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Said he couldn't rap, now he at the top with Doobie Long Kanye West (Ft. Cam'ron & Consequence) – Gone
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A constant doubt before Kanye actually hit big was that he was a producer only with no true rap skills. Once Kanye’s debut album The College Dropout was released and shipped tons of copies, however, such fears were proven misplaced

“Doobie Long” is a clever double entendre.

The Doobie Brothers are a popular 1970’s American rock band from San Jose California. The band has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide throughout their career.One of there biggest hits was a record titled “Long” or Long Train Running. Which topped the charts on the billboard top 100 list in 1973. This alludes to the fact that Kanye is now at this level.

“doobie long” can also be thought of as a “fat cigar” because “he is at the top” now, the top of the rap game, enjoying a fat cigar that conjures up images of success.

“With Doobie Long” is often heard as “Where dude belong”, which would make much more sense in context, but if you listen carefully it does sound like Kanye says “With” and not “Where.”

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See Me Now Kanye West (Ft. Beyoncé, Big Sean & Charlie Wilson) – See Me Now
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The original leak of this song featured only Beyoncé and Charlie Wilson, but the album version that ended up as a bonus track on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy featured G.O.O.D. Music signee Big Sean as well.

This track is just a victory lap for Kanye. After creating an album with emotional tracks like “Runaway” and “Blame Game” you can see how he just breaks open showing his glory.

This song contains an uncredited sample of “Think About Now”, as performed by Brenda Russell & Brian Russell. The sample appears at 0:50.

The song is not on many streaming services, an instance (without the Big Sean verse) can be found here.

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76704859e4ff1543b99ccda3dad0b74d

2,513

2 years

the file no longer exists

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These niggas slower than some dial-up
I be on my broadband, these niggas still downloading
Lu finished, you still up on YouSendIt, uShare
ZShare, how long you going to be there? Lupe Fiasco – Yoga Flame
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Lupe isn’t a real big fan of piracy. He was pretty pissed off about the Food and Liqour leak, and still is. He’s wondering when will the piracy stop: “YouSendit, uShare, zShare / How long you going to be there? / Damn!”

It’s also a great extended metaphor to explain how he’s above all other rappers. Or people in general. Fuck you, Lupe =)

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Marked this as a stretch?
8 years
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Default_avatar_100

319

10 years

Also, Dial is a brand of soap/cleaning products, relating to the previous cleaning talk

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5oi7cketwurgqifzwpsa

139

11 years

Yousendit, uShare, and zshare are all file sharing sites. When you download a torrent, the number of seeders can determine how fast the download takes.

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Default_avatar_100

1

11 years

He’s saying how he is above all other rappers. Broadband is much faster than dial up. So while they’re still downloading, Lupe’s already done.

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'Cause when you try hard, that's when you die hard Kanye West – Can't Tell Me Nothing
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Yeezy is saying that the harder you try to achieve your goal, the harder you’re going to fall once you achieve it. When something is contrived, the results are always disastrous.

The same is true when you don’t achieve your goals. When you work really hard, put tons of effort and try your hardest to reach a goal, it makes it really, really hard on you when you don’t end up successful in the end (death).

Life’s just kind of sad, isn’t it?

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Vpi0qrqlrog8d7klbhbc

297

4 years

This may also be a shot to 50 cent: ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was a 50 Cent film released in 2005. In the run up to the release of Graduation there was notorious beef between 50 and West over who would sell more album copies as they both had the same release date.

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Ziad
Marked this as missing something?
6 years

Kanye is making a reference to “Down and Out in New York City” by James Brown

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CJ
Marked this as a stretch?
7 years

Kanye is going for a subliminal lyric at 50 cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying, to an extent. It’s hard to believe that considering on the day this dropped ,that this line was an accident.

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Default_avatar_100

0

8 years

Maybe he means exactly what he says…If you try hard in life in order to achieve your personal goals or something else,and you give everything you got to do so,then nothing can bring you down…same as in the movie “Die Hard”…

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Savage_Prem
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8 years

I think he is talking about being in the zone and how you need to be in the flow when you are doing anything if you want to be good at it. Just shows how if you “try hard” and overthink, you will “die hard” and fail.

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Default_avatar_100

4

9 years

I think there’s something more to this line that goes back to being ‘effortless’. Those that are the coolest and most confident, the true all stars, the ones we respect as the leaders in their respective fields, all share one thing in common: it never appears that they are trying very hard to be that way. Any time you see someone who appears to be trying hard to be cool or good at something, you generally think less of them (unless they are overcoming a handicap or are the underdog).

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Amit evron
9 years

I think that the actual meaning of this phrase is that “when you try hard” – work hard, put alot of affort mentally and physicaly in your journey and becoming the best version of yourself; “thats when you die hard” – die in a way that affect other peoples lives, you die with alot of respect and with great mark on the world, “creating an echo” sort of speak. People are going to remember you. You are now part of history.

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Tommy Dore
10 years

Yeezy is saying that you need to find what you do naturally. If you’re trying hard to be something you’re not, you’re going to fail.

Whereas if you relax and move with what you are, it won’t take much effort, and you will live easy.

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Superstar Lupe Fiasco (Ft. Matthew Santos) – Superstar
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In the first single off his second concept album The Cool, Lupe Fiasco delivers one of his most popular songs yet with a melancholic, lyrical meditation on the drawbacks of being in the limelight, alongside a memorable hook provided by Matthew Santos that allowed his rise to fame.

As the song’s music video reveals, however, “Superstar” also holds a second, less obvious meaning underneath the surface that ties into the strange story pertaining to The Cool’s Michael Young History.

“Superstar” became Lupe’s first top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #10.

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Da98704f9be42416118cb78eb36a7157

806

8 years

Not his highest charting single. This only hit #10, “The Show Goes On” hit #9

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Ef4608ec71d3a262836ca23d78a0a2cf

128

5 years

The song superstar has two meanings lupe likens the superstar song to heaven as if you have to have connections to get in

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And I'm mouthless, which means I'm soundless Lupe Fiasco (Ft. GemStones & Graham Burris) – Dumb It Down
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A continuation of his sensory deprivation at the start of Verse 1. Lupe is stating he has no commercial mouth; fans stuck on commercialized rap will rarely, if ever, hear Lupe on the radio.

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42geve016i7

705

1 year

The Sensory Deprivation Scheme may be a reference to the Japanese proverb “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” as Lupe says he is ‘earless’, ‘eyeless’, and ‘mouthless’. The proverb is said to refer to people with a lack of moral responsibility which can be applied to the dumbed down music Lupe is hearing and how some rappers turn a blind eye to the issues of the world and make ignorant music.

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Marked this as missing something?
6 years

this is the “speak no evil” part, hence he’s mouthless. fucking dope man

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They said they need proof like a vestless chest
About the best-fed F-F jet in the nest Lupe Fiasco (Ft. GemStones & Graham Burris) – Dumb It Down
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Lupe is calling out the music industry, which demands proof of his talent while giving a free pass to many fakes.

“Proof” is old english slang for armor, an etymology that dovetails nicely with the modern bulletproof vest – lacking one, you would be “vestless.”

This may also be a macabre reference to the rapper Proof (of D12), who was shot in the chest back in 2006 after a nightclub altercation..

“F-F”; is First & Fifteenth, Lupe’s now defunct record label, a label which keeps (kept) its artists well-fed.

Pictured is the late rapper, Proof.

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TooMuch
7 years

A “vest-less chest” would be riddled with bullets , which would later serve as evidence or “proof” as the physical bullets would still be visible in the chest

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W39doudq9oavrmd5dr5n

525

11 years

Nest/Ness:
Loch Ness is a lake in Scotland. Loch is the Scottish Gaelic word for lake. This begins a string of metaphor regarding bodies of water.

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And I ain't used my headrest yet Lupe Fiasco (Ft. GemStones & Graham Burris) – Dumb It Down
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Lupe refuses to lay back and sleep; he will only strive to improve his own skills. Furthermore, if you literally don’t have a neck, a headrest is unnecessary.

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Travis
9 years

It may be a call back to the car he is driving in verse 1, and how he is killing all these other rappers without even putting any effort of thought into it.

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W39doudq9oavrmd5dr5n

525

11 years

A nod to the line in verse 2 about his mind being in a lear jet. You use the headrests in airplane seats when you wanna sleep. And Lupe don’t sleep.

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With no neck left to hang the chain with Lupe Fiasco (Ft. GemStones & Graham Burris) – Dumb It Down
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His neck is not bound by a chain so he is not a slave to an industry obsessed with “bling”. Moreover, following the verse’s “missing body part” conceit, Lupe literally has no neck to hang the necklace from.

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Then, I pull the plug and I make it drain
Until I feel like flowing and filling it up again Lupe Fiasco (Ft. GemStones & Graham Burris) – Dumb It Down
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Lupe’s lyrics and flow, which he compared to rain, have created a massive flood that has consumed the rap industry. He has the power to stop the flood and let the water drain simply by stopping his rapping. However, he can start the rain again any time he wants.

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88ac259519a695a12921efc98d733c1f

7,039

2 years

what?

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Default_avatar_100

2

10 years

This is also a fun play on rappers who “make it rain” in their dumbed down music. He’s elevated a dumbed down sound by using a homonym with an almost opposite meaning in a complex construction.

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Roo_Koo417
11 years

Pulling the plug could also refer to pulling the plug on a boat making the other rappers sink.

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Default_avatar_100

246

11 years

Going back to the previous line, the other rappers in boats won’t be able to move without the water. His plane can still fly though. So he can make moves and spit lines that other rappers can’t.

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Default_avatar_100

16

11 years

He also seems to be making a reference to the whack rappers trying to stay afloat mentioned in previous lines in this verse. When his lyrics flood the rap game and the other rappers are trapped in the water trying to stay afloat, he’ll “pull the plug” to drain them out.

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