African American Vernacular English (AAVE)—also called African American English (AAE); less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), or Black Vernacular English (BVE)—is a variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of American English, most commonly spoken today by urban working-class and largely bi-dialectal middle-class African Americans. Non-linguists often call it Ebonics (a term that also has other meanings and connotations).
It shares a large portion of its grammar and phonology with the rural dialects of the Southern United States. Several creolists, including William Stewart, John Dillard and John Rickford, argue that AAVE shares enough characteristics with African Creole languages spoken around the world that AAVE itself may be an English-based creole language separate from English; however, most linguists maintain that there are no significant parallels, and that AAVE is, in fact, a demonstrable variety of the English language, having features that can be traced back mostly to the nonstandard British English of early settlers in the American South.
Hit me like a hammer to my head
We thrashed in bed baby
Drove a truck right through my life
Struck me like a knife
There's a finger in my pie, someone else's guy
Caught you with your pants down, fingers in the till
Caught you stealing something, my last thrill
(1) Chorus:
At war with the world as this life unfurls
Ooh, better get ready
At war with the world, as this life unfurls
Better get ready
Living like a hound dog who's not fed
Life's one big bed baby
From the trash right on the street and anyone you meet
Trying to make the first glance and I doubt you will last
Caught you with your pants down fingers in the till
I guess I've swallowed life's hardest pill