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Phife is of Trinidadian Descent. Trini=Trinidadian.
Plus he doesn’t hesitate in his actions.
In other words, he never half steps cause he’s not a half stepper

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The expression “snakes in the grass” refers to a deceitful person, or a fake. 50 metaphorically cuts the grass, so he can see who’s fake and who’s not.

This line is an allusion to one of Jay Z’s lines in “Blueprint 2”, which was released a year before “Poppin' Them Thangs”:

When the grass is cut, the snakes will show

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When Nas was 23 years old, he released his second studio album, It Was Written in 1996. After the low chart success of his debut album, Illmatic, Nas managed to go double platinum with this record, scoring his first $2 million.

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In football terms, a “bomb” is a very long throw by a quarterback that typically goes around 50 yards down the field. A “Hail Mary” is also a very far throw, and it is usually used at the closing seconds of a game to score a fast touchdown.
Monch is using a play on words with the term “bomb,” because it refers to the football definition and the regular definition of the word. If a Hail Mary was filled with napalm, it would be called a “bomb” in two different ways! (clever)

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American Red Cross is an organization that provides emergency assistance and disaster relief.

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Marv Albert is a TV and radio broadcaster, who is known as “the voice of basketball.” He wears a rather obvious looking toupee.

“Pushing your wig back” means to shoot somebody in the head.

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Phi Slamma Jamma was the nickname of the University of Houston basketball team from 1982-1984, who were well known for their dunking. They had great players such as Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

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Chief Noc-A-Homa was the mascot for the Atlanta Braves who was an Indian that lived in a teepee behind the bleachers. His name was a play on the phrase “Knock a homer”, and anytime the Braves would hit a homerun, he came out. Whenever he was discontinued as mascot, the Braves started losing games for years after his departure, causing superstition to arise that he was the reason the Braves were winning.

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Pharoahe Monch uses a play on the words “Diamond” and “back” to reference the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and continue the baseball/sports theme he carries throughout the song.

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