Friday, January 18, 2013

grammar - Verb forms in "Feelin' Myself" (will.i.am song)

I have been somewhat fascinated by this song recently, for various reasons, including the peculiar lyrics. I am especially wondering about the usage of infinitive-like verb forms in several lines, such as:




I be everywhere, everybody know me
Cause we be in the club
Look up in the mirror, the mirror look at me
The mirror be like 'baby [...]'



I recognized some of them as similar to "X be like Y" expressions, which I found to be classified as a combination of "habitual be" and "quotative like". But there are other verbs being used in an apparently similar way, and I'm wondering if they're habitual verb aspects, subjunctive mood (my first guess), artistic license, contractions, other forms of slang/vernacular or just bad grammar.



Edit: In case it wasn't painfully obvious from the above paragraph, I have already researched "X be like Y" and that is not what my question is about. Specifically (and repeating myself again), there are other verbs being used, which are not covered by the "habitual be" and "quotative like" explanations. Also, "AAVE" is not a suitable answer to either question (it's probably true but much too vague - I'm asking about the verb forms).

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