Good morning.
Good morning! (smiling) What it do?
What does WHAT do?
That’s what I just asked you.
Excuse me??
‘What it do’ is just a form of greeting..kinda like ‘What’s going on?’, ‘What’s up?’ or ‘What’s happening?’
Oh. Is that some more of that ‘Southside lingo’?
You already know.
Who makes up all of these phrases?
What do you mean?
All of these phrases and colloquialisms like ‘What it Do’ Hittin Licks, ‘Pulling a Stunt’? Who makes them up? Is there some kind of Southside guru that creates them or something?
(laughing) Southside Guru??! Naww, the only guru on the Southside is reality.
Reality?
Yeah..that’s where most of those catchy phrases originate from.
Why don’t they use proper grammar and sentence structure for these phrases?
Because most people on the street don’t have any formal education. The streets don’t require things like proper semantics and grammar to make it, it’s all about communicating effectively.
I’m not from the street though, how am I supposed to KNOW these phrases?
If you get on the 52 Scott Metro bus route and ride it for a couple of hours, you’ll be able to pick up a lot of the lingo from conversations and context clues.
I’m not about to get on a public bus just to learn some Ebonics!
Well if you don’t want to get THAT close to the street, the next best thing is to just keep checking out Servinemup, it’ll keep you in the know.
‘In the Know’? I assume that means ‘informed’?
(smiling) You already know!!
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‘What it do’ is a very popular phrase on the Southside. Its not a pop cliché that’s just waiting to fade into oblivion as soon as the next catchy phrase shows up. Its actually a phrase that has been around for years and the spirit of its meaning will endure for eternity. Unlike other slogans that feed off popular music lyrics like, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ or ‘Whomp! There it is!’, 'what it do' cuts through all the b.s. and addresses what’s real. What’s real has very little to do with words or appearances. The core of what’s real is all about actions..what it do.
A lot of people go through life ‘running game’, making others think it is, when actually it ain’t. A common method of operation for these ‘game runners’ is to first make it LOOK good. Fresh dressed like a million bucks with shining clean cars, their glimmering appearance dazzles the masses. The glittering appearance is meant to be a distraction, much like a hypnotist sways a watch from side to side. Overloading the brain with graphic images that makes the eyes swirl, all the while bypassing the centurion of rational and conscious thought.
People in the know are all on top of these characters. No matter their intentions, or how sweet the words that these ‘fly’ people speak, the wise are not distracted by their razzle dazzle. Street people have seen this game of deception time and time again, and they know its not how it looks or what it says, its ALL about what it does.
What it do isn’t exclusive to the Southside, it applies everywhere in the world and is rooted in many Biblical scriptures, I John 2: 15-17 being one example:
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
That 17th verse is very specific, it doesn’t say ‘he who SAYS or ‘he who WRITES’ or ‘he who READS’ or even ‘he who TALKS ABOUT’. It specifically says, ‘he who DOES the will of God abides forever.’ What it do has nothing to do with external appearance or verbal declarations. What it do is all about what’s real…our actions.
Of course, everyone who says ‘What it do’ isn’t thinking about God and His laws when they say it. Most of the time its just used as a simple greeting between friends. Sometimes it’s used as a suggestive flirt between two lovers. And sometimes wild eyes and a quivering stance accompany the phrase as a dope fiend searches for his next fix. The undeniable truth is that it doesn’t matter how you say it, when you say it or where you say it. The only thing that matters, is what you do.
