Playing with Fire

## Song by Lil Wayne featuring Betty Wright

"**Playing with Fire**" is a song by American rapper Lil Wayne featuring American R&B singer Betty Wright. It was released as the fourteenth track from the former's sixth studio album *Tha Carter III* (2008). Production was handled by Nicholas "Streetrunner" Warwar, and originally sampled the 1965 song "Play with Fire" by the Rolling Stones.

In July 2008, it was met with a lawsuit for copyright infringement from publishing company Abkco Music, who didn't want the Stones' song to be used as Wayne's track features "explicit, sexist and offensive language." To amend this, "Playing with Fire" was removed from all digital musical services and future pressings. The beat was changed to the David Banner-produced record "Pussy Monster," and the dispute settled in January 2009 for an undisclosed sum.

## Background

Producer Streetrunner told Rhapsody of wanting a "big old-school voice," leading to selecting Betty Wright. He continued, "I told [Lil Wayne's engineer] Fabian when we were going to mix down, 'We gotta make her sound like a sample.' He put the effect to her voice to make it sound big, but at the same time, gave it a little dirt with the record crackle in there. Once Wayne heard that, it was a wrap. It kind of made it a new record. The drums were the same [as when Wayne first recorded it], but I added the guitars, more strings, and put Betty Wright on it. Sometimes that's good to do if you don't change the feel because you can make the artist fall back in love with the record if they were sort of losing their interest."

Streetrunner revealed to *DJBooth* that it stemmed from "a piano idea." He ran into sample clearance issues with the vocal sample, so he "took a writer and we had him that come up with lyrics that could work. And then Betty Wright re-sang the lyrics and gave it that soulful, haunting feel that makes the record." He continued of the production work, "My mans Infamous, he played the piano on there. There were live guitars, too. I did the drums, the tom rolls, all the arrangements. That was all MPC 2000XL. It was little more of a production for me back then, as opposed to just being on the drum machine and sampling something." Regarding it being sent to Lil Wayne: "I think this was after 'Gossip' and I was just trying to compete with that. I gave it to Wayne and he didn't hesitate to record to it. He actually did a song to the original sample version. The original had a sample, but I had to get rid of it—that's when I had to do the extra stuff with Betty and Infamous. ['Playing With Fire'] made [*Tha Carter III*] the day of mastering. It was that song plus two others that made it. It was Wayne's call. If you actually bought a physical copy, the credits for those three songs are behind the CD, like when you lift it up. They couldn't make it into the booklet because it was already pressed. I don't even think those three songs are listed on the back credits until a couple presses later. After the first million sold, they repressed it so it actually said the titles of the three songs on the back of the album."

He said of its lawsuit, "It didn't get removed until 2.3 million copies were sold. 2.3 million lucky CDs out there have it. If you go buy that album today, it's gone. Eventually, that shit's going to be something very rare because it's not even allowed digitally on iTunes. They're trying to erase that from the history book [laughs]. Whatever format that exists in, it might be good to keep it around."

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro]

*StreetRunner*

[Chorus: Betty Wright, *Lil Wayne*]

So you've got so many diamonds

You wear all the finest clothes

And your grill is shining

As you're driving down the streets of gold

But you can't blame me

If I set this stage on fire

*Ha!*

[Verse 1: Lil Wayne]

Momma always told me I was crazy

And my hoes say I'm amazing, but I don't listen to a lady

But the bitch say I'm hot, and I say "No bitch, I'm blazing"

Like, what the fuck you expect? I'm a motherfucking Cajun

I feel caged in my mind, it's like my flow doing time

I goes crazy inside, but when it comes out—it's fine

Like wine; wait, watch...

See? I get better with time like a watch

Osh B'Gosh, Posh Spice husband

Couldn't kick it like I kick it, bitch! I Kix it

No cereal, like a landing, I sticks it

Wherever she asks me, after she licks it

"That's too explicit"; well, why you listening?

* Sniff\* I smell smoke, and something's sizzling

That's her pussy

So, hey, pussy; play with pussy or play pussy

[Chorus: Betty Wright, *Lil Wayne*]

But you can't blame me

If I set this stage on fire

*Hahahaha!*

[Verse 2: Lil Wayne]

They say, "You're nobody 'til somebody kills you

Well, where I'm from, you're nobody 'til you kill somebody

And you know what they say; when you great

It's not "murder," it's "assassinate"

So assassinate me, bitch

'Cause I'm doing the same shit Martin Luther King did

Checking in the same hotel, in the same suite, bitch

Same balcony, like, "Assassinate me, bitch!"

It's Lil Tunechi

I don't rap, I film movies

With my rap, you could call me

"Mr. Director's Chair," yeah, and that's a wrap

Cut! On to the next...

Not the next scene, bitch, the next check

Some say the X makes the sex 'spec-

So play with the pussy or play pussy

[Chorus: Betty Wright, *Lil Wayne*]

So you've got so many diamonds

*Hey, pussy, lay pussy*

You wear all the finest clothes

*Do what I... say, pussy, and I say, I say*

And your grill is shining

*Lay pussy, lay pussy, lay, pussy, haha*

As you're driving down the streets of gold

*Hey, pussy, haha!*

But you can't blame me

*Hey pussy, don't play pussy*

If I set this stage on fire!

*Get 'em!*

[Verse 3: Lil Wayne]

Straight off the corner of Apple and Eagle

*Braveheart*, bitch, like the times are medieval

Married to the game, divorced the cathedral

Standing on the corner selling porcelain to people

Forced into evil, it's all in your head

It's all so cerebral, call me Knievel

You follow and I lead you, straight to the needles

The bottles, the battles, the beetles'll eat you

Momma named Cita—I love you, Cita

'Member when your pussy second husband tried to beat ya?

'Member when I went into the kitchen, got the cleaver?

He ain't give a fuck, I ain't give a fuck neither

He could see the devil, see the devil in my features

He could smell the ether, you can see Cita

You can see the Cita, see the Cita in my features

And she don't play neither

[Chorus: Betty Wright]

But you can't blame me

If I set this stage on fire!

[Outro: Lil Wayne]

C3, 3Peat

## References

1. ↑ Dart, Chris (May 13, 2013). "Lil Wayne Playing with Fire". *Exclaim!*
2. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (January 30, 2009). "Lil Wayne Settles "Playing with Fire" Lawsuit with the Rolling Stones' Publishers". *Rolling Stone*.
3. ↑ James, Andy (October 26, 2017). "Beat Break: StreetRunner Shares the Story Behind His 5 Biggest Songs". *DJBooth*.

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