Johnny Cash was known as “The Man In Black” as he often wore black suits on stage

In the movie, Django starts working with Dr. Schultz as a bounty hunter, tracking down and killing wanted criminals (“bad men”) for the rewards. Later, Django gets the opportunity for revenge and sends a lot of bad men who have been abusing slaves “to hell”. The hook was written by Jamie Foxx himself, so it is more personal to the story of Django than if Rick Ross wrote it from the outside in.

This line references the old tale of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” from the One Thousand and One Nights. In it, the forty thieves cut Ali Baba’s brother into pieces and put the pieces on display after they catch Ali’s brother attempting to steal their treasure.

In comparing himself to the leader of this gang, St. Jimmy attempts to portray himself as a strong, fearless leader who will go to whatever lengths necessary to protect those who rely on him, but he also reveals the depths of his anger towards a world that, in his eyes, has wronged him.

Gloria isn’t perfect but she stands for good. This is a theme Billie Joe has written about before, notably in the previous album with the character of Whatsername in songs like “She’s A Rebel”.

The song opens up with the speaker talking directly to Gloria, a girl who is struggling emotionally.

In a track-by-track review of the album, Billie Joe Armstrong briefly talked about the signficance of Gloria, from her symbolic name to her role in 21st Century Breakdown:

The original name I was using for a while was “Amélie”. But the name Gloria, to me it just sounded maybe like the name version of Glory. And it’s the first time I’d ever sort of written from like from a woman’s point of view. You know, it’s a song kind of about me, but at the same time, if you add the name, like if you have the name and you create a character, I think it kind of gives some flesh and blood to the record. So Gloria is just sort of this person that’s kind of the torch bearer, or someone that’s trying to hold on to their beliefs, or punk rock, or whatever you want to call it. That’s what I think the song is trying to convey and it kinda adds that first character. I think Gloria is sort of the main character of the album.

When a poet has everything going for them in life they have no worries or pained emotions to draw upon and write about.

J-Dog traded a troubled lifestyle in the streets for rapping like many emcees before him. “Tha Produca” (an early nickname referring to his role in the band as main producer and then shortened to Deuce) helped him to express his feelings through music and/or rap and flow in general.

J-Dog and Deuce originally started the band together under the name “The Kids.” This name was later used as the name of their “first” track.

Charlie’s mentioning his birth name, Jordan Terrell, but he’s all but legally changed his name now to Charlie Scene.

Skating streets, getting fake IDs to enter 21+ clubs or bars, and carving initials on trees are examples of things teenagers would do to constitute misbehaving.