Given that boasting about material wealth has been a staple of hip-hop lyrics for decades, it’s no surprise that rappers have often referenced popular technology products in their songs. Below we’ve compiled some of the most famous tech-related hip-hop lyrics around from a diverse range of artists that includes Drake, Biggie, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne.
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Nelly: “#1” (2002)
I’m like Sprint and Motorola
No service, out of your range
Poor Sprint. It actually gets name-checked in a hit song and it’s a complaint about the quality of its service.
Drake, feat. Jay Z: “Light Up” (2010)
We have two tech-related lyrics in this one and they both come from Jigga. Here’s the first:
I don’t do too much blogging
I just run the town, I don’t do too much jogging
And the second:
And to these niggas I’m like Windows 7
You let ’em tell it, they swear that they invented you
Jay Z: “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” (2000)
Ah, that classic Neptunes beat. The second verse of the song also ends with a classic tech-related couplet:
Only way to roll, Jigga and two ladies
I’m too cold, Motorola, two way page me, c’mon
It’s a testament to how good this song is that it still sounds fresh despite featuring a reference to a Motorola 2-way pager.
Lil Wayne: “Let the Beat Build” (2008)
This track, on the other hand, makes a reference to technology that’s still relevant… although at the time Weezy was probably rocking an iPhone 3G:
Used to think my shit didn’t stink boy was I wrong
Approving million dollar deals from my iPhone
Lil Wayne: “Bill Gates” (2010)
Another Weezy tech track, this one takes its title from the famous Microsoft cofounder and uses the following lines as its hook:
All these bitches and niggas still hatin’, man
I used to be a baller but now I’m Bill Gaten’
The Notorious B.I.G.: “Juicy” (1994)
This track is full of classic lyrics such as “Now honeys play me close like butter play toast / From the Mississippi down to the east coast.” But it also contains a reference to popular mid-’90s gaming consoles:
Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis
When I was dead broke, man I couldn’t picture this
Now he’d be rapping about Xbox One and PS4, but back in the day those two consoles were smoking hot.
Nicki Minaj: Boss Ass Bich (2013)
Nicki makes a tech reference that BGR readers will appreciate by starting an iPhone-vs.-Android debate:
Want the cookie, so I gotta Chips Ahoy! These niggas
But I never iPhone, Android, these niggas
It sounds like she’s on #TeamBlackBerry?
Jay Z: “Encore” (2003)
Speaking of BlackBerry, Jay Z dropped this line in “Encore”:
Out the country but the BlueBerry still connect
Why didn’t he call BlackBerry by its actual name? I have no idea. That said, this was still better promotion for the brand than BlackBerry’s ill-fated decision to recruit Alicia Keys to be its “creative director.”
UPDATE: It seems that BlueBerry was the name for an early RIM device that was actually blue. I apologize for not knowing this fact.
