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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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Nas has spoken on the diffuculty of staying out of the streets, especially having come out of that environment. People always want to pull you down a level and subconsciously see you fail, so they invite you to the life of crime for idiotic reasons like “murder” or “just cause”. Either way, Nas won’t have any of it.
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There was a short phase in rap where rappers would just walk around with backpacks as if they just got out of school, for some reason.
Here Nas' brother is letting Nas know that he made an incredibly positive influence on rap (one universally acknowledged) without having to resort to flashy PR tactics like “fashion” or “trends”. He just did it by wearing the same clothing he always did but putting out innovative raps.
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Nas is implying he is a big time thug as the Silician Mafia or the mafia syndicates which exist in Silicy are the OGs of the OGs. The Mafia was formed in Italy out of loosely affiliated protection rackets which grew into criminal organizations and then syndicates.
It is a tradition in the organized crime world to kiss the ring of those higher up on the ladder than you, usually godfathers. So if Italian godfathers kiss Nas' rings, don’t fuck with him.
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Two possibilities
All of these items Nas listed are luxuries in themselves, items which are symbols of power and generally associated with affluence. Nas simply could be stating that if you want any of these things, you must seek him out and follow the path he blazed ahead.
Or…
He could be speaking as these things from a disembodied point of view, inviting Nas and any other hungry rapper to chase after “them”, “them” being the bottles, money, and jewelry.
It wouldn’t be the fist time he has rapped using an inanimate object as a point of view.
Also note: Nasir’s sneaking in a sly reference to fellow Queens MC Kool G. Rap’s “Road to the Riches”, which utilized the same Billy Joel break as this cut.
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Oysters are usually consumed by humans as a delicacy and thus to be “conquered” but they are valuable at the same time, mainly because on the rare occasion a pearl can form under certain circumstances are they valuable. He must conquer the very thing he finds valuable or conversely protect it.
In addition, the oyster can serve as a metaphorical representation as a man’s world, as he knows it. This is his whole being, all he fights for, and at it’s very heart lies a pearl.
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Most of the human societies today have found themselves in the relatively new social arrangement where a man exerts central authority, termed “patriarchy”.
Within a patriarchy, as has been the case for a large part of human civilization, the man exerts his dominance usually through violence and domination. He conquers family, subordinates, sexual partners, land, pretty much anything which can be used as a symbol of power or placard of influence.
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Drake utilizes two famous idioms to make his point:
“The tables have turned”
There are numerous variations of this idiom but it mainly deals with reversed positions between adversaries, a turn of events that has reversed one’s plans for better or worse. This idiom is mainly used to refer to adversaries.
“Burn bridges”
This idiom is usually phrased in a way such as “don’t burn bridges”, usually to warn against ruining relationships between friends or loved ones. Falling out with a loved one can burn a bridge connecting the two and makes it impossible to go back to how things were before. Unlike the first idiom, this one deals with those who are close.
Using those two phrases, Drake uses their contrasting moods and tones to emphasize a important life lesson:
You learn as much from your dark moments (falling out with friends and family) as you do from your highs (victories against obstacles, enemies, adversaries, etc). Either way, experiences are just part of life.
This probably has a real-life corollary in the infamous nightclub incident between Drake and Chris Brown. Tables in the club were turned there, burning all bridges between the pair.
Drake back in the day – see for yourself how the tables have turned
Definitely see it more as a retaliation on his high school adversaries/bullies. Presumably, Drake was the weakling and fast forward years later he is now the kingpin with his newfound success. Hence tables turn, bridges burned (can’t be friends now since you tormented me in high school). Context matters.