"I met my father once." Hip hop icon Raekwon begins his memoir, " From Staircase to Stage," with this line. The talented lyricist and cofounding member of the '90s mega-group Wu-Tang Clan, known on stage as The Chef, didn't have a relationship with his father.
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Larry Bird had a sick “catch-and-shoot”; AZ is saying that he needs to do one last quick drug deal (a “bird” is a brick of cocaine) before he quits the game.
It's been twenty-two long, hard years, I'm still strugglin'
Survival got me buggin', but I'm alive on arrival Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.
Survival got me buggin', but I'm alive on arrival Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.
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Deck was twenty-two when he wrote the rhyme. Rae gets a lot of credit for the realness of this joint, but Deck’s impressions here are some of the most vivid and real you’ll ever hear.
RZA, Wu-Tang Manual
“Alive on arrival” is a play on “dead on arrival.”
“Alive on arrival” is also an allusion to the Ice Cube song of the same name, which describes a man who, after getting caught in the crossfire of a gang shooting, is allowed to die by hospital staff who assume that, because of his race, he was involved in said shooting.
Had second hands, Mom's bounced on old man
So then we moved to Shaolin land Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.
So then we moved to Shaolin land Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.
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Rae had second-hand clothing, his father was a heroin addict as said on “Can It Be All So Simple”, and his mom ended up leaving.
His father’s addiction certainly didn’t help their financial life; it might’ve been the impetus for both the second-hand clothing and the Shaolin (Staten Island) move.
Wu-Tang refers to their home borough, Staten Island, as “Shaolin” in reference to the Gordon Liu movie Shaolin and Wu Tang, which Wu-Tang is named after (when you grow up in a borough that smells like garbage, you develop a keen sense of imagination)
In reality, Raekwon was raised by his mom and only met his dad once.
5 years
5 years
Liu Kang
7 years
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When Cam leaves holes in your body by shooting you, you’ll be like “Holy cow. How did you do that?”
I ain't listenin' for shit but sirens
I ain't tryna get to my ship sunk, fuck you pirates Lil Wayne (Ft. Birdman) – I’m A Dboy
I ain't tryna get to my ship sunk, fuck you pirates Lil Wayne (Ft. Birdman) – I’m A Dboy
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He doesn’t care that his speakers are drowned. He’s listening for cops, not music. He’s not trying to get his belongings taken (in an interesting inversion of authority, he casts the cops as outlaw pirates)
Also sirens were mythical creatures in Greek Mythology who would use their beautiful voices to lure sailors and sink their ships. So Wayne is listening for sirens to steer clear of them, and keep his ship floating.
I'm a venereal disease, like a menstrual bleed
Through the pencil, and leak on the sheet of the tablet in my mind Lil Wayne – A Milli
Through the pencil, and leak on the sheet of the tablet in my mind Lil Wayne – A Milli
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But the allure of the game, keeps calling your name
To all the Lauras of the world, I feel your pain
To all the Christies in different cities and Tiffany Lanes:
We all hustlers in love with the same thing JAY-Z – Allure
To all the Lauras of the world, I feel your pain
To all the Christies in different cities and Tiffany Lanes:
We all hustlers in love with the same thing JAY-Z – Allure
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His sympathy for “Tiffany Lane” is directed towards (female) rapper Charli Baltimore, whose real name is Tiffany Lane. She was dating Un Rivera aka “Uncle Paulie” (a tagalong to the Notorious BIG) and – as revealed by Cam'ron – cheated on him with Jay-Z (insulting!)
Ms. Lane
Jay-Z was later accused of stabbing Un Rivera over “bootlegging” his album so – as Cam'ron sagely explains – it was actually over Charli
More generally speaking, Jay-Z is subverting gender roles. “Laura”, “Christie” and “Tiffany Lane” sound like typical names for materialistic, daddy’s girl Upper East Side JAPs
His message to such girls is, “O Women: Behold! We are not so different, you and I…we like money, and the things we can buy with it”
2 years
3 years
greyalbumbrotmehere
9 years
10 years
wayward foe
12 years
Harlem
12 years
D
12 years
Nicci
12 years
She like, "Damn, this the realest since 'Kumbaya'"
Bomaye, Killa Cam, my Lord (My Lord) Cam'ron (Ft. Opera Steve) – Killa Cam
Bomaye, Killa Cam, my Lord (My Lord) Cam'ron (Ft. Opera Steve) – Killa Cam
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The woman (actually man, but whatever..) singing in the background is saying that this is the best singalong song since “Kumbaya”, a campfire classic. The phrase “my Lord” is very prominent in the lyrics of “Kumbaya”, and Cam uses this phrase to end the line.
“Bomaye” means “kill him!” in Lingala; the term was popularized in America during the Rumble in the Jungle – the much publicized fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) – where Ali supporters would chant “Ali Bumaye!”
Cam is using the word here as an African synonym for “Killa” (also it rhymes internally with ‘Kumbaya’)
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They could’ve gotten info and taken his clothes, leaving him in his Hanes brand underwear: