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Cocaine (which is white) is a very popular item on the streets, much like Eminem (who is also white). Em has sold millions of records, fast; his sophomore album, The Marshall Mathers LP, sold 1.76 million copies during its first week of sales! The snow on the streets is going as fast Em’s records sell.

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King Kong famously climbed the Empire State Building, one of New York’s most famous landmarks.

Here, he’s used as a metaphor. All the pressures of New York life are on dude’s shoulders.

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“Top floor” is a double entendre for the top floor of a skyscraper with the view of Chicago and also for the view from heaven. There are actually two interpretations for the line then. The skyline is beautiful but simultaneously shocking because, from heaven, we know how much suffering is going on. One can only be left breathless.

This may also refer to the third temptation the devil offered Jesus during his 40 days and nights in the desert- when he was taken to a “high place” where he can see all the kingdoms of the earth, and offered them. It was the devil’s attempt to break him down, which ties in with the line “Because the Devil trying to break me down”

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The message of this song’s chorus is just as powerful as a left hook to the jaw. This could also be a play on words, as a hip-hop chorus is often referred to as a “hook”.

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In so many words, OutKast tells other rappers to make way for the revolution they lead; comparing the Montgomery Bus Boycott, sparked when Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus, to OutKast’s movement to revive hip-hop makes sense, but did not come without any controversy.

Rosa Parks sued the duo for using her name in a song with vulgarities without her permission, especially because the song seemed to trivialize the bus boycotts. But Mr. DJ denied any wrongdoing in naming the song after Ms. Parks, claiming:

We were just trying to use her as a symbol – “Everybody move to the back of the bus.” It was just a real fact. We used to have to go to the back of the bus. It was just something real and we tried to make something positive out of it, not in a bad way.

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This line and the following refer to the discomfort of viewing the sun while feeling the effects of a hangover. Matty chalks up the overuse of drugs and/or alcohol as a remedy for his inability to cope with his new lifestyle and the unwelcomed fame that has come with it.

It could also refer to the aftermath of drug use which caused him to see something different, as though he could actually see the brutality of the world instead of the distorted utopia he had been living in during his drug kicks. It hurt his eyes, depicting his distaste in the world he’s living in.

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“kadoish, kadoish, kadoish, Adonai Tsebayoth” is Hebrew for “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts,” a phrase that he references in The Watchers later on No Genre.

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Twista has been in the rap game for a while, starting with a guest feature on Do or Die’s “Po Pimp,” but he doesn’t take his position on the rap elder council too seriously. It also means that even though he’s been around for a long time he can still make mistakes.

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Unlike other rappers who claim to be millionaires but can’t back up the talk, Ace is worth approximately $5 million. The success of this song only helped him out even more.

Not bad for a guy who was at one point broke even after putting out two albums.

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