I believe there are two types of people — those who can recite all the lyrics to this catchy, casual rap hit and those who have never experienced heartbreak. In the 1989 release, Biz Markie takes the listener through an heart-wrenching chorus and the story of his own heartbreak, in deep detail.
"Let me tell ya a story of my situation I was talking to this girl from the U.S Nation," Biz starts his story in this song, introducing a past lover.
Biz further explains their relationship meeting at a concert:
"Forget about that, let's go into the story/ About a girl named "blah-blah-blah" that adored me/ So we started talkin', gettin' familiar/ Spendin' a lot of time, so we can build up a relationship."
I think the storytelling aspect is why it this song is one of the only raps I managed to learn every lyric. At any moment I was prepared to recite his lyrics covering the topics of betrayal, heartbreak, even karaoke-ing this song at one of my high school events — that's how much I knew these lyrics.
Another part of why I love this song is Biz's almost cries of despair in the chorus. But somehow, he still makes it catchy and pop-like. I remember seeing a Vine of someone covering Biz's chorus when the app was popular, which is how I discovered the song.
Sadly I could not find the old Vine of the person covering Biz's emotional yells of "When you say he's just a friend," but the original video will suffice to understand.
Biz finalizes his story through a suspenseful sequence of events:
"I arrived in front of the dormitory/ "Yo, could you tell me where is door three?"/ They showed me where it was for the moment/ I didn't know I was in for such an event/ So, I came to her room and opened the door/ Oh, snap! Guess what I saw?/ A fella tongue-kissin' my girl in her mouth/ I was so in shock, my heart went down south"
"Don't ever talk to a girl who says she just has a friend," he leaves us off with his largest point, and ultimate feelings of heartbreak from his past relationship.
By no means is this song is a musical masterpiece, but it certainly introduced me to love of other 90s rappers. I learned to appreciate Biggie, Tupac, Outcast, Nipsey and others that formed that era of rap.
I believe that everyone should know this early rap hit to understand the true storytelling power of rap. It explains how rap lets lyricism shine, allowing the writer to share his story and feelings. Biz Markie accomplished this in "Just a Friend," and even made it catchy and relatable to last decades.