You'll get defeated
Like Kunta Kinte, I'm kin to the Lynn crew
My great, great, grandpap done been through
So much it's in my hemoglobin to be a ill nigga
So I figure like a father... that I'mma Turn This Mutha Out
from Common – Orange Pineapple Juice Lyrics on Rap Genius
Just a brilliant sequence.
Defeated —> In Roots, Kunta Kinte has his foot chopped off by slave catchers — he is de-feeted
Kinte —> Kin to — Roots concerns the long chain of descent stretching from Kunta Kinte in Africa to modern-day blacks — Common uses the reference to meditate on his own family and their unique journey from Africa to America.
Lynn crew —> Lynn is Common’s surname.
“It’s in my hemoglobin to be an ill nigga” —> A great play on words — it means both that his badassness comes naturally to him, and references sickle cell anemia, an “illness” related to a defect in hemoglobin receptors, and common in the black community.
Figure like a father —> father figure
Turn This Mutha Out —> A common phrase in funk music (including the title of an album by Idris Muhammad), and what one would expect a “father figure” to do. Note the parallel with the above verse, where Common brags about sexing a mother on Section 8.
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