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Jay’s real name is Shawn Carter, so what he’s actually saying “I knew I had to get these chips”.

The talking in 3rd person about him might also indicate a separation between the Shawn he was before and the Shawn he is now.

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Keisha’s sister could be referring to Dave, Kendrick’s friend who was killed in front of his own eyes. This is possible due to the characters on the album are having a common interaction in some way, and is sung about in the first verse of the song. Dave, on the other hand, could have seen her when him and his homies pulled up on a bunch of working girls.

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She tries to prove her point to Kendrick once again, saying that she’s so good with her clients that there will be more people who’ll remember about her rather than remember him and GKMC.

The music itself directly contradicts her however. Her lyrics literally ‘fade away’ as she sings. Despite her insistence that she knows her fate, the fading volume highlights the bitter reality that death is universal and inescapable. No matter what she claims, the reality of death makes it all bluster.

She then motivates herself, thinking that the only important thing is making money right now, whether she dies in the process or not. Her profession has disallowed her from seeing men as human beings who have also been corrupted by the “m.A.A.d city” they live in. Rather, she sees them solely as potential sources of income.

On a broader note, it means that prostitution will go on and on; the current condition of these women will perpetuate for longer than this song will be played for. This reinforces the point that Kendrick should not talk about her on his album, there is no way that the song will make any difference and the paradigm will continue well after the song has lost in popularity.

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Lots of children from Compton grew up in foster homes with no guidance or support after their parents either were killed or OD’d. This mention of “foster home” parallels the metaphor of the ghetto as an “orphanage” mentioned in the opening verse.

While the boys end up hustling on the streets and joining gangs, the girls become prostitutes to earn some money and end up being dehumanized. As we can understand by the use of the present tense I run, Keisha’s sister is still in a foster house so she’s still a teen.

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She’s upset that Kendrick released “Keisha’s Song” as she feels like Keisha was being unfairly judged. This is also due to the fact that being a prostitute will still be her job for the foreseeable future and she’s feeling judged just like her sister.

Especially in her job, the customer is always right even if he asks her to do nasty things; she has to earn that money one way or another. Her nigga refers to both Keisha’s pimp and a usual client, who are both looking for a girl to replace her with.

The preposition “behind” is also noteworthy, as it implies that she’s being “pushed” towards a dark future—this further reinforces Kendrick’s message about the hopelessness & inevitability of boys & girls getting sucked into gang life and prostitution, respectively. Just as we saw Dave’s brother follow Dave’s path, we’re seeing Keisha’s sister walking in Keisha’s footsteps—a comment on the cyclic nature of poverty and destruction.

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Boom Boxes were particularly popular in the early hip hop community, which is why it makes sense for Jay’s mother to buy him one, knowing his passion for rapping.

She tried to stay connected to him by supporting his passion for music, she didn’t want him to turn to crime but it was already too late.

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Loco is Spanish for crazy; when people try to mess with Jay he simply draws his .44 Magnum and shoots them instead of trying to talk to them.

Stop dreamin', I leave your body steaming

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Geico is an insurance company, you get money from them when you face an accident. Hova is saying that he didn’t have success by accident but by working.

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The hood is often seen as a trap from the people who live there, designed to keep you in it as there aren’t a lot of possibilities for hood rats to make enough money to leave.

Mousetraps usually have a piece of cheese on it to catch the mouse, and cheese is often used as a metaphor for money in the hood. People want to know how Hova could get all that money without getting caught in the trap.

The mousetrap also recalls the previous line in which his childhood house was compared to a mousehole.

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It’s a sport metaphor, KRIT’s music often has sport reference in it.
This one paints a picture in which he’s the athlete, the football player, and his supporters are the people on the stand watching the game. He can’t allow himself to give up or staying in the shadow with all the people supporting him, waiting for him to have success.

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