In December 1998, the United States and England launched the largest attack upon Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War. Dubbed Operation Desert Fox, the campaign turned out to be a short one of just four days of bombing and missile strikes.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
This is a reference to the myth that diamonds come from coal which has recently been debunked. But if it were true, Big Boi is advising us all to try and make something out of nothing – in other words, turn worthless coal into valuable diamonds. The implication being that this is what Big Boi himself has done.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Spit, "hot fiya" like Dylan on Chappelle's skit
Lupe Fiasco (Ft. GemStones & Graham Burris) – Dumb It Down
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
On Chappelle’s Show, Dave Chappelle’s portrayal of rapper Dylan is especially noteworthy during his parody of Diddy’s MTV reality show Making the Band 2.
This is also a play on the preceding line. In Super Mario Bros., when Mario picks up a fire flower, he can attack his enemies with fire.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
André makes it clear that their relationship wasn’t simply lust-based; there were actually emotions involved and thoughts about settling down with a family. Goodyear tires can be used for tire swings put in the backyard for little kids to play on, and the oak tree is often used as a symbol for age/wisdom – which connects to the next line about being around forever.
This is also a great allusion to the fact that this was all during their good years.
Yeah, this one right here goes out
To all the baby's mamas' mamas
Mamas, mamas, baby mamas' mamas
Yeah, go like this OutKast – Ms. Jackson
To all the baby's mamas' mamas
Mamas, mamas, baby mamas' mamas
Yeah, go like this OutKast – Ms. Jackson
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
When you marry a girl, you marry her mom too. This song was dedicated to Ms. Kolleen Maria Wright, mother of Erykah Badu, with whom Andre has a son, Seven Sirius Benjamin.
Andre and Erykah broke up in 1999, after meeting in 1995 and falling quickly in love.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Ironically, Operation Desert Fox actually did substantially degrade Iraqi weapons of mass of destruction. See this overview by Iraq specialist Joel Wing (of the Jamestown Foundation and other public policy forums) for more details:
Of course, there was no way for the song’s writers to know this at the time of the song’s creation. It very much seemed like the US was beating around the bush.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Big Boi plays on the meaning of “meet” here. It can refer to how big things happen to André and Big Boi every time they get together, but it can also refer to track meets which track teams compete in. Finally, it also speaks on how crack fiends are always dying to “meet” with their next crack rock.
Consequences are given for livin'
The fence is too high to jump in jail
Too low to dig, I might just touch hell—hot! OutKast – B.O.B.
The fence is too high to jump in jail
Too low to dig, I might just touch hell—hot! OutKast – B.O.B.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
André cautions his listeners that while 1999 is a good year to act a fool and be yourself, you still have to remember that there are consequences for your actions. If you do something stupid and get yourself thrown in jail, that is going to stick with you for the rest of your life.
The “too high to jump” “too low to dig” part emphasizes how difficult it is to escape from jail – both physically, and in terms of the rest of your life. The fence is too high to overcome, and you would have to dig all the way down to hell just to have a shot to dig under it.
This line could also be a reference to rapper DMX’s debut album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot.
9 years
Here he’s telling the listener that life is open, and to be what you wanna be, as long as you know that there are consequences for everything. That’s rule#1 of taking responsibility over your life. If you choose to be a thug or sell drugs, there are consequences for that. If you choose to have kids, or impregnate a woman, there are consequences to that too. And of course, if you literally pull your gun out on someone, there’s consequences to that too.
This portion of the lyrics is very much in line with the whole message of the song–to take responsibility over your life and your actions. And to follow through.
In fact, this is a recurring theme I find in many of Outkast’s other songs (e.g., “…you’ve got to follow through, struggle to complete your dreams…” from Humble Mumble:
). It’s a message they always harp on. Much of Outkast’s lyrics are blueprints for folks to empower themselves, rise up, and lift themselves out of the ghetto.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
3 Stacks does a good job of comparing and contrasting the two life paths you can take as a young kid in the hood in these lines. You can either use Arm & Hammer to cook cocaine into crack in hopes to be able to afford a nice car one day, or try to make an honest living and settle down with a family.
This is also a description of the unique place his life was in at the time. André and Big Boi both started off as stereotypical Southern hustlers rocking gold teeth and braids, but settled down when their baby mamas gave birth to their children. The “Black Cadillac and a pair of Pampers” is a link between his old life and his new one – he is carrying diapers for his baby son in a car he bought using money from his hustling days.
Get a life now they on sale.. This song is about domestic policy.. Im pretty sure this is a reference to organ harvesting, where people’s body parts are exhumed for profits.
105
*those
105
“Get a life now they on sale, then I might cast you a spell” could also be referring to this selling their life/soul to the devil/industry
133
This is clearly a reference to a man in the ghetto choosing to sell crack, and baking crack from cocaine.
The drug can make one feel powerful: “Make a nigga wanna stay on tour for days”–in fact you can go for days without sleeping. But at the end it just adds up to a “ball of power” (which sounds a lot like a “ball of powder”) which is how coke is purchased (in “8-balls” of white powder). Racing thoughts are one of the most well-known side-effects of it (“thoughts at a 1,000 miles per hour”).
Note the stark contrasts he paints in each line, ‘the scale’ vs. ‘the Arm & Hammer’ (scale measures drugs, baking powder dilutes it), the ‘soul gold grill’ vs. the ‘baby mama’ (the gold grill is ‘bling’, the baby mama is real-life responsibilities), the ‘black Cadillac’ vs. ‘the stack of pampers’ (you tell me which one’s priority). These are all opposing forces: on the one hand the ghetto man has got his ghetto pursuits i.e. his paper chase and sale of drugs, fat money, and bling-bling, BUT on the other hand he’s got real world responsibilities to deal with (a baby to take care of, a baby mama, pampers to buy, etc.).
At the end Andre is telling the ghetto man to “let your brain breathe” (i.e., sober up) and to believe that there’s always something more out there outside of the crack and the 8-balls and the gold grills.