Shot up on the block

[Atefvinc]

Hello,

In the song "Mockingbird" of the rapper Eminem, there are this sentence :

"And at the time every house that we lived in
Either kept getting broken into and robbed
Or shot up on the block"

What does he mean when he says "shot up on the block" ? What do the words "shot up" and "the block" refer to ?
In american rap songs, I often noticed that "my block" was used to say something like "my district". Am I wrong ?

See you soon

Atefvinc.

[Barb_D]

I'm not much into Emminem so his lyrics are often a bit of a mystery, but "shot up" means people shot guns at it.

His home was subject to being hit with gunfire, I guess.

[Ouisch]

A "block" is similar to a district, but even more narrow and specific. In much of the U.S., city roads are built on a grid, some streets running north/south, others running east/west. The plots of land in between the streets are called "blocks." In my area, there are about 12 houses on one side of an average block. You will often hear Americans give directions using "block," as in: "The post office is just three blocks from my house," or "To get to the freeway, drive two blocks north and then turn right."

[BobK]

I'm not much into Emminem so his lyrics are often a bit of a mystery, but "shot up" means people shot guns at it.

His home was subject to being hit with gunfire, I guess.

Note that there's another meaning of 'shoot up' that may be involved in this performer's repertoire - 'take drugs intravenously'. But this meaning is obviously not meant in this context.

b

[Soup]

.. people shot guns at it.

Shot guns, that's very cool semantics! The verb shoot, that is:

Ex: People shoot guns.
Meaning, people (use guns to) shoot.

Ex: People shoot bears.
Meaning, people (use bears to) shoot.

[vil]

Or shot up on the block and your mom was saving money for you in a jar.
Trina start a piggy bank for you to you could go to college
Almost had a thousand dollars till someone broken and stole it.

shoot up = to grow or get taller or

shoot up = to riddle with bullets, to damage or terrorize (a town, neighborhood or block ) for example by intense or random gunfire.

I,m for the second.

[Ouisch]

Oh, and just for the record....I know Eminem likes to portray himself as being from "the 'hood," but he grew up in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, which is not exactly the ghetto. I don't think anything was ever shot up on his block except fireworkds on the Fourth of July.