be added onto the end of words, as in the phrase fo' shizzle meaning for sure and televizzle meaning television.

[edit] Origins

The origins of '-iz' spawn from the postwar harlem renaissance when little black girls used to stand on the street and jump rope, making up nursery rhymes on the fly. Sometimes the words wouldn't fit the measure and so they would use '-iz', or doubling letters or syllables in words to make it fit the measure.

While Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z are credited for popularizing these techniques in the early 2000s, previous artists used them or similar forms earlier.

Early musical uses of the izz infixes came from funk musician Frankie Smith's 1981 hit single "The Double Dutch Bus". The song's bridge contained numerous uses, such as "gizzirl", "whizzat", "mizzove", and "wizzay" (for "girl", "what", "move", and "way", respectively). It also used ilz infixes in a set of names, like "Bilzarbra", "Tilzommy", and "Milzary" ("Barbara", "Tommy", and "Mary"). In fact Snoop Dogg samples Frankie Smith's version of "The Double-Dutch Bus" in his song "Snoop Dogg". Smith's 1981 album Children of Tomorrow also contained a song entitled "Slang Thang (Slizang Thizang)", which outlined the rules for speaking in this manner.

But earlier, The Icemen do "(My Girl) She's A Fox" (Samar 1966) featuring Jimi Hendrix on guitar, and Lonnie Youngblood. The song closes with the Iceman singing "She's a fizzox" several times over. The song is really a remake of The Impressions "Gypsy Woman" with new lyrics.[2]

The 1985 song "Roxanne Roxanne" by UTFO used the izz infixes with lines like: "The izzi is the grizzeat Kizzangizzo" and "Then crizzi to gizzone and seen number izzone".

Rapper E-40 was not the first to record the -izzle suffix, but he is known to be the first to record the similar suffix -eezy in his 1996 album Tha Hall Of Game. His song "Rappers Ball" contains the line "We off the heezy fo'sheezy." His song "Records Haters" contains the line "3X Krazy laced me, taught me how to say fo'sheezy."

From 1991, the song "Playground" by rap/R&B group Another Bad Creation also used izz infixes in the line: "M to the Izzark chillin' in the pizzark ... mother said be home by dizzark."

Bay Area rappers Seagram and Gangsta P are famous for recording the 1993 song "Straight Mobbin'", which is performed entirely with izz and izzle words (except for the memorable line: "White folks tryin' to get up on the convo").

Snoop's first recorded use of this technique came in Dr. Dre's 1992 album, The Chronic in the opener, "The Chronic (Intro)" and was later popularized through his 2000 single "Snoop Dogg (What's My Name, Part 2)". A few examples are "That crazy 40 year old still lives in his mother's hizzouse," "Well if that kid can't swim...well she bound to drizzown!" and "Peace to my nigga Drizzay" by Dr. Dre.

[edit] Shizzle

Shizzle is a slang word for "sure", coined in the 1970s and popularized by rap star Snoop Dogg, because of his love of the lifestyle of the 70's. It has been adopted by several rappers and reggae deejays and is commonly used as: fo' shizzle as in, "for sure", often paired with "my nizzle" as in, "my nigga". This pairing became popular after Snoop Dogg used it in his song, "What's My Name (Part 2)" on his Album Tha Last Meal. At the beginning of the song, Snoop talks over the beat:

Izzle kizzle, fo' shizzle
My nizzle, what you sizzle?
Fo' shizzle bizzle, ha ha
(Lyrics)

A simple example is translating the word "house", to become "hizzouse".

An example of a sentence using this technique of slang is:

  • This new doggyfizzle televizzle gon' be off da hizzle, fo shizzle.
  • Translation: This new Snoop Dogg television show is going to be off the hook (meaning great), for sure.

This has led to the use of Shizzle to mean "shit", in its slang form meaning "cool", to replace any noun in popular speech, much like "shizznit", as in "my shizzle's hella fizzle, yo." Such terms can be used in slightly more polite company, or to get past censors on TV or radio.

[edit] Pop culture

By 2003, "Snoop Speak" fully entered the pop culture lexicon[citation needed] and showed up in a number of movies and commercials as jokes. The slang code is popular among hip-hop aficionados in a variety of pop-culture settings, and signifies hip coolness.[3]

  • In the film Legally Blonde 2, a character played by Bob Newhart says "Fo-shizzle, my izzle."
  • In the film Austin Powers: Goldmember, during the parody of "Hard Knock Life", Dr. Evil sings "D to the Rizzo, E to the Vizzo, I to the Lizzo"
  • In an Old Navy commercial, actress Fran Drescher says "My Shizzle's Gone Fazizzle."
  • A New York Times article is titled "Fo' Shizzle, That Big Bad Chrysler Really Does Sizzle."
  • In Scrubs, The character of Turk uses -izzle language on many occassions.
  • In the 2003 film Head of State, an elderly woman says "It's off the hizzle for shizzle."
  • In an AOL commercial with actor Jerry Stiller, Snoop parodies himself by saying "Now wait just one minizzle" after which the characters surrounding him respond with laughter.
  • FHM magazine in Australia entitled an article about Snoop Dogg "20 Thizzles You Ought To Know About Snoop Dogg".
  • In the film Hoodwinked, one character, Granny, is challenged by one of her young friends, "So what's the dizzle, Grizzle? You ready to ice that hill, playa?", to which she responds, "Fo' shizzle."
  • The website Gizoogle, a parody of Google, uses the izzle suffix in their "translations" of websites.
  • Experimental hip-hop-funk-punk-dance-core band Soophie Nun Squad has released an LP entitled Pazzizzle Slizzles the Drizzle (Passion Slays the Dragon).
  • In an episode of 30 Rock, called "The Break Up", Tracy and Toofer are having a discussion about African American identity. Toofer consults a dictionary to look up -izzle and finds the definition to be "izzle: a suffix that can be used to take the place of anything". Tracy replies, "Now you're just being patronizzle".
  • In Season 3, Episode 9 of The Office, Michael Scott uses the sentence "Yo, that's shizzle."
  • By 2004, Snoop said he had grown tired of "Snoop Speak's" prevalence and admitted that he overused it himself. However, this has not prevented him from using it in a 2005 Chrysler commercial with Lee Iacocca.
  • When Snoop hosted Saturday Night Live, as part of the opening monologue he jokingly asked people to stop using the izzle language, claiming he's had elderly white women approach him saying "Fo shizzle my nizzle". Snoop mentions that "nizzle does not mean neighbour".
  • In the 2008 film Get Smart, two intelligence techies at Control are blaming each other for the failure of the Cone of Silence when one comments, "You said, 'The cone's the shizzle.'"
  • In 2009, the slang term FlipShizzle was used to refer to a Laptop Computer with good power from Dell Computer.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ E! News - Snoop Sues Over "Izzle" Flap
  2. ^ before
  3. ^ Kathleen E. Miller: "On Language: Izzle", The New York Times, September 12, 2004. [1] or [2]
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-izzle"
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