Here Black Thought is reflecting about the way of life that he leads due to his profession as an artists. As the title of the song indicates life and art are almost equal he likely speaks about touring around in the world as he put it on a The Roots song:

The world traveller in the flesh without question
Last seven years on tour without resting

This line could be interpreted in two different ways.

This first one would reflect on the life of people who live in urban ares. They politic in the streets meaning that they work in the streets, they most likely participate in illicit activities such as drug dealing. These activities lead to trouble for those who partake and cause beef.

The other meaning would use the word politicking in a more literal meaning and would refer to politics who try change conditions in the streets and get in trouble while doing so. Beef in this case could indicate dispute with opposing parties or loss of electoral votes.

These two meanings also tie together with the first two lines of the song which compare politics and to thugs and state that the latter of both are worse than the first one.

College Dropout is the debut album Kanye West and was released in 2004. West prior to his rapping career produced for rappers like Jay-Z, Talib Kweli and others.

His production often features vocal samples of soul songs by artists like Diana Ross, Nina Simone or Otis Redding. He incorporated these samples by playing them faster and thus in a higher pitch to a point where the original material and the sample sounded very different.

He utilized this ability to produce College Dropout which is produced solely by Kanye West and features very soulful and melodic in beats.
As for the vocals and their content West stood out from other popular artists this particular time. The late 90s/early 00s were heavily dominated by hardcore/gangsta rap by artists such as DMX, 50 Cent, TI.

Kanye West differentiated himself from these artists by letting his songs revolving around topics which usually are accredited to conscious rap i.e. materialism, religion, racism, personal problems.

West had big success using this formula as the album sold approximately 400.000 units within the first week and met general positive critical acclaim.

Doggystyle is the debut album from Longbeach-based rapper Snopp Doggy Dogg aka Snopp Dogg aka Snopp Lion aka Snopzilla and was released 23 November 1993, less than two weeks after the release of Midnight Marauders and Enter The 36 Chambers.
Snoop Dogg received attention by a larger audience the year before Doggystyle as he was featured numerous times on Dr.Dre’s album The Chronic. He protruded from other guest artists because of his laid-back and very melodic presentation which perfectly matched Dr.Dre funky, sample-heavy production. Dre´s and Snoop´s cooperation on The Chronic spawned various hit singles such as the all time classic Nuthin But A G Thang.
So instead of pushing the boundaries of the newly created G-Funk Dre and Snoop continued what worked perfectly on The Chronic. They produced Doggystyle a album with funky beats and lyrics about essentially being a G, partying and women varying from ho to bitch.

As mentioned above Doggystyle was released at a time where the East Coast was prospering with an entirely diffrent sound most notably the dark, grimy and gritty Gangsta-Rap á la Wu-Tang or Mobb Deep and the alternative and jazzy Conscious-Rap á la Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul. So the huge success of two G-Funk albums in two consecutive years further cemented the West Coast as opposite pole of the East musically and strengthened it immense.

This story has an abrupt beginning as is usual with detective stories. It starts with an unknown male person hitting an unknown female in the face with the intention of owning her. The aspect of owning women most commonly is associated with prostitution and similar activities, but this also could be interpreted as symbolism for the role of women within an oppressive male-dominated society. This interpretation would align with Lupe’s feminist point of view as expressed in “Bitch Bad” and other songs.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was in released in 1995 and therefore is the third Wu-Tang solo release following Tical in 1994 and Return To The 36 Chambers- The Dirty Version earlier in 1995, it might even be the fourth one if you count 6 Feet Deep by The Gravediggaz as a Wu-Tang Clan album. OB4CL has meant as a mafioso movie. That means that Raekwon was the main character and Ghostface Killah acted as a co-star, The RZA serves as director and the other WU-Tang members acted in various side roles. The album plot is driven by various spoken skits and intros/outros. Thematically the album revolves around all sorts mafia activities which influenced albums like It Was Written, Reasonable Doubt, Life After Death and many others.

After the death of 2Pac in 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997 – two of the most popular and successful gangsta rappers – there was a void that had to be filled. Among other contestants such as Ja Rule or Jadakiss, DMX emerged the more successful; this was surely was based on his 1998 debut album It’s Dark and Hell is Hot.

The record features a lot of very gritty and dark beats by producers such as Dame Dash, Swizz Beatz and others, which matches the lyrical content, which borrows it’s imagery partially from other horrorcore artists, delivered in a very aggressive and raw manner by the Dark Man X.

Licensed to Ill is the 1986 debut album by the Beastie Boys, a trio consisting of MCA, AD-Rock and Mike D. The album features a lot of hardcore rap elements especially concerning the lyrical content, as well as instrumentation reminiscent of 70s – 80s punk rock. It is also noteworthy that the Beastie Boys were one of the early white rap acts.

Licensed To Ill, as well as other albums released by Def Jam artists – such as Run-D.M.C.’s Raising Hell and Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – are counted as milestones in the history of rap rock.

This line contains a continuation of the weed topic of this song. It also references OutKast`s Two Dope Boys.
He also predicts that this song will be as much enjoyed by the whole nation as other hit song produced by DJ Quik.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb9yvxmg7ik