# What language is spoken at the beginning of "Let Me Ride" by Dr. Dre? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577 "2011-05-03T15:24:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/1 "2011-05-03T15:24:41Z")
Pretty straight forward. For the album version at least, before the music starts, a woman is speaking in a language that (to my totally untrained ears) might be Swahili. Can anyone confirm the language? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/2 "2011-05-03T15:42:25Z")
I believe that’s English, specifically some kind of Caribbean dialect, possibly Jamaican. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/3 "2011-05-03T16:17:36Z")
Youtube link to the recording – [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9\_ejSOsr08Y](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_ejSOsr08Y) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/4 "2011-05-03T17:28:31Z")
Another vote for a Caribbean dialect of English, possibly using some local words. I could definitely clearly make out “So Andrea, tell ‘em where the fuck I’m goin’, ya?” at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/5 "2011-05-03T17:31:43Z")
Probably some variation of Dre rather than Andrea, but, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/6 "2011-05-03T17:44:25Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Probably some variation of Dre rather than Andrea, but, yeah. Excellent Username:Post combination, btw. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/7 "2011-05-03T22:42:23Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Probably some variation of Dre rather than Andrea, but, yeah. Dre’s real first name is Andre, which is even more likely. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/8 "2011-05-04T13:08:14Z")
Any Caribbeans on the board who can translate? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/9 "2011-05-04T13:30:26Z")
It’s Jamaican patois. She’s saying something along the lines of: What’s up baby ? You look good in your car. Long time I’ve been eyeing you and I want to talk to you but you look at me like you don’t want to talk to me. So what’s good Dre ? Tell them what the fuck is going on. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/10 "2011-05-04T13:44:17Z")
[“Eeeeh whappn no baby You look good ina ya car eeh Longtime mi watch ya mi whaa chat to ya And ya a gwaan like ya nuh wha chat to me So whappn Dre tell me whe di fuck a gwaan nuh!”](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/14893/) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/11 "2011-05-04T13:53:04Z")
The wiki page on jamaican patois is quite interesting. …and funny. It’s probably not right to find some of the patois versions amusing, but I can’t help it. > [@wikipedia](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican\_Patois](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_Patois) > /tam aawez nuo kieti tel pan im/ (‘Tom always knows when Katy tells/has told about him’) ---
**Author:** ![yosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4af34b/32.png) [@yosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosh)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/12 "2013-03-17T01:08:37Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > It’s Jamaican patois. She’s saying something along the lines of: > > What’s up baby ? You look good in your car. Long time I’ve been eyeing you and I want to talk to you but you look at me like you don’t want to talk to me. So what’s good Dre ? Tell them what the fuck is going on. > [@elfkin477](#): > > [“Eeeeh whappn no baby > You look good ina ya car eeh > Longtime mi watch ya mi whaa chat to ya > And ya a gwaan like ya nuh wha chat to me > So whappn Dre tell me whe di fuck a gwaan nuh!”](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/14893/) Thank you guys so much, it’s been in the back of my head to figure this out for 20 years! I actually submitted @elfkin447’s version to the lyrics site he linked to, giving them a link to this thread as a reference. Who knows if it will actually get updated though. This was fun. ---
**Author:** ![EatTheSun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@EatTheSun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EatTheSun)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/13 "2013-03-17T03:10:14Z")
Wow, I’ve been wondering this for years, as well. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-is-spoken-at-the-beginning-of-let-me-ride-by-dr-dre/580577/14 "2013-03-17T04:54:35Z")
Moved to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator