Jay-Z — West’s mentor — hesitated to sign Kanye onto Roc-a-Fella as a rapper, claiming he wasn’t “gangsta” enough

West’s solo album The College Dropout sold a ton of records, though..

Note the subtle wordplay of “Dawg, you where I am” with “Iams,” a brand of dog food. Kanye is eatin' good now fam!!!

One of the O.G. rappers, Slick Rick invented the “storyteller” genre

“Made it, Ma! Top of the world!!” — James Cagney, White Heat

Kanye West’s singing would reach its zenith on his 2008 “pop art” album, 808’s & Heartbreak, with the vocals by West altered by the Auto-Tune effect (which Kanye has now disowned)

Kanye West likes singing on his hooks (see “Spaceship” and “Hey Mama”)

A reference to his previous hit, “Jesus Walks”, in which Kanye raps, “And I don’t think there’s nothing I can do now to right my wrongs/I wanna talk to God, but I’m afraid, ‘cause we ain’t spoke in so long!”

Ye would end up comparing his girlfriend to sexy pictures of actress Nia Long in Maxim and it would make him lose interest

Rapper Gucci Mane compares all his guns to Nia Long (with the same result)

Double entendre time! First level is that “foes” are enemies for Nas to defeat with his 9mm gun, but second level is that in a New York accent, “foes” sounds like “fours”, slang for a .44 Magnum handgun, used by Dirty Harry — a larger caliber handgun than Nas' 9 mm.

If Nas can defeat 4s with 9s, he is a skilled shooter.

In Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker becomes to Darth Vader when he flips over to the dark side of the Force.

Referring to the beat, which features trademark horns from producer Just Blaze (just a straightforward jack from Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up)