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I'm fresher than you all, so I don't have to pause
All of y'all can suck my balls through my drawers Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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The “pause” trend dates back to the 90’s in hip hop culture. It’s used to describe something that might be taken sexually (usually homosexually) and was popularized by the character Riley in the TV Series The Boondocks.

Since he’s “Young Hova the God” he doesn’t have to “pause” anymore – his sexual orientation isn’t something up for discussion. Much like The Notorious B.I.G.

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155

Biggie said “I suck on your daddy’s dick”

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30,669

8 years

@Michael Is it worth a quick mention of Beyoncé’s rereference to this line on “Sorry”? Not sure where the jury is on referencing things after the song came out, but I think it’s of interest

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Moral victories is for minor league coaches
And Ye already told you we major, you cockroaches Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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A “moral victory” in sport is when your team put up good fight and tried hard, but still lost. Jay feels if you can’t stomach losing, you’ll never make it to the Major Leagues – failure is not an option.

Also a reference to Kanye West’s song “We Major” (a song Jay called the best on Late Registration) and the film Scarface where Tony Montana likes to call people cockroaches.

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3 years

These lines also reference to two different levels of professional baseball. “minor league” refers to Minor League Baseball (MiLB), a less competitive level of baseball than MLB. “major” refers to Major League Baseball (MLB) – premier division of baseball. Therefore, by saying “we major”, Jay says he and Ye are atop the rap game & others are less skilled than and beneath them.

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3 years

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Champagne wishes, thirty white bitches
I mean this shit is fuckin' ridiculous
Fuckin' ridiculous
I mean this shit is fuckin' ridiculous
Five-star dishes, different exotic fishes
Man, this shit is fuckin' ridiculous
Fuckin' ridiculous Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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This hook alludes to the TV Series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The host, Robin Leach, ended each episode with his signature phrase “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” The reference is a nuanced condemnation of that lifestyle.

This was also mentioned by Kool G. Rap on “Fast Life” and by Kendrick Lamar on “HiiiPower.”

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Baby, you're fired, your girlfriend hired
But if you don't mind, I'ma keep you on call Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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Yeezy borrows Donald Trump’s catchphrase “You’re fired” from the T.V. show The Apprentice to dump girls and “hire” their friends.

While he may have just let another one bite the dust, Kanye likes to keep his exes close in case his new girl “disappoints your highness”.

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I went from the favorite to the most hated
But would you rather be underpaid or overrated? Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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Hov started out as a young, hungry rapper, the kind that people love. As his popularity and status grew, more people hated him for it - everyone loves an underdog. Although, is being overrated such a bad thing?

This line is also reminiscent from Jay’s on “Moment of Clarity”:

I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars
They criticized me for it, yet they all yell “holla”

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I'm so appalled, Spalding, ball
Balding Donald Trump taking dollars from y'all Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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Kanye compares his ability to “ball” off-court to that of billionaire Donald Trump. Trump is the owner of Trump Entertainment Resorts and is worth an estimated 4 billion USD, and Spalding is a company that is specialized in producing balls for many sports.

“Balding” is pronounced similar to “balling"—an allusion to Kanye’s wealth, and Mr Trump’s awful hairdo.

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Daniel Easterman

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3 years

“Spalding” balls in the NBA are always orange, so this line could also be a reference to Trump’s notorious fake tan.

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Paranoid mind, I'm still under the watchful
Eye of the law, aspire for more
Them kilos came, we gave you Bobby Brown jaw Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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Push still feels like the feds are taking pictures.

Bobby Brown is the husband of the late Whitney Houston and a known drug addict. He attributes his crooked jaw to a mild stroke from heroin in 2001. Pusha would go onto name drop Bobby again on 2014’s “Lunch Money.”

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agile_snake

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1 year

This completes Pusha’s description of a face that will complete his “dream” which you accuse him of lacking faith while he dreams of watching it take place. Similar to how a King, which pusha alludes to as a card in blackjack, takes advantage of peasants so too does his drug trafficking paint a face of his victims which he describes as what tony did to “nostrils,” and the “eye,” of the law, saying them kilos gave you bobby brown “jaw.” that’s nostrils, eye, and jaw, and pusha didn’t escape unscathed neither as he got a paranoid “mind” which brings to call shakespears line of “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

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120,924

1 year

could also be saying that they’ll leave you with your mouth wide open from how much coke they brought

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Dark Knight feeling, die and be a hero
Or live long enough to see yourself become a villain Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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A reference to a conversation between Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne, Rachel Dawes & “Natasha” in the film The Dark Knight. The topic of conversation compares Batman to Julius Caesar and involves Ancient Rome’s appointment of a “Roman Dictator.”

Jay uses the conversation to compare his career to Harvey Dent’s. During the film, Harvey becomes “Two-Face”—a villainous version of his formerly righteous and beloved self. Rather than risk the public seeing Dent as the villain, Batman kills Dent to preserve his hero status and grant martyrdom.

Just like Dent, Jay could die now and go down as one of the “greatest of all time,” or he could continue to rap well past his prime and be condemned to mediocrity. Apparently he chose the latter, since he went from the favorite to the most hated.

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[A reference to a conversation between Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne, Rachel Dawes & "Natasha"](http://genius.com/2022172) in the film [*The Dark Knight*](genius.it/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/). The topic of conversation compares *Batman* to *Julius Caesar* and involves Ancient Rome's appointment of a "Roman Dictator."

Jay uses [the conversation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfcemNhlqyA) to compare his career to Harvey Dent's. During the film, Harvey becomes "Two-Face"---a villainous version of his formerly righteous and beloved self. Rather than risk the public seeing Dent as the villain, Batman kills Dent to preserve his hero status and grant martyrdom.

Just like Dent, Jay could die now and go down as one of the ["greatest of all time,"](http://genius.com/Ace-hood-bugatti-remix-lyrics#note-1744726) or he could continue to rap well past his prime and be condemned to mediocrity. Apparently he chose the latter, since [he went from the favorite to the most hated](http://genius.com/39899).

http://images.rapgenius.com/6f8fd6d716cf8d25bb2eea44f7a4705e.640x416x1.jpg

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1 year

This line was later sampled in the Superhero (Heroes & Villains) by Metro Boomin, Future & Chris Brown.

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22,965

8 years

I believe he’s comparing himself to Batman here, not Dent. In the movie, the quote more aptly applies to Batman, who at the end of Dark Knight is being pursued by the police (i.e. he lives long enough to see himself become the villain), and while Dent technically dies a hero, it’s a farce. (And Jay isn’t dead!)

Also, the next line, “I went from the most favorite to the most hated” implies that he identifies more with Batman, as that reflects the trajectory of Batman’s reputation over the course of the movie.

Lastly, Dent turned out to be kind of a pussy who was ready to kill a kid. So, yeah, gotta go with Batman here.

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Housekeeping, I mean, goddamn
One time, let it be a bad bitch sweeping
That know we get O's like Cheerios
That know because they seen us in the videos Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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Since Kanye’s up all night dirtying the sheets, it’s likely he’ll sleep in and be woken by the maids. Unfortunately he’s disappointed by the looks of women in the hotel industry – he’d rather be woken by a sexy housekeeper who he could turn into his lover for the evening.

“Cheerios” alludes to the zero’s in his bank account. He’s confident any “bad bitch” would have seen him in a music video, unless they watch MTV…

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447

2 years

Cheerios is a cereal

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2 years

This album was mostly recorded in Hawaii. There is the possibility Ye might not have been famous enough to be recognised by the housekeeping staff at his hotel at the time. It’s possible Ye wrote this referring to the housekeepers and hoping one of them would be a young female who recognises him and his entourage.

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4 years

The O’s like Cheerios could also refer to orgasms (the big O), continuing the sexual theme of the previous lines.

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So Appalled Kanye West (Ft. CyHi, JAY-Z, Pusha T, RZA & Swizz Beatz) – So Appalled

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“So Appalled” was originally released as part of the G.O.O.D Fridays series on September 24, 2010. The song touches on fame, critics and popular culture.

At one point, the song was due to be scrapped after leaking, however, Pusha T persuaded West to add it to his album regardless:

It was actually just ‘Ye on it. I had already raved over the record because it leaked. I was like listen, there is no way this can’t be on your album, you’d have to be crazy. He was like ‘Really, you think so?’ I was like c’mon man we got to stop treating rap like oh it came out it’s dead. When it’s good, we have to make people love it and digest it.

CyHi The Prynce was brought in to perform the hook duties, but after Kanye fell asleep in the studio, CyHi recorded a full verse that West ended up keeping.

Swizz Beatz later revealed a minor gripe he has with his vocals on this track:

I just never understood why my part was never cleaned up. If you hear, my voice skips on it. I don’t know if he didn’t want to mess with my craft. I don’t know what it was, but everything was last-minute. Every time I hear it, it drives me crazy.

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"So Appalled" was originally released as part of the *G.O.O.D Fridays* series on September 24, 2010. The song touches on fame, critics and popular culture.

At one point, the song was due to be scrapped after leaking, however, Pusha T [persuaded West to add it to his album regardless](http://pusha-t.com/2011/11/03/pusha-t-talks-the-difference-between-working-with-kanye-and-pharrell-and-writing-his-im-so-appalled-verse/):

>It was actually just ‘Ye on it. I had already raved over the record because it leaked. I was like listen, there is no way this can't be on your album, you’d have to be crazy. He was like 'Really, you think so?' I was like c’mon man we got to stop treating rap like oh it came out it’s dead. When it’s good, we have to make people love it and digest it.

CyHi The Prynce was brought in to perform the hook duties, but after [Kanye fell asleep in the studio, CyHi recorded a full verse](http://genius.com/1619355) that West ended up keeping.

Swizz Beatz later [revealed a minor gripe](https://www.complex.com/music/2018/06/swizz-beatz-on-the-one-thing-that-still-drives-him-crazy-about-so-appalled) he has with his vocals on this track:
>I just never understood why my part was never cleaned up. If you hear, my voice skips on it. I don’t know if he didn’t want to mess with my craft. I don't know what it was, but everything was last-minute. Every time I hear it, it drives me crazy.

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131

6 years

Doesn’t the little screech in the background remind you of something out of Run This Town?

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171

5 years

More detailed story of CyHi. He was the one producing the beat for the hit track so appalled when Kanye told him he could record part of the hook. When he eventually recorded his verse and it was added onto the song JayZ heard and immediately signed him to his record label. Super cool story coming from a legendary rap song

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