As Nas heads back home, he leave’s Shorty with one last piece of advice, watch out for the police, or ‘Jakes’. The etymology of this term is believed to be the old CBS show “Jake and the Fat Man”.

Nas concludes this track on a dark note, concerned that even his 12-year-old companion will run into trouble with the law. This isn’t just Nas telling Shorty to watch out for the cops; it’s a statement that underscores the theme of the song: the systematic oppression of people of color. Note that this final verse is the only verse not written to one of his incarcerated friends–Nas doesn’t want to see any more of his homies disappear into the criminal justice system.

Shorty’s trying to play it cool in front of Nas, but his young lungs didn’t get the memo, so he has to give up the charade – Nas evokes the underlying vulnerability and weakness of the child

It’s a long-standing myth that coughing while smoking weed makes the effects more potent

Using his characteristic narrative style, Nas begins the tale of a dialogue with his young friend. Shorty Doo-Wop is an icon of the grim state of things on the streets of QB in ‘94. Recall the lines back from verse 1 of “NY State of Mind”:

It’s like the game ain’t the same
Got younger niggas pulling the triggers bringing fame to they name

“Nobody’s out but Shorty Doo-Wop”–note the subtle way in which Nas tells us that almost all of his friends are in jail. Shorty Doo-Wop is the only one he can find, and by the end of the verse, Nas expresses concern that Shorty will join his missing friends soon…

This scene was famously committed to film in the movie Belly: Nas comes back to Queensbridge and can’t find anybody except for this kid named “Shorty Doo-Wop” (finally, someone with a name!).

With their loneliness combined, they decide to roll themselves an extra-long blunt with two Phillies cigars. Not a bad choice.

“Oo-wop” refers to an Uzi machine gun, but can also be a term used for two blunts rolled together.

The House of Detention for Men (HDM) was Riker’s Island’s first permanent jail. When Nas wrote “One Love” it was a maximum security facility, and someone being sent there to spend nearly a decade of their life away from the outside world would cause that person to have a depressing outlook on their life.

Like Nas, Shorty always keeps a little ganja on him. Don’t smoke it, though; you’ll get sucked into his ramblings about conspiracies and other bull.

Note the way Nas continually juxtaposes Shorty’s age with his thuggish behavior. Illmatic is, in part, Nas’s love letter to the ganja (on every track), and even Nas is getting “blasted” (very high) from how much this kid smokes.

In the music video you can see Hailie carried by a police officer.

Hailie is Eminem’s daughter. He’s very protective of her, as evidenced by songs like “Mockingbird”.

It could also be Eminem’s suggestion that Hailie should go with Dr.Dre if Em is gone.

These bars turn quickly to the macabre, illustrating Eminem’s sense of dark humor, timing and alternating flows for enhanced effect. After “hotter than a set of twin babies,” Shady pauses, which gives the listener a second to process what he’s saying. In a listener’s brain, they might be thinking, “Usually a set of twins are the cause of a lot of attention and are considered a ‘hot item,’ so it stands to reason that this is a normal play on words”… until he continues and you realize it’s way more literal.

Slim is accompanied by scratching sounds, a reference to his first hit single “My Name Is”, an occurrence in many early Eminem songs.