Sampled from his song “Chicago”, the chorus has been reinterpreted to describe the route Chiddy Bang took to popularity. While other acts were willing to shape their talent to the demands of record companies, Chiddy stuck to what they knew and let the execs come to them

A very subtle allusion to the New Boyz song “You’re a Jerk”

By the way, if your professor calls you a jerk, it might be time to drop the class…

Drexel University in Philadelphia is where Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege and Noah “Xaphoon Jones” Beresin first met as freshman roommates. When they discovered their mutual appreciation of hip hop, they made music their main focus

(Chiddy on the left, Xaphoon on the right)

Chiddy Bang’s biggest hit, “The Opposite of Adults”, relies on a heavy sample from MGMT’s “Kids”

Cole claims to be the reason other rappers get record deals — by imitating his flow. This is a pretty big stretch, considering Cole has yet to release an LP (his mixtapes are ballin', though!)

If life is indeed a bitch, Cole has no problem taking his exploits to another level; perhaps, a microscopic level…

Much has been made of the use of guns as symbolic representations of penises; just wordsearch “gun”. Cole wants this girl to recognize the “piece” he’s “carrying” before they get down to business.

J. Cole also incorporates a very clever reference to the group Smif N Wessun in this line, as they had a track titled “Wreckognize” released in 1995 off their album Dah Shinin'.

Most famously used by Nas, J. Cole is not a supporter of the rap trope “Life’s a bitch, and then you die”. His alternative? Take the world, get her naked on the bed and have some fun

In a clever twist, J. Cole dedicates this song to finding out why commercial rap is popular. Every allusion is done tongue-in-cheek, pointing out that nowadays, rappers aren’t talking about important things. For instance:

In a mainstream rap song, what would be “on his mind” is pussy. For J. Cole, what’s “on his mind” is the dilemma of balancing a commercial career with his conscience and integrity.

Deep stuff, huh? If you’d like, ignore that and just focus on the obvious: pussy

Using the same melody as Drake and Timbaland’s “Say Something”, Erin sings the hook from the perspective of the disillusioned woman focused on in the song