while it doesn’t offer the fictionalised glory that the drug game does, swallowing your pride and taking a job in fast food is probably a better prospect for many wannabe drug dealers.

TV depicts drug dealing as a glamorous occupation, leading to abundant wealth and nice threads. The reality is never as pretty, though.

Ali attributes rampant beefing in rap to upstarts not being willing to pay the dues that are required for success and respect in hip hop.

before finalising a title, the album Us was initially to be Street Preacher, a title that a fan once bestowed upon Ali that he was particularly endeared to.

Ali continues the BDP shoutouts by putting his own spin on another KRS-One line.

Ali shouts out a golden-age classic, My Philosophy, specifically the following line(s):

I’m not insane, in fact I’m kinda rational
When I be asking, yo, who is more dramatical?

Slug, of Atmosphere, Ali’s label mates, actually put his own twist on this line a few years prior

before Ali had a family, and before he was a Muslim, he loved hip-hop. In fact, it was the words of Chuck D of Public Enemy that lead him to read the writings of Malcolm X, and eventually find his religion.

“catastrophe damn near ended her life”. The 35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed in 2007 and BK-One’s wife survived it

A shoutout to the Californian, pioneering indie rap crew that MURS got started with, Living Legends.

(top left!)

The first of a series of sly references to Atmosphere in this verse. This one refers to the cryptic The Woman With The Tattooed Hands off of Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs.