Released: October 17, 2001

Featuring: Pusha T

Songwriter: Pusha T Pharrell Williams Chad Hugo

Producer: The Neptunes

[Intro: Pusha T]
You know what I am
You know what I do
Well at least I thought you knew
They call me Pusha!
Damn

[Verse 1: Pusha T]
I take it like a slap in the face
Every time the base is mentioned like I had bad intentions
Listen, I thought love was given
So for you I did those things you were missin'
Never have to say "please gimme borrow"
As long as I got yay and two semi autos
And connects in the jets like wetback Carlos
I ain't askin' you to follow
Just think about tomorrow, please

[Kelis]
I should have known by the way that you stared
Eyeing passers-by like you're rich but life ain't fair
But ya

[Chorus: Kelis] (Pusha T)
Make my record skip
Make my record skip
Make my record skip
Make my record skip

I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya damn right)
I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya Damn right)

[Verse 2: Pusha T]
I can't help if I'm a thug and I'm popular
I think that come along with driving a shocking car
Watch the coke light up they life, the rocks is stars
Had fiends talking crippled cause they locked they jaw
Aw, "Pusha T, you think its cool that you deal?"
'Bout as cool as that breeze on the beach in Brazil
As long as fiends want 'caine then I'm gon' slang
When my financial change then I'm gon' change

[Kelis]
I should have seen in the way you touched my hand
Shuffling your car keys but sounded like a gentleman
But ya

[Chorus: Kelis] (Pusha T)
Make my record skip
Make my record skip
Make my record skip
Make my record skip

I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya damn right)
I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya Damn right)
I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya damn right)
I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya Damn right)

[Pusha T]
You don't know it yet
Its the life that I live that you love and the fact that I'm thug
That had you holding techs
When you really didn't know what it was but you did it out of love
Shit, far from deprived give you all of your fetishes
Like treacherous necklaces begets etceteras
Colours coming out make your head spin like Exorcist
Spending bright futures in the hood all them no good messages

[Kelis]
I should have heard it in the way you said my name
While I analyzed your tone you were formulating games
But ya

[Chorus: Kelis] (Pusha T)
Make my record skip
Make my record skip
Make my record skip
Make my record skip

I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya damn right)
I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya Damn right)
I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya damn right)
I would have never talked to you if I had known you was a popular thug
Hey, popular thug (Ya Damn right)

Hey, Popular thug

Kelis

When idiosyncratic R&B singer Kelis hit the scene in 1999 with the siren-bathed “Caught Out There,” many didn’t know what to do with a rainbow-haired songstress repeatedly screaming “I hate you so much right now” as her hook. It made her not only unforgettable, but also helped put hitmaking production duo The Neptunes on the map.

Though her debut album Kaleidoscope was well-received, her label Virgin Records opted to only release the sophomore Wanderland internationally though the single “Young, Fresh N' New” was in rotation on BET & MTV.

Despite record label drama, Kelis kept her public profile up singing the hooks on hit songs like ODB’s “Got Your Money” and Busta Rhymes' “What It Is”.