Izzle

-izzle

"-izzle" is a suffix is associated with a language game or code used by American English speakers, similar to Pig Latin, in African American and hip hop slang. It is sometimes called "Snoop speak" because it was popularized by Snoop Dogg, but it was used much earlier by Frankie Smith and Martinez the Great in his 1981 hit 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."

Carnies (carnival workers) have used "iz" in precisely the same fashion for centuries. A dialect emerged from the practice of adding "ee-uz" after each consonant, and was dubbed "Ciazarn" (from the dialectized form of "carny").

"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.

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. Interestingly, the song is really a remake of The Impressions "Gypsy Woman" with new lyrics.

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. Its usage didn't reach high pop culture status until Jay-Z's 2001 song "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)".

Shizzle

Shizzle is a rap slang word for "sure", coined by E-40 and popularized by rap star Snoop Dogg. 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)

Snoop Dogg himself probably did not expect the phrase "Fo' shizzle my nizzle" to gain such popularity. First, the phrase is broken by a long pause on the track itself, suggesting that Snoop himself considered "Izzle kizzle, fo' shizzle" to be one phrase ("It's okay, for sure") and "My nizzle, what you sizzle?" to be another ("My nigga, what you say?"). Snoop's laughter at the end of the blurb further suggests that the whole intro was just meant to be a joke, albeit one that caught on quite broadly.

The song Double Dutch Bus, written by Frankie Smith originally spawned the use of 'izzle' as a suffix for words. While used in its purest form and true meaning as listed above, izzle as a suffix was rarely used, with exceptions occurring in a song now and then. But as the pop and rap scene grew increasingly successful, the phrase became quite popular. Those who heard the phrase, not understanding its meaning, often misinterpreted it, and further spread it without fully understanding it.

This has led to the use of Shizzle to mean "shit" 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.

"Shizzle my Nizzle" has also become a popular phrase to express surprise in New Zealand, popularised by Glen Browne who is also the author of the wildly popular Diggy Dr Brzay's word of the Dzay.

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 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 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 "_2006-2007", 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.

References

Kathleen E. Miller: "On Language: Izzle", The New York Times, September 12, 2004. Fulltext: or
Russell Jones - SOH 2006. "Number #1 BABY!"
Crockett , Stephen A. "Gizoogle.com, the Wizard of Izzle." The Washington Post 10 Mar. 2005: