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Apparently, Weezy doesn’t want to get married or have a titled relationship. Shocking.

Wayne has historically been very clear on this point and has used a line similar to this one.

Wayne is poking fun of the old adage that says “love is in the air.” He wants no part of it, so he holds his breath and his face turns blue from the lack of oxygen (also known as cyanosis).

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Months after Tupac’s death, this Scarface song featuring Tupac was released in February 1997. It became Scarface’s biggest single and shed a lot of light on the inner thoughts and life lessons of 2Pac. It became his posthumous good-bye letter to the world.

This is 2Pac’s handwritten lyrics

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He is referring to the days of slavery from the 1500s to late 1800s in America. The slave masters who “owned” slaves, had them pick cotton from their field, so that they could make profit for free. This is undeniably the way America acquired wealth through their system of capitalism in very little time, catapulting the society as the most powerful on Earth (at one time).

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Gibbs is a dead man walking

This term became most popular in Snoop & Dre’s famous song “Deep Cover” – “Yeah, And it don’t Stop/Cause it’s 187 on the undercover cop”

“187” being the legal code term for murder.

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Still, God will have the last word and action in their regard. Their wickedness cannot overpower God.

This is also another nod to Yasiin Bey’s religion.
In the Quran, Sura 4:81 ends with the phrase

And sufficient is Allah as disposer of affairs

The Sura itself discusses wicked men plotting evil, and that Muslims should not fear these men but rely on Allah.

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Muslims are taught to fear no man, but Allah (God). And it is not just Muslims who are taught this. The notion of not fearing the creature, but rather the Creator, was a fundamental first principle in ancient wisdom literature of Near Eastern religion, especially the wisdom literature of the Hebrews (ca. 900-586 BC). This of course predates Islam by about 1,000 years give or take. Once again, Mos taps into something ancient and articulates it in a new way.

This could also apply to society as a whole: Like men, cultures and morals change, but God’s opinion of you stays throughout life and death, so what he thinks of you is the only thing that matters.

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Iron Sheik was a WWE World Champion in 1983 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. His signature move was the “Camel Clutch.” This simile compares Lupe’s control of the rap game and lyrical ability to the Iron Sheik’s signature move; he’s in control and there is nothing else anyone can do about it.

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The “first 400 years” refers to the Transatlantic Slave Trade (1440-1888). African slaves went through extremely harsh conditions, building a lot of what we see today in the Americas (including North America, South America, and the Caribbean– not just the United States).

Lupe’s imaginary world is one where this isn’t the case, and instead had Africans spend their lives in joy and harmony.


SIDE NOTE: This line was also referenced in a Raw Story article entitled, “Four myths about slavery in the US”, regarding how slavery didn’t only last 400 years, like how most people generalize it. The author makes the point that the institution of slavery lasted a lot longer.

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The Davidian Massacre which took place in Waco, Texas, remains to be a controversy topic amongst conspiracy theorists. Although the government and the law have stated there was no harm done on their part, many continue to believe the 80 deaths were caused by the government and not by the man accused, David Koresh.

Nas states that the television is a breeding ground for the government to pump out their lies as facts to their audience.

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Here, Kim refers to the 1974 hit “Lady Marmalade” by the girl group LaBelle:

Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da
Gitchi gitchi ya ya here
Mocha chocolata, ya ya
Creole Lady Marmalade

Years later, she would go on to remake this song with Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Mya (written by Missy).

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