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stuck on silly ideas 'cause it's all you can cook

It's a quote from a British rap song. I understand that "cook" here means "do" or "think of", am I right?

The aspect which interests me the most here is: what group in the UK uses this word? What does it tell about me if I use this word? (For example about my age, my music taste etc.)

Please, provide two more examples of usage of this word.

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    I’m voting to close this question because this rap song is using language poetically and non-standardly. So there aren't "more examples of 'cook' used in this sense." Questions about lyrics are frequently unanswerable as lyricists bend or break all the "rules" to create songs. Please enjoy songs and raps in English, but don't treat them as a source of grammar analysis.
    – James K
    Jan 27 at 22:11
  • don't treat them as a source of grammar analysis - absolutely this.
    – Michael Harvey
    Jan 27 at 23:45
  • @JamesK If there aren't more examples, how come Weather Vane managed to write an answer and quote a dictionary? They didn't differenciate between "cook" and "cook up". Do you? Would you like to say that "cook up" is used like this, while "cook" isn't?
    – musialmi
    Jan 28 at 8:15
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    Well I think that answer is wrong, or at least unsupported. I don't think it is clear that "cook" means "cook up" I think it is more likely to be a metaphor created by the writer for this situation, not a development of the idiom "cook up". Really the only way to know would be to talk to the artiste themselves - and that's not going to happen.
    – James K
    Jan 28 at 8:41

1 Answer 1

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Its meaning is more specific than just "do" or "think of". The Cambridge Dictionary has

cook something up
informal
to invent a story, plan, etc., usually dishonestly:
She cooked up some weird scheme that was going to earn her a fortune.
I had to cook up an excuse about my car breaking down.

In the song, the rapper has shortened it to just 'cook'.

Farlex has

cook up
Fabricate, concoct, as in She's always cooking up some excuse.

There's a similar difference between your "think of" and "think up".

think of: to remember something or someone.
think up: to invent something, to have an idea.

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    But there it is not cook up.
    – Lambie
    Jan 27 at 20:52
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    @Lambie, the rapper has shortened it to cook. That's what they do.
    – Weather Vane
    Jan 27 at 21:12
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    Are rap questions really on-topic for ELU?
    – Michael Harvey
    Jan 27 at 21:20
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    I do understand what you meant about dropping the up but it may not be the idea of cook up at all.
    – Lambie
    Jan 27 at 22:06
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    Perhaps it's just a matter of opinion what the rapper means, as is often the case in music and poetry too.
    – Weather Vane
    Jan 27 at 22:08

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