I have heard rappers, extreme sports enthusiasts, and online first person shootists use this term often. I assume it is meant to be a valley girlish take on bitch. Who started it?
God help me for having an idea about this. :rolleyes:
FWIW, I believe the first star to use it with any measure of popularity was one Calvin Broadus, or the Artist Formerly Known as Snoop Doggy Dogg. (I believe he’s since dropped the 'y Dogg, because I haven’t heard him called anything but Snoop Dogg for a year or more.) I’m not claiming he invented the idea, and it’s fairly likely Snoop picked it up from someone else, but he’s definitely the guy that popularized it.
On his album debut, he used it at least twice, and I’m happy to say I no longer remember which songs. The tunes came out around 1993, and I’ve thankfully gained a bit more musical taste since then.
By the way, you also have Snoop to thank for that bizarre little 'hood-speak affectation where you put an “izn” into the middle of words at random, allowing you to say, “My biznitch is the shiznit, my niznig,” and have nobody understand what in the hell you’re talking about.
Because this is in GQ, I will refrain from going off on a tangent about what wonderful grammatical lessons Calvin’s been teaching Tomorrow’s Leaders.
Another vote for Snoop Dogg. I don’t know if he was the first to say it ever, but he was the first one to use it in a public forum. Or whatever you call his music.
[sub]beotch beotch beotch[/sub] I been in this game for 10 years [sub]beotch beotch beotch[/sub] and all I ever got credit for was saying one mutha#%&@in’ word[sub] beotch beotch beotch[/sub]
-Too Short
Oh yea, that was from 1995’s Gettin’ It, so when he says he’s been in the game for 10 years he means since 1985. It was definately Too Short, and definately NOT Snoop Dogg that coined, or at least popularized, the term beotch.
I’m curious as to whether the spelling will ever stabilize. It seems to vary from person to person at the moment – heck, I even spell it differently depending on how I would say it in whatever I’m typing (i.e. whether I would stress the ‘y’ sound or not).
I don’t know Snoopy’s music really but I love the guy nonetheless. From an interview in Stuff magazine:
SM: So what are your favorite foods when you have the munchies?
Snoop: Starburst and Funyun’s.
I think Cisco is closer to the mark. “Beeyotch” predates Snoop Dogg’s 1993 album Doggy Style. IIRC, on one of the tracks of Too $hort’s 1988 album Life is … Too $short, the words “beeyutch, beeyutch, beeyutch” (note the slightly different pronunciation) are sampled and inserted into the background.
Anyone who can find their copy of Life is … Too $short --unlike yours truly – can help verify this. I am going from memory.