What is this?

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Everyone in his crew is rich, so when you see them together (sitting at a “banquette” (a classy booth) rather than a lowly table like the other crew), it’s like seeing a street in the fanciest part of town (“millionaires' row”).

Also, there’s the contrast between his crew having “dough” (money) and the other crew having “no cake” two lines earlier.

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While all states in the U.S. now use a debit card system to give out food benefits, there was a time when food stamps were actually stamps:

stamps

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“Why would a girl like a little fellow like me?” Lil Wayne asks

Because there’s always that one odd cookie (and sometimes she’s bangin!) who is not into the football players and i-bankers…she’s looking for a little goblin to love

Also a reference to the L.L. Cool J song “Pink Cookies” with the hook “Pink cookies in a plastic bag, being crushed by buildings”

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Houlihan’s is a chain of restaurants and bars in the Midwest, the region where Cam'ron purportedly sold a lot of drugs.

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“Tha Crossroads” is a remixed version of the E. 1999 Eternal track “Crossroad”. It was written in remembrance of several people close to the group who died. It is the more famous of the versions.

While the original version “Crossroad” primarily dealt with the death of their friend Wally Laird III, this version was created after the death of close friend and mentor Eazy-E and Wish Bone’s uncle Charles. The original track samples “Bad Ending” from the 1993 Sega game Eternal Champions. This remix instead samples The Isley Brothers' “Make Me Say It Again Girl (Part 1 & 2)”.

This remix was internationally successful. In the US, it debuted at #2 in the US in May 1996, then moved to the top spot the following week – the quickest move to #1 in the US since the Beatles did it in 1964 with “Can’t Buy Me Love”. It held the #1 spot for eight weeks making it the longest-running rap song to hold the top position since Kris Kross' “Jump” in 1992, and was later ranked the #7 song of 1996 by Billboard.

Overseas, it was a top 40 hit in several countries including a #1 peak in New Zealand in June 1996 and a #8 peak in the UK that summer.

The British hip hop group Blazin' Squad released a cover of this song with different lyrics in 2002 as their debut single and it reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart.

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“What’s up Fatlip” is a single found on Fatlip’s first solo album The Loneliest Punk after leaving The Pharcyde.

The music video is directed by Spike Jonze.

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This is one of those songs that exemplifies the need and/or purpose of a site like Genius. Like many filmmakers and other storytellers do, DOOM and Ghostface use reverse chronology to obscure the plot. The first verse (Ghostface) is actually the conclusion or resolution of the plot, while the second and final verse (DOOM) moves from the exposition to the climax. By witholding critical information until the end of the song, Doom and Ghost ensure an epic ending that warrants immediate replay from the listener.

The song circulated on the Internet since 2006, when it was included on a compilation released by the record label Nature Sounds.

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Reference to the Martin Scorcese mafia film, the first of several mafia references in this verse.

Reasonable Doubt is filled with the imagery of Italian gangsters, a stylistic and attitudinal inspiration for many black crack dealers-turned rappers, including Jay’s boy Biggie Smalls (his fashion sense, his crew’s name of ‘Junior M.A.F.I.A.’) – the cover art even shows Jay-Z dressed like one

Reasonable Doubt cover

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However, young lady, if you cross Cam you’ll end up on Maury Povich (a daytime talk show of the Jerry Springer era)

mauryshow

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“Lodi Dodi, we likes to party” is one of the most famous refrains in hip hop, invented by Slick Rick, popularized by Snoop Dogg

Cam provides some variation. In the originals, the next line is “We don’t cause trouble, we don’t bother nobody”

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