Opps
Producers
Opps Lyrics
Fuck y'all want from me?
Y'all don't want money, y'all don't want from me
Y'all wanna die in the chase of things
We all gon' die and embrace the thing
Trapped inside a burnin' church
Made it out alive, God know my worth
Raw face, Scarface
Y'all face more defeat, I know it hurts
20 of 'em, 20 on call
Got 20 in my hand, got 20 on judge
Gave 20 to my dog, got 20 on girls
That'll fuck you to— (zoom zoom zoom)
That'll fuck you then fuck you over
Take your safe, take your keys, take your Rover
Take the heart you thought you had
Speed off, rollin' up life in a taxi cab
[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar]
Opps on the radar (You're dead to me)
How you wanna play ball? (You're dead to me)
–takes all (You're dead to me)
(You're dead to me, you're dead to me)
You know what zone I'm in (You're dead to me)
Don't care who you with (You're dead to me)
Watch me do my shit (You're dead to me)
(You're dead to me)
Hey hey, ready, set, go crazy
Here to finesse, you see I'm getting mines
A life hit a nigga with a lemon's limelight
But at night, we still committin' crimes, spittin' rhymes
Bought a coupe with the spinnin' rims, get inside
Bring a friend, bleedin' hands from the genocide
Clean me up, beam me up to the other side
Brothers die, 'cause 'coons turn to butterflies
They don't wanna see me sittin' in the Benz
They don't wanna see me livin' on the end
Of the city in a citywide bend
Show no pity in the city full of sin
They don't wanna see me gettin' to the check
They just wanna see me swimmin' in the debt
Don't drown on ground, wait until you hear
9-1-1, freeze (zoom, zoom) dead
[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar]
Opps on the radar (You're dead to me)
How you wanna play ball? (You're dead to me)
–takes all (You're dead to me)
(You're dead to me, you're dead to me)
You know what zone I'm in (You're dead to me)
Don't care who you with (You're dead to me)
Watch me do my shit (You're dead to me)
(You're dead to me)
I move like a millipede
When I flex them tendons like rubber trees
Young Millie Jackson back to the shit
Mouthpiece drawn, got a verbal armory
Stack bodies, not figurines
Move beneath the surface, submarine
I'm half machine, obscene with a light sword
Look inside the brain, it's a riot in the psych ward
What you standing on the side for?
Roar like a lioness, punch like a cyborg
Spit slick, attack is subliminal
Flowers on my mind, but the rhyme style sinister
Stand behind my own bars, like a seasoned criminal
Gotham City Streets, I'll play the *****
Crushing any system, that belittles us
Antidote to every poison they administer
Switch it like time signatures
Colors in my aura tend to cover the perimeter
Brown bodies that the blues wanna shoot through
Hi-res lasers wanna (zoom, zoom, zoom)
Wool over your eyes
My strength ain't nothing like my size
Blades on the top, Kathleen Cleaver
Tangle my cords like a weaver
About
“Opps” (derived from the word ‘opposition’) is a term for cops or an opposite gang, against whom this song is directed. This marks the 2nd collaboration between California rappers Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples, following 2017’s “Yeah Right”. The song also features South African rapper Yugen Blakrok.
The song was first heard in the Black Panther “Rise” TV Spot which followed Kendrick Lamar’s performance in the 2018 College Football National Championship Halftime Show.
The song was very fittingly used in the Black Panther movie scene where, T'Challa, Nakia, and Okoye pursued Ulysses Klaue and his men through the streets of Korea.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Yes, Kendrick had featured on Vince Staples' song, “Yeah Right,” from his Big Fish Theory album
With the Gotham City line appearing soon after this line, it’s a good chance that Yugen is referring to DC comics' character, Cyborg.
I went into the studio with Kendrick’s producer Sounwave and we worked on a beat that had a good energy and a good tempo to it. Then, a week later, they [sent] back the song to me with Kendrick, Vince Staples, and Yugen Blakrok from South Africa. In today’s movies, you can’t just have a song play through a whole five-minute scene. People don’t really have that patience today. So something that I worked on a lot is, how do you take this song and keep the core and energy, but then make it into more of a score moment where you hit specific moments of the action?
- Ludwig Göransson, EW Interview
- 3.X
- 4.The Ways
- 5.Opps
- 6.I Am
- 7.Paramedic!
- 9.King’s Dead
- 11.Redemption
- 12.Seasons
- 13.Big Shot
- 14.Pray For Me
