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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.
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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.
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A reference to Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing.
At the end of the film, Spike Lee’s character Mookie throws a trashcan through the window of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, inciting a race riot that destroys the pizzeria, but (1) getting a kind of sideways revenge for the death of Radio Raheem at the hands of white police officers just a few moments before (2) diverting the anger of the crowd which seems poised to attack Sal and his sons.
Lee reports that white people constantly ask him whether Mookie “did the right thing”; black people, he adds, never ask that question.
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Reference to 8 Mile, Eminem’s autobiographical movie in which he played himself and Mekhi Phifer played his friend (who happened to be of Jamaican descent)
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What is this?
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Young Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco (off “Kick, Push” fame) made his debut to mainstream audiences with this show-stealing featured verse, with all of the wordplay and entendre-filled lyricism characteristic of his style.
Lupe almost did not appear on the song, he did not even want to be the feature till his friend talked him into it. Good thing he did!
Now he look at me, like, "Damn, dawg! You where I am!"
A hip-hop legend Kanye West (Ft. Lupe Fiasco) – Touch the Sky
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Jay Z is Kanye’s mentor but initially hesitated to sign him to Roc-a-Fella as a rapper, claiming he wasn’t “gangsta” enough.
(Top of the world, baby, on top of the world!) Kanye West (Ft. Lupe Fiasco) – Touch the Sky
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Possibly a reference to Taye Diggs' character in The Best Man who is tempted to stray from his girlfriend by Nia Long’s character.
Nia Long made a guest appearance in the music video:
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Ye predicts that he’ll rest peacefully once he’s dead, since he has at last reached the pinnacle of success.
“I gotta testify” could have a potential double entendre, in the continuum to Common’s chorus in his song, “Testify”, giving that masculine side to Common’s chorus…
901
i think it simply means that he will touch the sky before he dies, like he would achieve the highest feat possible before dying.
The line “I gotta testify” could be a reference to The Parliaments' hit single “(I Wanna) Testify”.
It also sounds like “for the day I die.” Meaning that he will go to heaven after he passes, in accordance to his Christian upbringing
He uses the word “testify” to accompany the religious significance of “touching the sky” (going to heaven)