-izzle
From Freepedia
"-izzle" is a suffix used for hip hop slang. It is sometimes called "Snoop Speak" or "Snoop Slang" because it was popularized by rapper Snoop Dogg, although several other musicians have used similar slang long before him. The "izz" infix technique is a similar form of this practice. Snoop's first known recorded use of "-izzle" came from his 1993 album Doggystyle, and was later popularized through his 2000 single "Snoop Dogg (What's My Name, Part 2)".
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"Izzle" suffix usage
The "-izzle" suffix technique is performed by inserting "-izzle" after a word's last pre-vowel consonant in its final syllable while deleting the remaining letters: "minute" becomes "minitizzle" and "America" becomes "Americizzle." Using the technique with a one syllable word usually creates a word that is impossible to decipher: "cream," "crime," and "crap" all translate into "crizzle." Nevertheless, it is here that the suffix is often used: "thizzle" "thing" (FHM magazine) and "bizzle" "bear" (Starsky and Hutch) have turned up.
The best-known example of using the "-izzle" suffix is "fo' shizzle", meaning "for sure."
The common phrase "fo' shizzle my nizzle." roughly translates "for sure, my nigga."
"Izz" infix usage
The "izz" infix technique is performed by inserting "izz" after a word's last pre-vowel consonant in its final syllable without deleting any letters: "minute" becomes "minizzute," and "America" becomes "Americizza."
One syllyble words generally translate better with this technique: "cream" becomes "crizzeam" and "crap" becomes "crizzap."
It can also be performed by inserting izz at the beginning of a lone vowel: "I" becomes "Izzi" and "O" becomes "Izzo."
Snoop's first recorded use of this technique came in the 1993 song "Tha Shiznit," where Snoop raps "Is Dr. Drizzay, so lizzay and plizzay With D-O-double-Gizzay?" Its usage didn't reach high pop culture status until Jay-Z's 2001 song "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)."
Origins
While Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z are credited for popularizing these techniques in the early 2000s, previous artists used them or similar forms earlier.
The first musical use 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," "wizzat," "mizzove," and "wizzay" (the above words are "girl," "what," "move," and "way"). It also used "ilz" infixes in a set of names of names, like "Bilzarbra," "Tilzommy," and "Milzary" ("Barbara", "Tommy," and "Mary"). Snoop Dogg in fact interpolates "The Double-Dutch Bus" in his song "Snoop Dogg".
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 offshoot 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 preteen 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."
Carnies (carnival worker) have used 'iz' in precisely the same fashion for centuries.
Pop culture
By 2003, "Snoop Speak" fully entered the pop culture lexicon and showed up in a number of movies and commercials as jokes.
- In the film Legally Blonde 2, a character performed by Bob Newhart says "Fo-shizzle, my izzle."
- 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 the 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.
- Disney Channel commercials for the cartoon Kim Possible have one of the show's villians use "heezy" in various ways: "Off the heezy."
- FHM magazine in Australia entitled an article about Snoop Dogg "20 Thizzles You Ought To Know About Snoop Dogg".
The website Gizoogle uses the "-izzle" suffix in their "translations" of websites. Gizoogle is a parody of the search engine Google.
By 2004, Snoop said he had gone tired of "Snoop Speak's" prevelance and admitted that he overused it himself. This, however, has not prevented him from using the lexicon in a 2005 Chrysler commercial with Lee Iacocca.
References
- Kathleen E. Miller: "On Language: Izzle", The New York Times, September 12, 2004. Fulltext: [1] or [2]
