Monie Love - "Monie In The Middle" (video, lyrics, and comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about the British Hip Hop artist Monie Love and showcases her 1990 song "Monie In The Middle".

The lyrics of this song are included in this post along with selected comments from this discussion threads, with particular attention to comments about Monie Love and this song and comments that include African American Vernacular English (AAVE) slang. I've also included my comments about the AAVE words and phrases used in some of these comments.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Monie Love for her musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this YouTube example.

Hat tip to commenter* monie Love for reminding me of this song.

*Commenter monie Love posted a comment in the discussion thread for this 2015 pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/07/kata-mwanangu-kata-swahili-music-dance.html "Kata Mwanangu Kata" (Swahili music dance video with English translation). Her comment reminded me of the "Monie In The Middle" song.

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INFORMATION ABOUT MONIE LOVE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monie_Love
"Monie Love (born Simone Gooden; July 2, 1970) is an English rapper and radio personality in the United States. She is a well-respected figure in British hip hop, and made an impact with American hip-hop audiences as a protégé of American emcee Queen Latifah, as well as through her membership in the late-1980s/early-1990s hip-hop group Native Tongues. Love was one of the first BritHop artists to be signed and distributed worldwide by a major record label. Love was born in the Battersea area of Wandsworth, London. She is the younger sister of techno musician Dave Angel, and was the daughter of a London-based, jazz musician father.

Musical career
Love began her musical career as an emcee in the British Jus Bad crew, which featured DJ Pogo, Sparki, and MC Mell'O'. The group released the single "Free Style/Proud" on the independent Tuff Groove record label in 1988. Manager Steve Finan was introduced to her by Rodney P. Steve Finan signed Monie Love to Danny D and Peter Edge at Cooltempo Records in the UK, and then Benny Medina at Warner Brothers in the United States. Monie Love first gained critical and commercial notice in the United States in 1989 for her cameos on Queen Latifah's Grammy Award-winning and pro-feminist single "Ladies First", on Adeva's "Ring My Bell", on the Jungle Brothers' single "Doin' Our Own Dang" and on De La Soul's hit single "Buddy". The acclaim led her to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, making Love one of the few British hip-hop efforts released by a major label. She also has a place in hip-hop history as a member of the Native Tongues, a collective that included Queen Latifah, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, and a number of other acts. Her versatility was demonstrated with her involvement in the emerging popularity of house music with her own single "Grandpa's Party" as well as providing rap vocals for the Dancin' Danny D Remix of Adeva's house hit "Respect".

Love's debut album, Down To Earth, spawned two, Grammy-nominated hits, "Monie in the Middle" (a track dealing with a woman's right to determine what she wants out of a relationship) and "It's a Shame (My Sister)" (which sampled The Spinners' "It's a Shame", written for the band by Stevie Wonder) and featured house-music vocalist and then-labelmate Ultra Naté. The album reached #26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[1]" ...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO" Monie Love - Monie In Middle



revenant7605, Uploaded on May 7, 2007
-snip-
This video publisher mistakenly wrote that this song was from the 1980s. Actually, it was released in 1990.

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LYRICS: MONIE IN THE MIDDLE
(Simone Gooden, aka Monie Love)

Brother what is with you, you can't take a hint?
I need to shove a splint between your eyes for you to see
You and me were never meant to be
Your homeboy likes me, I like him too, get out the picture
I get your point but I'm not rolling with the punch
I scrunched up the letter you wrote me in lunch
In 5th period I pay no notice to your motion
My work is on the table, my pen's in locomotion
Every time I turn around, you're looking at my face
I try to ignore you, the bell rings, I race out the room
Zoom to another room, sit down, what do you know?
The lover's in town
The other brother (Who?) The one I want to talk to
Sitting three seats back, and I'mma walk over to him
And give him the letter I wrote
Because my feelings towards him are brewing, ya know?

Monie in the middle (Where she at?) In the middle
Yep, Monie's in the middle (Where that at?) In the middle
Monie in the middle (Where she at?) In the middle
(Go Mon, Mon, what is she?) Monie in the middle (Repeat 2x)

In 7th the knucklehead walks in and sits down beside me
I said "Yo, why you trying to ride me?"
Day in and day out I can't seem to get you off my back
What do you think I should do about that?
In fact it's embarrassing, what a buffoon
You even follow me in the ladies bathroom
Give me a break, I can't take it, the stakes are too high
Besides, there goes the other brother
I'm not Keith Sweat, so don't sweat me
The other brother's smooth approach is what gets me
He intrigues the Mon you know
So I suggest the course towards me you blow
You're wasting time pursuing Monie
Cause she's pursuing the lover only
And as my mother did she told me
Go for what you know, Mo, yo

Monie in the middle (Where she at?) In the middle
Yep, Monie's in the middle (Where that at?) In the middle
Monie in the middle (Where she at?) In the middle
(Go Mon, Mon, what is she?) Monie in the middle (Repeat 2x)

Bringing matters to a close and everybody knows
That I'm no longer in the middle
I made my decision, precisely, precision is a must
For me to solve another riddle
Step into a brand new rhythm,-ism schisms
Nope, I'm not with 'em, I've given
My undivided attention, you know what I'm saying?
No type of games I'm playing when

Monie in the middle (Where she at?) In the middle
Yep, Monie's in the middle (Where that at?) In the middle
Monie in the middle (Where she at?) In the middle
(Go Mon, Mon, what is she?) Monie in the middle (Repeat 4x)


Source; https://genius.com/Monie-love-monie-in-the-middle-lyrics

Song explanation from that page:
comment published by Feather, 2011
"From the album “Down to Earth” in 1990

Sampled Bad Bascomb’s “Black Grass” (1972) and Coke Escovedo’s “I wouldn’t change a thing” (1976).

Monie is caught in the middle of 2 young men at school-one guy she is trying to get attention from and another guy that she can’t get to leave her alone."

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THAT VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
These comments are presented in chronological order with the oldest comments by year given first, except for replies. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.

Note: I compile selected comments and include them with the videos that I showcase on pancocojams in part because of their historical and folkloric information (for instance, the memories that the commenters share and the vernacular terms that are used).

Another reason that I include selected comments from these videos' discussion threads is to provide examples of comments from YouTube comment threads that don't include profanity, sexual explicit words, the use of "the n word", argumentative or trolling comments, and other content that I don't want to read (and I think some other people may also not want to read. However, this is only a small portion of the comments in that video's discussion thread that don't include profanity etc.

Total number of viewers (as of April 25, 2017, 12:12 pm) - 842,145 views
Total number of comments (as of April 25, 2017, 12:12 pm) - 606


1. ChocDiva75, 2007
"O M G !!! Man, I ain't seen this video in ages, yo! I am such a huge fan of hers. You brought back some serious memories for me...LOL"

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2. Gr8muta, 2007
"This was the JAM!"

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3. mrmoore1970, 2007
"This was my jam back in eary-to-late 1990! I wonder what Monie Love is doing these days?! The last I heard about her, she was DJ here in Philly on 100.3 The Beat, after that, she sorta disappeared, at least from Philadelphia radio. This song and "Ladies First" w/ Queen Latifah were my jams back in the day!"

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4. rufus317, 2007
"BET used to kill this video!"
-snip-
BET = Black Entertainment Television (an American television station that, in its early days, used to play Black music videos).

In the context of this sentence, "kill" means "play a lot"

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5. you317, 2007
"Monie has such a great voice. Very sharp and confident delivery."

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6. timbalandj, 2007
"The girl on the hook is Leshaun formerly known as Almond Joy who appeared on L.L. Cool J's "Doin it" studio version but not in the video due to her pregnancy"
-snip-
"hook" - the repeated lyrics in a song

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7. Nima Warfield, 2008
"Truck jewelry on the "Where she at?" backup sista, fo' real. Peep the earrings, yo...."

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8. lashawntee8 years ago
Yup they use to snatch our earrings in Philly....I cant tell you how many I got taken from me....But anyway it was a great era for us...Now im 41 years old...still love old skool.
-snip-
Girls who wore these type of earrings would take them off if they were getting ready to fight or else the earrings would be ripped off of them, and their ears would probably be torn.

Other comments about these earrings can be found below.

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9. kim4hoff4, 2008
I love the whole Native Tongue movement.
-snip-
"Native Tongue" was a group that Monie Love belonged to before she went solo.

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10. Giovanni Centurione
"She got some sweat ass words in dis and all her tracks. This style needs to comeback"
-snip-
I think that the word "ass" here is used as an intensifier to mean "really sweet" or "very sweet".

Sweet = "very good", dope, hip, cool, the bomb etc.

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11. ltinsley2, 2009
"man i miss the old days! '89 was a good year for hip hop. thanks for posting"

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Reply
12. ltinsley2, 2009
"my bad this was 1990! still a classic
-snip-
"My bad"= an informal phrase meaning "my mistake"; "sorry"
-snip_
"My bad" is supposed to be immediately said if you accidentally did something wrong (such as stepped on someone's foot) to avert having to experience any serious consequences.

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13. utbr0, 2009
"CLASS SICK!!! still da bomb!!"
-snip-
"Class" probably means "Classic". "sick and "the bomb" mean the same thing as the comment immediately below.

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14. shoowtime, 2009
"Outstanding."

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15. Kasino Royale, 2009
"Hardcore hiphop heads clowned this back in the day. The same way they clowned Will Smith. Those same people now swear this is 'real' rap and clown the younger artist. I swear we as a culture just like to hate. Rap goes in cycles. Monie is no different than todays Lil Momma. JoeSki Love n the Peewee Herman is no different from Solja Boys Crank that. Funny the older we get, the more we change our past. We laugh at em with their pants hanging off but we had clothes inside out just 2 name a few fads"
-snip-
"clowned" = made fun of

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16. Dj Skief, 2009
"LONDON ENGLAND stand up!! Real HIP HOP music. This song is HUGE! never will there be music like this again."

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17. 1nfamous76, 2009
"SOUTH LONDON UK stand up, she used to live about 5 mins from my crib, went same school as my sister - Walsingham Girls in Clapham. SO PROUD OF HER"
-snip-
Stand up = a common saying that is a clip of "Stand up and be counted", the same meaning as "give a shout out to ___, "recognize" (give recognition to __)

"crib"= home

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18. Dj Skief, 2010
"Classic hip hop. I love this track. Shot out to LONDON ENGLAND"
-snip-
"Shot out"= typo for "Shout out" [giving deserved recognition to]

This comment isn't a reply, but is presented here because of its content.

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19. freshPrincess626, 2009
"i gotta say, that yellow and white jacket she got on is pretty fly.
DANG i miss being a 90s kid!"
-snip-
"fly" = hip, in the latest urban street style

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20. Sylentera, 2009
"I love Monie's flow..I miss the old Mcees.."
-snip-
"flow" = the way a person raps

MCees "Mcs" = rappers, as compared to DJs (the record technicians, the persons who spinned the records that the MCs rapped to)

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21. parkay301, 2009
"mc lyte, queen latifah and monie had so much style and class. they were so different, but so pleasurable to listen to."

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22. TheChyckClique, 2009
"For some reason I always thought Monie reminded me of Left Eye or vice versa."

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23. Anne Hamilton, 2013
"A little cutie, she reminds me of Left-eye from TLC, when the group first started in the
early 90's...God rest her soul."

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24. superfly1200, 2015
"omg Left Eye did sound like her in the beginning glad changed and rapped her own style"

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25. Gee Man, 2017
"clearly Monie was who left eye Lopez idolized."
-snip-
These three comments aren't replies, but are added here because of their content.

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26. sweetcherry4282, 2009
"This is straight 90's. Cross colors in full effect. I miss these days.
-snip-
"straight" = definitely

"Cross Colors" was a popular brand of clothing (among Hip Hop fans) that combined different colors in the same garment.

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27. thaporndawgz1, 2009
"this track isnt exactly old skool.Old skool would be kurtis blow,grandmaster flash,the treacherous 3.music that came out during the break dance era.which would be the late 70s throw the 80s"
I would know,I was there.

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28. LilNancyDrew, 2010
"Hey look, look, look, A real rapper."

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29. ENJ4321, 2010
"@equeen222 Not just Lauryn Hill homie.There is Rah Digga,Jean Grae,Lady Luck,ill E Gal,Lady Of Rage,Lady Sovereign,Missy Elliot,Da Brat, and of course Left Eye.None of the ones on the list I said used any sexuality to sale albums, the are just women that can rhyme.Don't get it twisted though Kim,Foxy,Eve, Shawnna,Trina, and La Chat can spit as well as a man."
-snip-
I can't find the comment this is written in reply to, but I gather the commenter said that Lauryn Hill was the only female rapper that didn't use sexuality to sell albums. "spit"= "rap"

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30. Moniqtee, 2010
"haha! Moni in the Middle! Everybody used to sing this song to me when I was a kid... I was in 7th grade! I know this song VERSE FOR VERSE! You know this! Pure classic!"

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31. Carmaker1, 2010
"@janetenn This is 90s with an 80s flavor. It's barely over half a year into 1990, so that's why it seems 80s. That is reason why the 80s and early 90s are frequently grouped together. This was shot around September 1990."

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32. Dawon Broaddus, 2010
"Love the ol school video. The earrings clothes and everything. That's how ma sisters use to dress."

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33. 124sexylady, 2011
"Monie is from England and she rapped like she was born and raised in NY!! She was a very good rapper back in the day..too bad she only had a few tracks out there in the early 90's..Miss u Monie!!"

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34. kjamai26, 2011
"This was the days when rap was fun & easy to dance to. No profanity, nudity or degrading terms for women."

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35. zachary guerrero, 2011
"monie love spits fire"
-snip-
spits= raps ; fire [lyrics (bars) that are really hot (good).

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36. RELL SHEEZE5 years ago
she killed this joint! i was in love with her as a kid! still am! lol... marry me!!!"
-snip-
"Killin"= excelling in what you say or do; doing something really well

joint- jam, track, tune, song, record

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37. Michael Hamby, 2011
"Classic. Whatever happend to Monie Love. This was out when De La Soul's, "3 feet high and rising" broke big. Played these CD's over and over."

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Reply
38. 91Definite, 2011
"@wmhamby Monie Love last album was in '93 "In a word or 2". Then in '00 she made some type of EP called "Sice of da Pie" and that was really it of her. She had other dreams she wanted to pursue, but she still is around alot of events of hip hop. She had her own show on a radio station in Philly but she left cause of Young Jeezy they had a argument about hip hop..It's on youtube search it up. But man she was a beastress on the mic though :)p"
-snip-
"beatress" = a female beast ("beast" = a person who excels in what he [or she] does; "monster" is also used this way to refer to someone who does something powerful, beyond 'mere mortals".

Note: I've never seen or heard "beastress" used before. This commenter may have coined that term.

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39. SlimmArmstrong, 2011
"@cigarlounge1 I TOTALLY agree..but let's give Monie all her props..she's a real MC..easily top 10 of all females, and could roast some of the brothas, too"

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40. MrDamonLJohnson, 2011
"LOL! I remember when all the girls, including my sisters, used to wear those big hats and bamboo earrings. Ahh....the memories....."
-snip-
Those big earrings were informally called "door knockers" because that's what they looked like.

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41. te4888, 2011
"i used to do that dance she did at the end in like the 4th grade. so dope."
-snip-
"so dope" = so cool (hip, good)

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42. kiddkevo, 2012
"Crank dat Spongebob dance @ 2:49 lmaoo"
-snip-
"Crank dat" [that] = do the [name of dance], for example "Crank that Soulja Boy"

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43. superskullmaster, 2012
"From 2:49 onward, they killin that Spongebob, of course back then it wasn't called the spongebob."

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44. Mari Amygdahlia, 2013
"She nailed this one. Horns and Hip Hop match made in heaven!"

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45. Nellzartworx, 2013
"She was so ill, highly underrated"

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46. VW DT, 2013
"Old girl Monie Love flow is raw as hell. Whatever the topic she is rhyming about u know she going to come with a hard and swift delivery. Thatz what makes/made her so ill.And that hook although basic is sick too."
-snip-
All of these adjectives and adjectival phrases: 'raw as hell", "hard and swift", "ill", and "sick" are highly complimentary African American Vernacular English descriptors. And in the context of this comment, "old girl" is an affectionate term for a woman who may not even be old in chronological terms.

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47. TigerLikesTail, 2013
"The female rappers from the UK always got me..
First The Cookie Crew & Then Monie :-)
This track is about Big Daddy Kane of all people lol.
Google this term (D-Nice Presents True Hip-Hop Stories: Monie Love) you will see what I am saying"

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48. Sharon Scu, 2013
"She said this was based on real life with Big Daddy Kane & one of his dancers..."

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49. Levi stgermain, 2013
"hightop 90s fade , my cousin in his teen had a hightop fade in 1990 or 1991 when this song came out. i think i was 10 years old that time, when this song came out it was FUNKY.
-snip-
"hightop fade"= popular late 1980s and early 1990s young Black male "style of haircut where hair on the sides is cut off or kept very short while hair on the top of the head is very long" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-top_fade

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50. Feenix, 2013
"I still cant believe shes from the UK"

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Reply
51. Sylvester Boson, 2014
"there were a few old school rappers from the UK"

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Reply
52. MrLanzie, 2014
"why not?"

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55. Feenix, 2014
"+MrLanzie Cos she looks and sounds like a Yank

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Reply
56. MrLanzie, 2014
"+fffeeenixxx Oh right, in the mid 80s UK rappers would often put on an american accent. she moved to the USA and married one of the jungle brothers.
Slick Rick, Young MC and MF Doom are also originally from the UK."

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57. Jeffrey Blake, 2014
"I still love monie love!"

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58. Curtis Anderson, 2014
"Monie Love was not a one hit wonder. She hosts Ladies First on Sirius Xm radio. This hit song is one of many, classic. Go Monie!"

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59. PAC Cap, 2014
"This what I call real hip hop.

Omg I love this girl so much , I miss you monie , god bliss you sis."

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Reply
60. PAC Cap, 2014
"Long Live Simone Gooden ."

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61. Phaedo13, 2014
"ah the good old days when rap was just fun, not the mass commercialized garbage that it has now become"

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Reply
62. asds92, 2014
"+Phaedo13 Maaaaaaaan you ain't lying! I miss those days"

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Reply
63. Yvonne Juju, 2015
"+Phaedo13 YOU TOOK the words OUT OF MOUTH"

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Reply
64. Scott Robert, 2015
"It's heartbreaking to realize. Thankfully we were blessed by this and able to smile about it."

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Reply
65. LostJomper, 2015
"+Phaedo13 well, I guess you never heard nowadays good rap, dont be that superficial and search for it :P"

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66. Eguzzisme, 2015
"I remember having this cassette and rewinding it over and over again so I could learn the whole song. It took me a few day to learn to rap as fast as she did in this song. I haven't heard it in about 20 years, and I still know every word! LOL. I think I just impressed both of my teenagers!! 😂😂"

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67. Lejuan Dean, 2016
"I love the old school round the way girl vibes! New York back then was the bomb... all the way up until the Juice days. The girl popping up behind Monie was so Funny!! "Where She At?""

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Reply
68. Sean D. Martin, 2016
"That's Leshaun....she was the one that did the vocals to L.l.. Cool J song doing it.....she's still around she does interior design now"

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Reply
69. John Bell, 2016
"old school?"

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Reply
70. Lejuan Dean, 2016
"Hey, that was cool to learn. Thank You!!! ;)... I loved her in this song."

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Reply
71. Lejuan Dean, 2016
"Yep Old School Hip Hop, and If you don't know look it up."

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72. John Bell, 2016
+Lejuan Dean Blak ppl r the only to label their music ... old at 40s?

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Reply
73. manfocused, 2017
"We had CRAZY fun in Brooklyn back in the day. I was 17 when this joint came out (going to Boys and Girls HS), and I remember those days well. We was even doing the "Sponge Bob"(@ 2:55) before it had a name. Lol."

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Reply
74. Lejuan Dean, 2017
"We do label our music, you're right! Because in some form or fashion ... whatever has changed or become non existent with the times, becomes filed in another category such as Old School. To Me, this song and era is considered old school hip hop versus what garbage we have on the radio today. It was a message, a vibe, dances and styles that now make you reminisce back to that Era."

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75. Vince West, 2016
"I love that steppin in the back. Still smooth ...!"

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76. ATLien4Life, 2016
"She proved "Black don't crack". In her mid 40's and is gorgeous..."
-snip-
The familiar African American saying "Good Black Don't Crack" refers to the belief that Black people don't physically show their age as much as White people.

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77. 20 MIC, 2016
"she was harder than 90% of the cats out now and then."

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Reply
78. 20 MIC, 2016
I wish she come back yo.

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79. Ray Asay, 2016
"I missed q 102 philly and hot 97 New York back then playing great tracks like these! Wow I wish YouTube and iPads existed back in the early 1990s so I didn't have to hope to find tracks like these by sheer luck on the radio and hope there was good reception! Haha"

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Reply
80. ProudToBe AnAmerican, 2016
"Haha. Where were you that Hot 97 wouldn't come in good? I was in Queens. My radio was constantly recording!"

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81. manfocused, 2017
"What's funny is this song/video came out 27 years ago and the young kids today don't look or dress any different from the young brothers in the back dancing @ 2:46 - 2:51. Youngins today are even rocking the same haircuts WE rocked back then. @ 2:55, y'all called that dance the "Sponge Bob" in '07. We was doing that dance 17 years before that and we didn't even have a name for it. Lol."

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