Hip-Hop and Horror: What Does “I Got 5 On It” Mean in “Us”? (Brittany Menjivar)
Warning: Spoilers for Jordan Peele’s Us ahead! Watch the film before you read on.
Horror fans know that fear isn’t just about what you see, but what you hear. Films like The Shining and Psycho have become notorious for their original scores, which use eerie instrumentation to build an atmosphere of uncertainty. In light of this, Jordan Peele’s choice to score his films with well-known rap songs is particularly interesting. In Get Out, he used Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” to send viewers a warning about the danger that was to follow: “Stay woke.” Now Us has taken the theaters by storm, and its use of “I Got 5 On It” by West Coast hip hop duo Luniz has gotten the Internet talking.
“I Got 5 On It” was released in 1995. It became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #3 in the United Kingdom and #8 in the United States. The song made a small resurgence in 2013, when it was featured on the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto V. Then, in 2018, it appeared in the viral Us trailer (below).
In the very first scene, the film’s central Wilson family can be seen jamming to it in the car. As the trailer progresses and the Wilsons’ uncanny doppelgangers (also known as the Tethered) wreak havoc, a slowed-down version of the song plays. With its memorable minor key melody and twinkling noises throughout, it’s easy to see why Peele would want to repurpose it for his thriller.
In the actual movie, “I Got 5 On It” is featured at two key points. First, the original is used during the car scene; later, the slowed-down edition (called the Tethered Mix (above)) underscores a dramatic showdown between Adelaide (the mother in the Wilson family) and her Tethered, Red. Let’s take a look at the song’s introduction to see why it matters to the Wilsons’ story.
The car scene begins with Gabe, the father, singing to the song’s chorus. Then Jason, the son, asks the million-dollar question: “What does ‘I Got 5 on It’ mean?” Zora, the daughter, answers, “It’s about drugs.” In response, Gabe says, “It’s not about drugs. It’s a dope song. Don’t do drugs.” Of course, as his play on words reveals — dope being a slang term for illicit substances — the song is about the drug trade. What else, though?
According to Genius, the phrase “I got five on it” refers to the splitting of a dime bag — a $10 drug purchase — between two parties. All the way back in December 2018, a commenter named “tzikeh” read into this on the website MetaFilter:
“The lyrics are saying that the singer has only got half of what’s necessary (or desired).”
In the context of Us, this idea of halves might allude to the film’s central conceit of clones. As we learn at the end of the film, each member of the Wilson family — as well as just about everyone in America — is bound to a doppelganger called a Tethered, created through a poorly conceptualized government experiment. The Tethered feel cheated knowing that their counterparts are living normal, privileged lives aboveground, as they are forced to live in bunkers and feast on rabbit meat in a network of musty tunnels — just as Luniz might feel cheated out of a fair deal. Also of note is the fact that the song speaks of the underground drug world, and the Tethered literally live in an underground compound.
Additional insight can be found in an interview Peele did with Entertainment Weekly:
“That song, it came pretty simple, I’m making a movie in Northern California, that’s a bay area hip-hop classic and I wanted to explore this very relatable journey of being a parent [and] maybe some of the songs you listened to back in the day aren’t appropriate for your kids. So that was one level, and another part was, I love songs that have a great feeling but also have a haunting element to them and I feel like the beat in that song has this inherent cryptic energy, almost reminiscent of the Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack. So those were the ideas that that song hit the bullseye on for me, and also, it’s just a dope track.”
Indeed, Luniz hails from Oakland, and the song employs many conventions used in horror themes: both great reasons to feature it so prominently in Us.
What will Peele’s next box office hit be? That’s anybody’s guess… but if Get Out and Us provide any indication, it’ll have a killer soundtrack.
