June 2008 was a weird time for music. Tha Carter III had just dropped, and suddenly everyone was a Lil Wayne fan. But then people got to the very end of the album. Track 16. Ten minutes long. It starts with a beautiful Nina Simone sample, and you think you’re getting a deep, soulful outro. Instead, you get a two-verse masterclass followed by a seven-minute spoken word manifesto that honestly changed how people looked at Dwayne Carter. If you’ve been looking for the dontgetit lyrics lil wayne fans still debate today, you aren't just looking for rhymes. You're looking for the moment a "Martian" decided to become a political scientist.
The Nina Simone Connection
Wayne didn’t just pick a random beat for this. The song heavily samples "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Nina Simone. It’s perfect. The hook goes, "I'm just a soul whose intentions are good / Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood."
For a guy who was being called the best rapper alive while simultaneously being mocked for his lifestyle and "weird" flow, this was a defensive crouch. He starts the first verse by acknowledging that "what's understood ain't gotta be explained." But clearly, he felt nobody was getting it. So, he explained.
Breaking Down the "DontGetIt" Lyrics: Verse by Verse
The actual rapping part of the song is relatively short compared to the monologue. Wayne touches on his birth—giving "Miss Cita pain" for eight and a half months—and his transition from "Weezy" to "Wayne."
The lyrics are dense. He references Perry Mason, the Bible, and Hurricane Katrina. It’s a blur of imagery that sets the stage for the real meat of the track: the legendary rant. He basically tells the listener that if they think they know him from the headlines, they’re wrong. You’ve got to "meet Dwayne."
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The Statistics: 1 in Every 100
This is where it gets heavy. Wayne pivots from rapping to talking. He mentions a "white guy on TV" talking about how young Black men are targeted by America.
He drops a stat that was shockingly accurate for the time: one in every 100 Americans are locked up, and one in every nine Black Americans are locked up. He isn't just complaining; he’s looking at the systemic nature of the "school-to-prison pipeline" before that was even a common buzzword in pop culture.
Wayne argues that the money spent on jail could be spent on college. Simple math? Maybe. But coming from the guy who just released "Lollipop," it was a massive curveball for the critics who thought he didn't have a brain.
The War on Drugs and the "Suburban" Paradox
One of the most biting parts of the dontgetit lyrics lil wayne delivered is his breakdown of sentencing disparities. He talks about crack cocaine vs. powder cocaine.
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"Because this drug ain't that drug."
He points out that crack is found in the "hood" while the "other thing" (powder) is in the suburbs. He asks why the law treats them differently when the effect is the same. Then he gets personal. He talks about his neighbor in the suburbs who didn't "rap his way" there but "sold crack cocaine" to get there.
Wayne’s point is cynical but honest: the system wants the drug dealer out of the neighborhood, but they don't care about the "real criminals" like sex offenders who might live right down the street. It’s a dark, uncomfortable observation about what society chooses to police.
The Al Sharpton "Beef"
If you’re wondering why Wayne spends the last few minutes of the biggest album of his career trashing Al Sharpton, you have to look at the climate of 2008. Sharpton was frequently criticizing hip-hop for its lyrics and influence.
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Wayne wasn't having it. He calls Sharpton "just another Don King with a perm." Brutal.
His logic was that Sharpton should "informate before he speculates." He felt Sharpton was judging a generation he didn't actually talk to. Wayne’s closing argument is that he loves being misunderstood because he lives in the suburbs but comes from the hood. He’s a walking contradiction, and he’s fine with it.
What to do next
If you want to really understand the impact of this track, don't just read the lyrics on a screen. Go back and listen to the original 10-minute version on Tha Carter III. Pay attention to the shift in his voice when he stops rapping and starts talking—it’s the sound of someone who stopped caring about being a "pop star" for ten minutes and just wanted to be heard. You might also want to look up the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act to see the actual law Wayne was referencing regarding the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.