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I'm right here, Fire Marshall, Eminem (Ft. Slaughterhouse) – Session One

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Fire marshals enforce safety regulations and fire codes within commercial buildings. Royce is titling Marshall Mathers (Eminem’s real name – reference The Marshall Mathers LP) the “"Fire Marshall” as Em himself had done before earlier on the album.

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You can call me R. Kelly now, you're in trouble! Eminem (Ft. Slaughterhouse) – Session One

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R. Kelly famously went on trial for child pornography, although he was later acquitted. It was widely circulated that Kelly urinated on the underage girl in the video (hence, the homophone “you’re in/urine”)

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And I'm gone with the storm Common – Resurrection

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A reference to the 1939 Oscar-winning (and famously racist) film Gone With The Wind. However, being taken away by a tornado or hurricane is way cooler sounding – it’s supposedly how Romulus died.

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For your mind like one time Common – Resurrection

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Referring to Nas' classic “One Time 4 Your Mind”

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and in fights I send rights
Don't hook with skins my friends like, I spend nights up in dykes
In spite, I've been indicted as a freak of all trades Common – Resurrection

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In connection with the boxing metaphor (rights, hooks), Common doesn’t hook up with the types of “skins” (girls) his friends like; Com seems to prefer more manly, WNBA–types…

Because of this, he has been labeled a “freak” among his circle of friends

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5,320

11 years

I’m pretty sure he was just using the phrase “dyke” as a synonym for women, and not saying that he fucks manly looking women. When he says “Don’t hook with skins my friends like” I think he’s saying that he doesn’t fuck girls that his friends have feelings for.

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Ready or Not Fugees – Ready or Not

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The Fugees' second biggest hit is an ominous warning to wack MCs. The song puts a hip-hop spin on a soul classic—its chorus and bridge are an interpolation of The Delfonics' 1968 hit “Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide from Love)”.

“Ready Or Not” was released as the follow-up to the group’s massive chart topping R&B hit “Killing Me Softly.” With verses from all three Fugees, this song was more indicative of the trio’s hip-hop sound than their breakout hit. It was a minor Billboard success in the US (peaking at #69) while topping the UK pop chart.

The beat is built around a sample from new age artist Enya’s 1986 track “Boadicea.”

Barack Obama listed “Ready Or Not” as his favorite song while running for president in 2008.

Vibe reported that the Fugees' “Ready or Not” video helped usher in the era of bank-breaking, movie-like hip hop videos. The video featured helicopters, explosions, sharks, chase scenes, and a price tag of 1.3 million US dollars. In justifying the cost, Pras told Vibe “People want to see drama, man. You figure: A kid pays sixteen dollars for your CD. Let him see a good video.”

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The Fugees' second biggest hit is an ominous warning to wack MCs. The song puts a hip-hop spin on a soul classic—its chorus and bridge are an interpolation of The Delfonics' 1968 hit ["Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)"](https://genius.com/The-delfonics-ready-or-not-here-i-come-lyrics).

"Ready Or Not" was released as the follow-up to the group's massive chart topping R&B hit "Killing Me Softly." With verses from all three Fugees, this song was more indicative of the trio's hip-hop sound than their breakout hit. It was a minor Billboard success in the US (peaking at #69) while topping the UK pop chart.

The beat is built around a sample from new age artist Enya's 1986 track "Boadicea."

Barack Obama [listed](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/4899687/Top_10_favourite_songs_of_Barack_Obama_and_John_McCain_/) "Ready Or Not" as his favorite song while running for president in 2008.

Vibe reported that the Fugees' "Ready or Not" video helped usher in the era of bank-breaking, movie-like hip hop videos. The video featured helicopters, explosions, sharks, chase scenes, and a price tag of 1.3 million US dollars. In justifying the cost, Pras told Vibe "People want to see drama, man. You figure: A kid pays sixteen dollars for your CD. Let him see a good video."

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[Chorus: Lauryn Hill & Wyclef Jean] Fugees – Ready or Not

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This chorus is an interpolation from the Delfonics' song “Ready or Not, Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love)”:

Also, the humming sample heard throughout the song is from the track “Boadicea” off of Irish singer/songwriter Enya’s 1987 album “The Celts.”

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So I be ghost from my projects
I take my pen and pad for the weekend
Hittin' L's while I'm sleepin' Nas (Ft. Q-Tip) – One Love

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Like many writers, Nas takes a two-day retreat from the stress of daily life to get some writing done – along with a copious amount of smoking.

Nas did in fact have a secret apartment on Long Island that he used to use to get away and write.

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476

2 years

Dope link!

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The longest walk I'll probably ever be on
The road to perdition, guess I'm finna get my plea on The Roots (Ft. Dice Raw, Greg Porn & Truck North) – Walk Alone

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Black Thought’s been a bad man for a long time, but now he wants to change his ways. Walking on the “road to perdition” is a lovely metaphor for going to hell

Road to Perdition is a 2002 Tom Hanks film in which Hanks plays a hitman who has to wrestle with being a father

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Forgot About Dre Dr. Dre (Ft. Eminem) – Forgot About Dre

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“Forgot About Dre” was released as the second single from Dr. Dre’s 2001 album, and it was his statement to anyone feeling like his production suffered after his escape from Death Row in 1996. During an interview with MTV, Dre spoke about the song’s concept:

‘Forgot About Dre’: The song is basically about the little period of time I went through in between records, and what people out in the street were saying about me, about, you know, how I fell off and how I couldn’t do it anymore, and all this nonsense. So this is just a response to that. That’s all it is. Period.

Eminem not only features on the track, he also wrote almost all of the lyrics, including the majority of Dre’s verses. This is rather obvious given the rapid flow, jam-packed with multisyllabic assonance—a marked departure from Dre’s usual style. Dre talked about how the song came together:

This is actually one of the few times where the lyrics were written before the track. Eminem actually wrote that. He came in and was like, ‘I got this song I wrote for you.’ So, we had the problem of trying to figure out what the track was gonna be to the lyrics, and it was a little bit difficult because I’m doing it that way. But we made it happen.

The single peaked at #25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Rhythmic Top 40 charts, while also achieving platinum status in the United Kingdom. This track brought in a Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group in 2001 and also won for Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.

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"Forgot About Dre" was released as the second single from Dr. Dre's *2001* album, and it was his statement to anyone feeling like his production suffered after his escape from Death Row in 1996. During an interview with MTV, Dre [spoke about the song's concept](https://youtu.be/8GOgudU-moA?t=43):

> 'Forgot About Dre': The song is basically about the little period of time I went through in between records, and what people out in the street were saying about me, about, you know, how I fell off and how I couldn't do it anymore, and all this nonsense. So this is just a response to that. That's all it is. Period.

Eminem not only features on the track, he also wrote almost all of the lyrics, including the majority of Dre's verses. This is rather obvious given the rapid flow, jam-packed with multisyllabic assonance—a marked departure from Dre's usual style. Dre talked about [how the song came together](https://youtu.be/ayHA5SmedhI?t=332):

> This is actually one of the few times where the lyrics were written before the track. Eminem actually wrote that. He came in and was like, 'I got this song I wrote for you.' So, we had the problem of trying to figure out what the track was gonna be to the lyrics, and it was a little bit difficult because I'm doing it that way. But we made it happen.

The single peaked at #25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Rhythmic Top 40 charts, while also achieving platinum status in the United Kingdom. This track [brought in a Grammy](http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=Dr.+Dre&field_nominee_work_value=&year=2000&genre=28) for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group in 2001 and also won for Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.

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3,116

7 years

Actually this song didn’t sample Meek Mill, it was the other way round.

And on the subject of samples, Forgot About Dre has one sample for the guitar during Eminems verse which is from the song ‘The Climb’ by No Doubt

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145,722

7 years

An unofficial list over Eminem’s best performances, ranked “Forgot About Dre” as number one of 289 songs he participated on.

“Forgot About Dre” is very possibly the best-known verse of his career — and even if you’d point to “The Real Slim Shady,” “My Name Is,” or “Without Me” as proof of otherwise, “Forgot About Dre” doesn’t get tripped up by dated name-dropping like those other tracks do. And, like any major hit single, “Dre” certainly feels of its time, but it’s not hampered by its turn-of-the-century release date; it’s the sort of song that people can get nostalgic about and still enjoy in-the-moment. In a pop sense, this is Eminem at his most likable — if you were anywhere near a radio in the year 2000, the phrase “hotter than a set of twin babies” is still seared into your brain. Let’s put it this way: Even people who find Eminem repugnant, offensive, and problematic can get behind “Forgot About Dre.” He’s still got his violent tendencies — he strangles a guy just for giving him an awkward eye, then burns down a house with Dr. Dre and never gets found out — but he doesn’t come off as dangerous or frightening when he’s rhyming over the symphonic drip cooked up by Dre. And looking back, this feature caught Eminem just as he was peaking, when he wasn’t completely mired in controversy or apologizing for entire albums. “Forgot About Dre” was able to bottle Eminem while he was still, relatively speaking, on the come-up, in between The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP.

An [unofficial list](http://www.spin.com/2014/10/eminem-every-song-ranked/) over Eminem's best performances, ranked "Forgot About Dre" as number one of 289 songs he participated on.

<blockquote>
“Forgot About Dre” is very possibly the best-known verse of his career — and even if you’d point to “The Real Slim Shady,” “My Name Is,” or “Without Me” as proof of otherwise, “Forgot About Dre” doesn’t get tripped up by dated name-dropping like those other tracks do. And, like any major hit single, “Dre” certainly feels of its time, but it’s not hampered by its turn-of-the-century release date; it’s the sort of song that people can get nostalgic about and still enjoy in-the-moment. In a pop sense, this is Eminem at his most likable — if you were anywhere near a radio in the year 2000, the phrase “hotter than a set of twin babies” is still seared into your brain.

Let’s put it this way: Even people who find Eminem repugnant, offensive, and problematic can get behind “Forgot About Dre.” He’s still got his violent tendencies — he strangles a guy just for giving him an awkward eye, then burns down a house with Dr. Dre and never gets found out — but he doesn’t come off as dangerous or frightening when he’s rhyming over the symphonic drip cooked up by Dre. And looking back, this feature caught Eminem just as he was peaking, when he wasn’t completely mired in controversy or apologizing for entire albums. “Forgot About Dre” was able to bottle Eminem while he was still, relatively speaking, on the come-up, in between The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP.
</blockquote>

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242

3 years

In response to the question: “What happened to Hittman’s verse on the VEVO-version to this song?”

The song was actually released by Hittman and is called Last Days from an album called Hittmanic Verses.

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