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He’s saying he “broke even” (which is what gambling addicts usually tell people when they lost like $5K)

Note the shape wordplay (circles, squares)

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This is a clever play on a line from “Public Enemies”, the movie about the famous bank robber John Dillinger. In the movie, Dillinger’s dying words are to tell his girlfriend “Bye bye blackbird”

Jay-Z is taking the affectionate term blackbird literally: his crew’s girlfriends/wives are all black birds (bird being a term for girl). He’s using the term as a way of casting himself and his friends as Dillinger-esque gangsters

dillinger

A Derringer pistol is sometimes referred to as a Dillinger.

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Jay-Z likens Roc Nation to the army, incorporating the “Pledge of Allegiance” – a marker of patriotism in America – into his devotion to his new label.

He felt the same way about his previous label Roc-A-Fella Records. On “Takeover” he raps:

Roc-A-Fella is the army, better yet, the navy

“All Black Everything” has become a common saying, appearing in “Murder To Excellence” and even a namesake song by Lupe Fiasco.

After all, Jay said he was a trendsetter.

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Which Slim is he talking about?

  • Souljah Slim, a New Orleans rapper who died in 2003 (Wayne claims that at some point Slim anointed him as the best rapper)?

  • Ronald “Slim” Williams, who along with younger brother Bryan “Baby” Williams, founded Cash Money Records, and has served as an executive producer on all Lil Wayne’s albums to date?

It’s most likely Baby’s brother, Slim.

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Wayne doesn’t feel like waiting to see if the controversial idea of the U.S. government paying money to descendants of slaves ever gets passed; he’s just going to go rob some white people

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No one in Wayne’s house would betray him, and he’s so confident of this that he wants the gardener to cut the grass and show that there’s no one lying there (“snake in the grass”)

Jay-Z used this phrase to explain that you find out who your real enemies are when you get involved in beef because people start piling on. He said in “The Blueprint 2”

When the grass is cut the snakes will show
Gotta thank my little homie Nas for that though
Saving me the hassle of speaking to half of these assholes

Wayne could also be referring to traitors using snake as symbolism and the gardener is symbolic for a hired killer. If there is a snake in the grass when you mow it, it will be chopped up by the lawn mower.

Therefore, Weezy is explaining that there are no “snakes” hiding in his camp, because he consistently tells the gardener to cut the grass.

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Even though he’s rich, Wayne still hang out with the people from his block; he never abandoned the hood that raised him.

He even filmed his recent music video for God Bless Amerika on his childhood street.

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“All I have in this world…” is a Scarface reference.

A Fistful of Dollars is a Clint Eastwood movie in what’s known as “The Man With No Name Trilogy”.

Like the Eastwood character, Wayne’s a mercenary who doesn’t need more than a gun and his word to get rich, do his business, and solve his problems.

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The same rats and roaches who were people buying drugs in the line before are now actual rats and roaches on the porch of Wayne’s house

But the ground floor is kept purposely decrepit because he’s got tons of money hidden upstairs where people wouldn’t think to look after seeing the front of the house

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There are no guarantees in life, so Wayne lives every day to the fullest. The “Sure Day” is what Muslims call the Day of Judgment – (From Surah 78.39: “That is the Sure Day, so whoever desires may take refuge with his Lord”)

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