I've never seen "been" been used without have/has/had. But in some songs it appears that they sometime use "been" without have. When I searched on internet the lyrics of some songs, it was actually like "I've been" or "It's been". I always thought that it's not I been, it's I've been but recently I saw the lyrics of the song "Forgot about Dre" in which they use it multiple times as:
-
…But I been low key…
-
…Sorry Doc but I been crazy…
-
…ya'll are the reason Dre ain't been getting no sleep…
The last sentence is quite confusing. ain't been = is not been. Someone told me that we can never use something like is been, e.g "I am been" means that somebody is being me.
Please explain me in simple language, what does I been mean and when is it used. Please do not explain the grammer, that is verb, noun etc; I am learning English without studying formal grammar.
Best Answer
Been is widely used in a number of British and American dialects as an abbreviated form of present perfect have been/has been. In some cases the form is established as a dialect standard, in other cases it represents a severe elision of have been—/v/ and /b/ are pronounced at exactly the same point in the mouth, so it /v/ very readily disappears in the following /b/.
All of these uses are non-standard and should not be emulated by learners in any register, even the most casual speech: speakers of a dialect in which one of these uses is standard may suspect you of mocking their speech. Stick to the standard forms.
Dialects which employ ain't use it for both {is / are / am} not and {have / has} not. Ain't been thus represents haven't been or, as in your example, hasn't been.