As of the present, Jay owns a stake in the Brooklyn Nets basketball franchise. He was part of the group of investors, that back in 2005, announced they would move the “New Jersey Nets” to Brooklyn. This lyric addresses his current desire to sell his share of the team (one fifteenth of 1%) to become an player agent, for players in both the NBA and MLB, instead.

His desire to sell the share has come under some criticism. Jay’s implying he could have got the team to Brooklyn without investing any money, but he made a smart business move. Now he’s ready to sell his share and he’s made millions off it, enlightening the naysayers of their foolishness.

At the launch party for the NBA 2K13 video game he spoke about what it meant to own a stake in his hometown basketball team:

Yeah I think I’m the American dream…That whole thing that you could come here and pull yourself up by the bootstraps, like that whole thing what America has always put up to the world that we represent. I feel that. Yes, I’ve lived that.

When this track was released, Jay was holidaying in Cuba with wife Beyonce. The couple came under some flack for their trip. Note, Jay uses Cubans as a homophone, inferring both the people living in Cuba and the fine cigars the country is so famous for — the same ones he loves smoking so much.

Today’s life lesson. Brought to you by; Jay, Hova

Swizzy must be a fan of Kevin Hart…

Possible reference to his former G.O.O.D Music family? Most likely after his shot on Cold Blooded.

There’s been alot of speculation since Cudi’s departure from G.O.O.D, that he felt under appreciated — hence going his own way was a better option. The reasoning for this included his little involvement in the Cruel Summer project. This lyric doesn’t play out of a diss perse, but almost an honest confession.

Dont feel appreciated by my own fam, all G.O.O.D.. See?

Cudi’s a big fan of having fewer, but more quality friends. In an interview with Complex Magazine with G.O.O.D Music, Cudi explained his feelings on outsiders:

Yeah, but I just don’t like anybody. [All laugh.] Everybody here, I love. If you ain’t in my family, I don’t like you. [Laughs.] Nah, I’m just joking. I love these niggas. I can tolerate other people but I love these niggas. Before this, I was just a wayward wanderer and then I finally found a home. We’re all artists, man. We’re not just writing raps. That’s what I was saying in the beginning. Ain’t no cookie-cutter shit. This ain’t no factory with robots running around, just spitting our raps. We’re there from the ground up creating magic, and that says something, man. If motherfuckers ain’t with it, they better get with it.

Through thick and thin, the friends who knew him as Rakim (before he got famous) and the ones who know him as A$AP (Part of the A$AP Mob) were the only thing not to change. Loyalty can only be earned.

A reference (but no diss) to Drake’s “Started from the bottom”

Nevertheless, Rocky refers to his drug dealing past — the devil of the streets. His street cred is real, unlike some other rappers…

Creates a timeline of his success starting from the bottom; ironically, the lower he got, the higher he got. From the streets of Harlem, to the basement where he cooked drugs and made a name for himself, in the basement, below earth where “Satan” lives.

He’s puttin' the pedal to the metal! A nice simile to imply the wearing out of his shoes by excessive use of the accelerator. Of course he’s driving a Ferrari too.

Not to mention, Ferrari’s logo is a horse, an animal with hooves.

You know ASAP’s got that bling on his person, along with his trusted Beretta.

Chillin' with the homies, talkin' that cheddar! ASAP’s trying to teach his friends about making money and in the process makes a nice play on change — it can be interpreted two ways:

• Change as in, money. The silver kind.

• Change as in, it’s literal meaning. ASAP wants his friends life to change for the better, he believes the key to that is getting more money!