Genius | Song Lyrics & Knowledge

Hope that you feel this
Feel this way forever
You can plan a pretty picnic
But you can’t predict the weather.
—Outkast, Ms. Jackson B Horowitz – Capital Market Climate Change

20,390

Artist

11 years

The thing about Outkast is that you have to pay attention, because Andre 3000 and Big Boi may drop a bunch of gibberish or they may drop some deep wisdom. This rhyme was so deep that I felt like I needed to elaborate it.

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Cause two suckers can’t agree on something
a thousand mutherfuckers die for nothing B Horowitz – Shared Command

20,390

Author

11 years

The Geto Boys (specifically Bushwick Bill) actually explain the entire post in this couplet. Shared command is the result of a couple of people not agreeing who is in charge, so a thousand people have to suffer through group decision making.

Of course, the song is about two sides not being able to agree on something, which leads to war. In the case of shared command in a company, it’s not nearly that damaging, but it does cause non-violent civil war inside the company.

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We may never get that moment back Kevin Systrom (Ft. Will Oremus) – Video On Instagram

20,390

11 years

This is nicely done by Kevin. I’m pretty sure that we’ll never get any moments back (at least without solving the whole time travel problem), but by saying “may never,” he gives Instagram a magical quality as it becomes the best time travel solution we have as it makes it possible to at least get a piece of the moment back.

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I done kept it real from the jump
Living at my mama’s house we'd argue every month
N@#$a, I was trying to get it on my own
Working all night, traffic on the way home
And my uncle calling me like “Where ya at?
I gave you the keys told ya bring it right back”
N@#$a, I just think its funny how it goes
Now I’m on the road, half a million for a show
And we started from the bottom now we here B Horowitz (Ft. Drake) – Ken Coleman

20,390

Author

11 years

Ken Coleman hired me when I was 20 years old. To do that job, I commuted every day from my mother’s house in Berkeley to Silicon Valley. My car (a 1970s Impala) barely worked and constantly overheated, so I often need to borrow my mother’s car.

When I first heard this Drizzy verse it took me right back there.

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“I move onward, the only direction
Can't be scared to fail in the search of perfection”
Jay-Z, On to the Next One B Horowitz (Ft. JAY-Z) – Staying Great

20,390

Author

11 years

For me, nobody in the history of hip hop embodies the concept of “upping your game to stay on top” better than Jay-Z. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that he’s relentlessly evolved himself, his sound, and his team. He succinctly sums up the whole philosophy in this line over a Swizz Beats track that’s good enough to go with it.

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11 years

Remember when Jay and Biggie were bouncing off each other…

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2,317

10 years

Great article!

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Lil’ Wayne B Horowitz (Ft. JAY-Z) – Staying Great

20,390

Author

11 years

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- When the partnership I ran took control of Berkshire in 1965, I could never have dreamed that a year in which we had a gain of $24.1 billion would be subpar, in terms of the comparison we present on the facing page Warren Buffett – Letter To Shareholders 2012

20,390

11 years

This is the Oracle of Omaha at his lyrical best. He is leading into the fact that Berkshire underperformed the S&P 500 for the fourth year in a row. For most writers, this would be a tough fact to present. Some might even attempt to pretend it didn’t happen and make some absolute rather than relative statement. Not Warren. He is way too good for that. He is going to come clean and do it in amazing style.

First, he reminds us that he’s been at this at Berkshire since 1965. This establishes that he is way more qualified to analyze his results than any analyst who hasn’t been covering him for the past 48 years. Next he points out the sheer magnitude of how much money he made this year: $24.1B. That’s some serious cheddar. At this point, most of us are like: “You go Warren!” So much so, that when he drops the bomb “subpar,” we’re all like: “don’t be so hard on yourself dude!”

This is one of the reasons why he is the great Warren Buffett and are all just hoping to be crude approximations.

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This is the Oracle of Omaha at his lyrical best. He is leading into the fact that Berkshire underperformed the S&P 500 for the fourth year in a row. For most writers, this would be a tough fact to present. Some might even attempt to pretend it didn't happen and make some absolute rather than relative statement. Not Warren. He is way too good for that. He is going to come clean and do it in amazing style.

First, he reminds us that he's been at this at Berkshire since 1965. This establishes that he is way more qualified to analyze his results than any analyst who hasn't been covering him for the past 48 years. Next he points out the sheer magnitude of how much money he made this year: $24.1B. That's some serious cheddar. At this point, most of us are like: "You go Warren!" So much so, that when he drops the bomb "subpar," we're all like: "don't be so hard on yourself dude!"

This is one of the reasons why he is the great Warren Buffett and are all just hoping to be crude approximations.

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11 years

Warren applies the concept of “humility disarms” effectively

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Squat Kromera

11 years

Berkshire underperformed the S&P 500 for the fourth year in a row

For the sake of precision. In 2011 BRK outperformed S&P.

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As CEO, I am accountable. Andrew Mason – Groupon Farewell Memo

20,390

11 years

Andrew does the stand up thing and claims accountability. Make no mistake though–although he’s the only one accountable, he’s certainly not the only one responsible for all the things that went wrong. The board decided to take the company public prior to putting all the proper controls in place. The material weakness was nearly guaranteed at that point. Every one on the board plus the CFO and the bankers agreed those were good metrics at the time. But here as in every case, it’s not all the CEO’s doing, but it’s all the CEO’s fault.

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351

11 years

Completely agree. I also don’t think the interim CEO’s have much experience in the space and are very much part of the blame considering they were on the board.

They need to find someone with good product knowledge to find a new direction based on what they’re already good at and to find a sustainable business model that actually helps their partners, small businesses and manufacturers.

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542,963

11 years

obviously none of this was his fault, he is da homie tho – I wanna see what he does next! if it was me I would prolly just move to an island but I’m pretty sure Andrew is gonna do some baller type start-up or something.. or maybe he will join Rap Genius family..

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2,260

11 years

We should take this as a “teachable moment” not just for CEOs but for any in a position of responsibility, including those in government. The usual analogies used in situations like this are of the Captain of a ship. No matter what happens on that ship, the Captain is responsible. Even if the Captain is not on the bridge he had better have trained the people who are on the bridge.

But this is a perfect time to make even bigger analogies to the ship of state. In our government there is one and only one chief executive. Our Constitution centers all executive authority on a President. Congress and the Courts also have authorities but one person, like the CEO of Groupon, must take responsibility for all that happens, good or bad.

I look at this situation and feel the failures of the Groupon CEO were bad and may have hurt some people and lost some jobs. But Andrew demonstrated tremendous leadership by accepting all responsibility. I believe this is the kind of leader we need in the corporate world and wish him luck. I also wish we had a chief executive like that in the White House right now.

We should take this as a "teachable moment" not just for CEOs but for any in a position of responsibility, including those in government. The usual analogies used in situations like this are of the Captain of a ship. No matter what happens on that ship, the Captain is responsible. Even if the Captain is not on the bridge he had better have trained the people who are on the bridge.

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437

11 years

How has everyone completely ignored the Samwers / international catastrophe that was critical in Groupon’s downfall? Have a bunch of MBA friends who all became country heads for Groupon in the Samwerian-led rapid expansion, and it was the epitome of excessive growth.

They were being told to hire hundreds of salespeople in countries that didn’t even have adequate online payments systems. Had a friend who ran an office of 80 people that had never even heard of daily deals prior to getting the job.

That mentality pervaded the entire organization after the 2010 Citydeal acquisition and into the IPO was overly focused on pure topline growth without any concern for profitability or more importantly, customer and vendor satisfaction. That does not seem like Andrew Mason’s decision making.

Apologies for rant, but it blows my mind that this piece is completely missing from all the reporting out there.

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927

11 years

I hope Ted Leonsis is more successful running Groupon than he has been running his NBA and NHL teams.

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100,661

11 years

I just want to say it’s insanely cool we’re having this convo on Rap Genius. Love it!

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He gave us tickets to that Wild Style flick Nas – Hope - Acapella Version

20,390

11 years

Wild Style was the first hip hop movie ever made. It featured Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy, and the Cold Crush Brothers.

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You could get a smack for this, I ain't no joke Eric B. & Rakim – I Ain't No Joke

20,390

11 years

This line caused some controversy when E.P.M.D. released You’re A Customer in 1988. Specifically, this:

“It’s like a Diggum Smack
Smack me and I’ll smack you back”

appeared to be a retort to Rakim’s line. Rakim later responded in Follow the Leader with this reply:

“Stop buggin' a brother said dig him, I never dug him
He couldn’t follow the leader long enough so I drug him
Into danger zone he should arrange his own
Face it, it’s basic, erase or change your tone”

Nas explains the controversy in
U.B.R

“EPMD put a record out, was dope
Tension spread, and I quote "Smack me and I smack you back”
Sounded like the answer to the I Ain’t No Joke track"

It all turned out to be a big misunderstanding as the E.P.M.D. line was actually about the breakfast cereal Sugar Smacks and the potentially serious beef was squashed.

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This line caused some controversy when [E.P.M.D.](/artists/E-p-m-d) released [You're A Customer](http://rapgenius.com/Epmd-youre-a-customer-lyrics) in 1988. Specifically, this:

"It's like a Diggum Smack
Smack me and I'll smack you back"

appeared to be a retort to Rakim's line. Rakim later responded in [Follow the Leader](http://rapgenius.com/Rakim-follow-the-leader-lyrics#note-313338) with this reply:

"Stop buggin' a brother said dig him, I never dug him
He couldn't follow the leader long enough so I drug him
Into danger zone he should arrange his own
Face it, it's basic, erase or change your tone"

[Nas](/artists/Nas) explains the controversy in 
[U.B.R](http://rapgenius.com/Nas-ubr-unauthorized-biography-of-rakim-lyrics)

"EPMD put a record out, was dope
Tension spread, and I quote "Smack me and I smack you back"
Sounded like the answer to the I Ain't No Joke track"

It all turned out to be a big misunderstanding as the E.P.M.D. line was actually about the breakfast cereal Sugar Smacks and the potentially serious beef was squashed.

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162

8 years

According to Eric Sermon, on Sway in the Morning yesterday, the lines were intentional. With both groups being from Long Island, they were aware of each other.
Eric said Rakim was his idol and squashed the beef at a bar with PMD after Follow the Leader dropped because he didn’t want to be in battle with the MC he looked up to.
The Diggum Smack reference was intended to be a reply to “You could get a smack for this.”

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162

8 years

After the Follow the Leader dropped, Eric Sermon said “oh no, we have beef with my mentor and we ain’t going to win.”

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Wyatt

3 years

nobody actually said what the line meant

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