How we made Luniz's I Got 5 on It
The record we sampled, Why You Treat Me So Bad by Club Nouveau, was always the dopest. A million rappers were rapping over another record of theirs, Rumors, but I was always about this beat. It just grabbed you. It was the late 80s when I first heard it – my sister used to play it and I was mesmerised by that “boop boop”, those keys at the beginning. That shit was hypnotising.
At the time in rap, everyone was talking about getting high but no one was talking about what it took to get high. We were struggling kids, fresh outta high school, messing about on the streets. It used to be you’d go five and five on a $10 bag of marijuana. Being real comedians, we thought it’d be funny to do a track talking about trying to put our money together to buy a sack. Like, “I think I got two bucks in my sock, what you got?” That was our reality at the time. That phrase just meant you wanted to pitch in on some weed.
Originally, we rapped the hook but [producer] Tone Capone wanted a singer on it. He was already working with Mike Marshall from Timex Social Club and so he added the melody. Everything about it was perfect.
When it was on mainstream radio, there were people getting down to it who just thought it was a catchy line. Our slang camouflaged what we were actually saying, and that allowed the song to spread to places it couldn’t have if it was real explicit, like, “Roll up, light up, smoke that weed, kids!” After the song blew up, it became universal – you could put five on anything. “I got five on some beer”, “I got five on some McDonald’s”, “I got five on some gas.”
It’s a blessing knowing we were able to represent weed culture and put a weed anthem out there on mainstream radio and TV. We killed it with the lyrics, the beat was powerful and it’s got a powerful-ass hook.
All we ever wanted was to get something on our hometown radio. We knew with this track we had something for the [San Francisco] Bay Area. But we had no idea it was gonna be a worldwide hit or a classic. Now it’s in the Jordan Peele movie Us, which has breathed new life into the song. There’s a slowed-down, orchestral version in the movie and, let me tell you, it’s spooky.
Tone Capone, producer
Yuk and Numskull came to me with the record they wanted to turn into a beat. I knew it already and had the 12in cos I was a DJ. I liked the groove but there was way too much reverb in the mix. The drums were too far back. It didn’t match up with my sound at that time, which was really upfront – I wanted everything in your face. So I slowed down the beat and added bells, voices and scratches.
We took it to Pajama studios in Oakland, laid it down and I knew right away it was a good song. Five is my
favourite number. I was born on 5 November, and when I played baseball, I wore the number five. So it was already lucky to me. I’d just had a kid when it came out in 95, so when it blew up, it was a good year for me. Did it help pay for diapers and cribs and shit? For sure!
I’d done a couple things before this: an Erik B and Rakim remix, a song on the first SWV album … but this was major. People were singing it in Germany, in France. People were hitting me from London. Over the years, Puffy’s used it, Meek Mill has used it, Yo Gotti has used it, J-Lo did a remix, Jessica Simpson did a version. It’s been crazy.
To me, it’s a record that says, “Let’s party.” That’s all it’s really saying. “Hey, let’s go get a bag, smoke and have fun.” I Got Five on It means collaborate and get together. Now, because of Us, a whole new generation are about to party to it.
• Us is out on DVD on 18 June.