“If you don’t worry about where I been or who I saw or, what club I went to with my homies, baby don’t worry, you know that you got me”
“You Got Me” by The Roots is a Grammy winning song that I’ve enjoyed listening to on many occasions. Although the hook to “You Got Me” is performed by singer Erykah Badu, this entire tune was written by R&B/ Neo Soul singer Jill Scott, who often performs with The Roots at their concerts, in place of Badu. Both The Roots and Jill Scott are from Philadelphia, PA -- where I currently am.
From my understanding, “You Got Me” is about a couple, particularly the lead performer of The Roots band and an unnamed female -- and how his traveling on the road and her schedule causes insecurities or jealously and/or other conflict in their relationship. The main point of “You Got Me,” however, is that this woman is trying to get him to understand that she is always in his corner and will not will not seek comfort or attention in the arms of another man.
So basically, this particular song by The Roots is all about loyalty, at least as far as I’m concerned with it. That also got me thinking about loyalty among friends, families, partners, lovers, co-workers, communities, etc. as portrayed in film. -- or the lack thereof.
After FINALLY watching Spike Lee’s directorial debut “She’s Gotta Have It” for the first time recently, it is nice to know that there are people out in the world who are loyal to one another -- even if those people do not include Nola Darling, her three boyfriends and her one lesbian suitor.
In honor of the principles laid out in “You Got Me,” here are some movie quotes that appear to describe loyalty among the main characters in film -- something that Nola, Jamie, Greer, Mars and Opal know nothing about (Still their disloyal behavior toward each other doesn't change the fact that "She's Gotta Have It" is a good and funny movie).
Movie Quotes that Say YOU-GOT-ME in one way or another:
"We ride together, we die together. Bad boys for life!" - Detective Mike Lowery (played by Will Smith) in "Bad Boys II"
“I made a promise, Mr Frodo. A promise. ‘Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee.’ And I don't mean to. I don't mean to.” - Sam (played by Sean Astin), the Hobbit, in “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”
“I know all of the people you would hire to come after me. They like me better than you” - Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) in “Ocean’s Thirteen”
“I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people.” -- Doug MacRay (played by Ben Affleck) to his friend Jem in “The Town” / “Whose car are we gonna' take?” -- Jem’s (played by Jeremy Renner) response to Doug in “The Town”
“This is Maddy’s card, you call her when you get to Conakry, alright?...And don’t trust that pilot for a second. You point this at his head if he fucks around! Take your boy home.” -- Danny Archer (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) in “Blood Diamond”
Can YOU name any movie quotes showing some form of loyalty among the main characters?
What does loyalty mean to YOU?