Eminem is referencing his April 27, 1999 appearance on The Howard Stern Radio Show. During the 25-minute interview, shock jock Howard Stern and his co-hosts were inhospitable and provocative. They insulted and cast aspersions about Eminem relentlessly, with the dialog almost entirely consisting of unsavory and racist questions and crude remarks.

Eminem appeared optimistic pre-interview and was playful and professional throughout. When he was asked post-show to record promos for the station, however, he ignored their script and said:

After being on the Howard Stern show, I got inspired to write another song. “Bye, I am so, I am so, I am so…” fucking disgusted. I tell you what you fucking fucks, I believe in keeping it real but these people are really fucking fucked in the head. Must be fun to listen to but I gotta get out of here before I fucking catch whatever the fuck they got, you little fucking fuck. This is Slim Shady fucking signing off you fucking fat fuck and I’ll tell you what else, I’m fucking disgusted. I’m so fucking disgusted I’ma go in the toilet and fucking vomit all over the fucking elevator. I’ll tell you what, you fat fucks, keep listening to Howard Stern, you fucking pieces of shit. My name is Slim fucking Shady you little bastards, bye.

He also wrote about this interview on his other MMLP track, “Kill You”:

Motherfuckers want me to come on their radio shows
Just to argue with ‘em 'cause their ratings stink?!
Fuck that!

Notably, Eminem parodied the interview for this song’s visuals.

Stern reflected on the interview for his 2019 autobiography, Howard Stern Comes Again, writing:

I think of the [interviews] I did with my guests during the first couple decades of my career, and I cringe. […] I have so many regrets about guests from that time. […] Eminem came on the show once then never again.

The “sleeping baby” can be seen as a metaphor for the public who get distracted by pop culture. When people care about cars, guns, naked women, and drugs, they are oblivious to what’s really going on in the world. They might as well be unconscious, much like a sleeping baby.

Additionally, this line could also mean that Lupe doesn’t want to “wake up” the children in the projects and expose them to the difficulties of the neighborhood; it is a corrupting force. He wants them to retain their innocence and not get corrupted by politics and poverty.

Lupe’s old friends are getting involved in unsavory business, but Lupe doesn’t want to get mixed up in their dealings; he’s got a whole city to represent. There is a clever double entendre on the word “hood”, meaning both his neighborhood and the blindfold which he wears for plausible deniability.

In 2004, photographs of prisoner torture began to surface out of the Abu Ghraib prison. Eleven officers were convicted of the abuses and dishonorably discharged while two served prison time.

Additionally, in the line “I had to turn my back on what got you paid,” Lupe could be talking about his early career when he was still with rap group Da Pak. Their first song was a gangsta rap record and Lupe said that the record didn’t really represent who he was. Thus, he had to walk away from it:

“We had a song out about cocaine, guns, and women, and I would go to a record store and look at it and think, ‘What are you doing?’ I felt like a hypocrite. I was acting like this rapper who would never be judged, and I had to destroy that guy. Because what Lupe Fiasco says on this microphone is going to come back to Wasalu Jaco. When the music cuts off, you have to go home and live with what you say.”

Triple entendre:

“I wanna see Irina Shayk next to Doutzen”
“I wanna see Irina shake next to Doutzen”
“I wanna see arenas shake next to Doutzen”

Irina Shayk is a Russian supermodel, who was featured in Kanye’s “Power” music video.

In 2021, Kanye and Irina were rumored to be dating, and were spotted together in France on Ye’s 44th Birthday.

Doutzen Kroes is a Dutch supermodel who was also affiliated with Kanye West, interacting with him in 2011 while backstage at a Victoria’s Secret show. She would also attend Kanye West’s 2012 afterparty show in France.