Kodak Black — Shampoo | Analyrical Content
Below you find the lyrics to the song, then an image, then my analysis of the song, and then an image, and then some additional comments. The lyrics will be in bold and my comments will look like this.
Lyrics:
[Intro]
Got the bitch dizzy
Yak and cheese whip
Yakaroni drip
Yak sauce, condiment
Drip store, condiment
I got the condiment, man
Know what I’m sayin’ (Dzy on the beat)
The drip store
Condiment, Yak sauce
[Verse 1]
Baby, love got the fake job with the botox
Yeah, nigga, don’t paint job like butterscotch
I was ‘cross town zootin’ with my dude Pookaduke
Yeah, nigga, train different color like fruit loop
Favorite girl calls and she stay in Michigan
Drunk a lotta coffee and I gotta shit again
Niggas know they ain’t seein’ Yak ’cause they never did
Yeah, nigga, MAC can’t suppress like the evidence
Made a lot of Haitians turn Jеwish, told ’em, “God said”
I ain’t got no phone to talk to Murda on a iPad
Switchin’ up rentals, you ain’t еven know what car I’m in
Yeah, nigga, I got the sauce like condiment
[Chorus]
Yeah, nigga, I been smokin’ deuce with the camera crew
Yeah, nigga, I been drinkin’ Goose like the animal
Furniture mahogany and the whole floor bamboo
Yeah, nigga, bitch soakin’ wet, nigga, shampoo
[Verse 2]
Drop my last album same day a bitch overdosed
Next day, they found Jay Martin layin’, comatose
Don’t paint job butterscotch, seats butter toast
Bitch, I’m tryna fuck you wife, nigga got your number for?
Bakin’ soda Pyrex, whippin’ up a dope cake
Mix match designer, rockin’ Gucci with the Dolce
Flees on fluffy and McQueen on ‘61
Kodak Black went Bodak Yellow on a Bentley truck
Cuban links so damn big, they like, “What the fuck?”
Bitch, I’m tryna fuck, why you think I got your number for?
Ain’t nothin’ sweet, keep a piece like buttercup
Snuck up in a club with the fire, that’s a tummy tuck
[Chorus]
Yeah, nigga, I been smokin’ deuce with the camera crew
Yeah, nigga, I been drinkin’ Goose like the animal
Furniture mahogany and the whole floor bamboo
Yeah, nigga, bitch soakin’ wet, nigga, shampoo
Let’s get into this analytical (analytical lyrical) analysis.
Got the bitch dizzy
Yak and cheese whip
Yakaroni drip
Yak sauce, condiment
Drip store, condiment
I got the condiment, man
Know what I’m sayin’ (Dzy on the beat)
The drip store
Condiment, Yak sauce
I’ve included the screenshot from the music video above. It says that Yak sauce is a “Highly recommended product for bald-headed bitches. works tremendously well. Nourish hair instantly and glow.”
Without the video, you wouldn’t be able to know that this was humorous. The handwriting with a dash of kindergarten energy and creativity. Knowing this sets a different tone and it contrasts the actual language being used in the song. Throughout this piece, the urban poet uses a lot of contrasts to make his points and lose his audience.
Baby, love got the fake job with the botox
Yeah, nigga, don’t paint job like butterscotch
I was ‘cross town zootin’ with my dude Pookaduke
Yeah, nigga, train different color like fruit loop
Favorite girl calls and she stay in Michigan
Drunk a lotta coffee and I gotta shit again
Niggas know they ain’t seein’ Yak ’cause they never did
Yeah, nigga, MAC can’t suppress like the evidence
Made a lot of Haitians turn Jеwish, told ’em, “God said”
I ain’t got no phone to talk to Murda on a iPad
Switchin’ up rentals, you ain’t еven know what car I’m in
Yeah, nigga, I got the sauce like condiment
First line. Kodak has a way of writing where he leaves out words and allows the readers to fill in the blanks. For example, he leaves out nouns and personal pronouns at times for you to fill in.
But here because he uses the word “with” we can assume that the fake job is a boob job. And he loves it allegedly, but then he uses very contrasting language again. “Baby & love” vs “fake & botox”.
This implies some uncertainty that the writer is going through internally.
He then uses a lot of repetition with all his “yeah niggas” being the start of his thoughts. In the second line I can only assume the paint job refers to cars and the color is butterscotch. In the video, this color is repeatedly seen as an accent color and it's the same color as the shampoo bottles.
The third line. I know to be zooted is to be high. I like how he’s turned this noun into a verb. Pookaduke must be his friend but the name is also a reference to a Simpsons episode with Pookadook, who was a parody of Babadook. Both are associated with fear, spirits, and horror. This also paints more contrast between “my dude” or a friendly person and “pookaduke” who is also associated with unfriendly characteristics.
Moving on to the fruit loop line. At first, this rhyme seemed a bit off when I heard it, but it was a creative rhyme choice and it allowed him to use 12 syllables just like he did in the previous line.
He then goes to arguably his funniest line in the song about coffee. Here we see more humor, adding to the lightheartedness of the song, and he continues to follow his style of dropping the personal pronouns.
The 7th line. In the video, it starts with him getting his hair washed and using the product, implying that he’s got the sauce or the results of the sauce. And “niggas”, have never experienced the results, nonetheless even seen the bottle.
The following like. This simile is saying that makeup can’t hide flaws. Assuming that MAC is the makeup company…which wouldn’t make too much sense to the target audience. So I’m not confident in this statement. This is just a guess.
Next line is about Haitians. His wiki says: “Kodak Black was born Dieuson Octave on June 11, 1997, in Pompano Beach, Florida, the son of Haitian immigrant Marcelene Octave.”
So he’s not referring to part of his people. He’s playing the role of a messenger from the Jewish god, Yahweh, and tells the Haitians, who are likely Christians or practice other forms of spirituality to convert. This is only something a prophet would do.
Also, I believe there are alleged claims that he is one of the black people who believe they are Hebrew Israelites. While I don’t adhere to this ideology, I think it’s important to highlight the type of environment that America has created for this wave to grow.
Next line. So far the continuity of the song isn’t there. I don’t see one idea flowing into the next. It seems like a bunch of phrases put together with only slight foresight, and then not edited afterwards.
2nd to last line. Up til now he’s expressed how he’s different than everyone else, he’s like a prophet, he doesn’t have a phone, and he switches up rental cars to stay out of the public eye.
Last line. We can see him painting himself in a really bright light yet pointing out how his life is unstable.
This last line ties into the first stanza — we now have a full picture of what the sauce is.
Yeah, nigga, I been smokin’ deuce with the camera crew
Yeah, nigga, I been drinkin’ Goose like the animal
Furniture mahogany and the whole floor bamboo
Yeah, nigga, bitch soakin’ wet, nigga, shampoo
Very nice visual, smoking a deuce gives the image of something being passed around in rotation, and the things in rotation around him are cameras. So you can imagine both a smoke cloud going in circles and a bunch of flashes coming at all angles.
The Goose line. This is a bar. But it’s a 5/10 bar. That’s like saying “I’ve been drinking Brandy like the singer”. Possibly a 3/10.
Next line. Nice contrast of shades in the room, but the idea doesn’t flow or follow any theme. However, it will be the start of him using visual contrast.
He then claims that he has their bitch soaking wet, calls them a nigga, and then gives them the remedy, shampoo. Which he uses to get his success — as a joke.
Drop my last album same day a bitch overdosed
Next day, they found Jay Martin layin’, comatose
Don’t paint job butterscotch, seats butter toast
Bitch, I’m tryna fuck you wife, nigga got your number for?
Bakin’ soda Pyrex, whippin’ up a dope cake
Mix match designer, rockin’ Gucci with the Dolce
Flees on fluffy and McQueen on ‘61
Kodak Black went Bodak Yellow on a Bentley truck
Cuban links so damn big, they like, “What the fuck?”
Bitch, I’m tryna fuck, why you think I got your number for?
Ain’t nothin’ sweet, keep a piece like buttercup
Snuck up in a club with the fire, that’s a tummy tuck
The first lines are very nice. A nice continuity of ideas, continuing the theme of “the end”. It was his last album and it was her last day. The word “drop” is a nice choice because the album dropped and likely we get an image of her body dropping too.
Comatose line. Lyrics online say “caramel toast”, but that’s not what I hear. I think other websites are getting the lyrics wrong, this is what I’m hearing and this makes more sense to have one death mentioned after the other to make the ideas parallel.
3rd line. This is another nice contrast of colors. First, he painted the image of the inside of the room, and now he zooms in to the inside of the car.
Next line: He then opens up honestly about his intentions. The person he’s talking to is just a means to get to the woman he wants to have sex with.
Next line: He creates a nice visual of him making cocaine in the kitchen and plays with his words comparing coke to a cake, but starting the line with a product that can resemble the finished product.
Next line: Very weak line in my opinion. These brands are overused in hip-hop. But this continues with a contrast of designs but this time on his body.
Next line: IDK what the hell he is trying to say with this. I know hip-hop is meant to be personal, but I think when you’re making music you might want to make some things clear with other clues that reference the same point. There’s no way to understand this just from the text without outside knowledge. And this is okay because it’s rap, a genre that requires you to be informed to understand the context. I’m just not informed.
Next line: He then refers to Cardi B’s popular song as the color he used for his truck, and calls a shade of butterscotch “Bodak Yellow”. Even though I think butterscotch is more of an orange-brown, I can see how you might put it on a dark yellow spectrum. This was a nice comparison because this song was a HUGE success.
Then there are two questions in the row, but one as an exclamation and the other as a rhetorical question.
2nd to last line: I believe this is a mistake and it should be “butter cup” in reference to Reese’s pieces butter cups. Here he’s saying that even though he has the sauce and the secret to success, and his success is painted butterscotch on everything, nothing is sweet, and he’s still living in an unstable lifestyle where he feels the need to walk around protected.
The last line has a lot of assonance with the “uh” sound in snuck, club, tummy, and tuck. Well done. The metaphor that compares concealing a weapon with a tummy tuck, and its really nice because the verb “tuck” can also be used to how he “snuck” the gun in.
[Repeated chorus here]
Some of the writer's highest achievements are being able to drink, and smoke with a camera crew, which implies that he’s famous and that people want to see him
This song perfectly describes the paradox of the rap lifestyle. There is tough competition between peers. Some people make it and discover the sauce, and those who don’t typically will be jealous. Having the sauce makes you a victim of violence and hence paranoia to the point where you have to protect yourself.
This serves as a reminder that not all that glitters is gold. Or not everything that is butterscotch is sweet. And he plays back and forth with this thought in the way he expresses his sweet life.
Literary devices
I don’t think that much thought went into writing this besides creating a generic framework to write the song in.
Tones of voice
Very confident, bold, braggadocious. But the tone throughout the song is the same, but it also sounds very empty because nothing was actually said.
Continuity, logic, story & theme
There’s a theme that not everything that is butterscotch is sweet which is another way he visually shows that not everything that glitters is gold.
Creative moments
Not many. The most creative line was the coffee line and that wasn’t anything great to come up with. Nor was it connected to other parts of the songs.
Vocal performance/ Execution of words
Nothing really, he doesn’t so anything unique with his instrument. Nor anything to keep the listener's attention.
Flow(s)
I’m biased. But I don’t think he raps on beat. Sometimes he does, but other times it seems like his pausing could be improved to be more impactful. Perhaps this is intentional.
Pronunciation
Everything is said pretty clearly.
Relation to the Artist’s image (marketing)
No idea. I don’t listen to him to know enough.
How it fits in with the theme of the album (is there even a theme)
This song didn't seem like the type of song to have a theme and be tied into other songs, but I haven’t heard the album. I’m just guessing based on how poorly this one was planned out.
Are there areas for improvement?
Everything. The flows. Using his voice as an instrument. The writing. The rhymes. The literary devices. The storytelling. Maintaining ideas for more than just 2 lines in a row.
I’m not sure what the purpose of the song is, but I believe it's to spread the message of the lifestyle of having the sauce. It’s hard to come to this conclusion without the help of the music video. The lyrics themselves don’t complete the full picture. So my heart gives this song a 4/10 lyrically, however, based on the concept I’d give it a 5/10 because I like the idea of using yellow adjacent colors to compare the value of gold and the sweetness of butterscotch to the rich-and-famous-life. Yet I don’t find the word to be an accurate description because I don’t think it’s close enough to yellow.
