A great big expression of happiness
Boy, you couldn't miss (Uh-huh, uh-huh)
With a dozen roses (Ayy, uh, Mr. West)
Such would astound you (Pete Rock)
The joy of children laughing around you (Uh)
These are all the makings of you (Woo) JAY-Z & Kanye West (Ft. Curtis Mayfield) – The Joy
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Put chains all on your soul and put whips up on your back Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On
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The record industry is notorious for treating their artists like slaves (recently exemplified by Nas' delayed album).
Lupe’s had his fill with record execs, with his third album LASERS being delayed for a full year prior to its release in March 2011.
There is also a pun on “whips & chains” —slang these days for cars and jewelry. Although the record labels may be screwing you over, they’re the ones paying you and allowing you to purchase the aforementioned items.
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She's about to fly, and take her place in
Out there in the stars, when she leaves the ground Kanye West (Ft. Big Sean, Lupe Fiasco & Yasiin Bey) – Don't Look Down
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Lupe is telling a story of a girl who is leaving this world and going to another (e.g. dying, Hollywood, better life). She’s flying away to something greater.
There is an actual constellation called Phoenix, but you can barely see it in the night sky. Lupe probably didn’t know this, but he is a pretty big nerd, so it’s possible
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People say that they clean, motherfucker, don't bullshit me! N.E.R.D. (Ft. Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco & Pusha T) – Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) [Remix]
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What is this?
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What is this?
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What is this?
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Released in 2008, the remix to the N.E.R.D. single “Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing In the Line for the Bathroom)” features the other two members of Child Rebel Soldier as well as recent G.O.O.D. music signee and half of the Clipse, Pusha T
The original song heavily features jazz instrumentation, while the remix employs a more futuristic sound. The video for the remix, featuring generic video game characters, pixelates all the artists and makes them look all retro. How that relates to snorting massive amounts of coke in the bathroom, I don’t know
Too much flossin', too much Sam Rothstein JAY-Z (Ft. Chrisette Michele) – Lost One
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In the 1995 film Casino, directed by Martin Scorcese, Robert De Niro plays Sam Rothstein, a bookie who is chosen by the mob to run the Tangiers casino
While waiting for his casino license, Rothstein disguised himself as the “Food and Beverage Manager” so he could oversee the workings of the casino
In “Casino” Rothstein and his friend, Nicky Santoro, who came to Vegas as crime partners and friends, grew distant over time because Nicky’s violent crimes hurt Sam’s business/his attempts to get a legal casino license (“but when friends, business interests they grow”). In one of the final scenes, Nicky says that without him, Sam would have never succeeded in Vegas (“mafuckas saying they made Hov”).
Further parallels are the fact that Rothstein wasn’t given to flash; he was numbers-focused, and thrifty.
Jay exclaims that Dash was too flashy. He was in it for the fame, not the fortune, and Jay’s drug-dealer instincts kicked in when he saw Dame flashing wealth around as if it were the end-game.
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