NuStarr

A reference to the song “Charlie Mack (First Out of the Limo)” on the DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince album, He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper

Obviously re-iterating the saying “between a rock and a hard place” which is used to describe a dilemma with two unattractive possibilities. Black Thought, however, knows that God is a third possibility and the way out.

During the last few years of his life, Jay was suffering from TTP, so his death gave him some relief. At the same time, it left an unfillable void in hip-hop, and more importantly, in the lives of family and friends of Dilla.

A reference to the Slick Rick track, “Runaway”, where he says:

Well, I waited long time sweatin it
Gettin jerked but yea I’m gettin it

When he got locked up, all he had left was his thoughts and his rhymes. This might be a subtle reference to the saying “When God closes one door, he opens another”; the first door being the cell door, and the second being his mind.

Also, the part of his brain that was “frozen” was the rhyming/writing side. It was frozen because he was concentrated on the drug game. Freeze is slang for cocaine.

From the 2Pac song, “Until the End of Time”

It never stop, when my mama ask me will I change
I tell her yeah but it’s clear I’ll always be tha same

People can only literally go so high before needing oxygen. And metaphorically, once people attain a certain amount of success, they can become overwhelmed.

Nas’s mother died in 2002 from cancer. On his 2002 album, God’s Son, Nas dedicated the song “Dance” to her

#2 pencils are second to the pen, and are probably used by second-tier emcees

Speaking about the power of the pen and writing. It’s a weapon that should be handled carefully