Nas counts his blessings, remembering that even without all the fame and fortune, his very existence is fortunate, for he had a mother and father to guide him.

Now, being a mainstream rapper can be tough, and Cole discussed those difficulties in the original song, but with this line Nas is perhaps asking J Cole to zoom out and factor in the humble beginnings of both Nas and Cole himself.

Once you look at the progress and massive achievement involved in going from rapping as a hobby in the projects, to making music for the masses, little things like one bad song become insignificant.

Also a reference to the Wu-Tang Clan’s song titled ‘Redbull’ in which the hook repeats the line:

It’s just a hobby that I picked up in the lobby.

When Nas was up and coming, he had to compete with an amalgam of great rappers, but he’s surpassed them all, going on to be a ruler in the game for twenty straight years, dropping seven platinum albums, with no chart topping singles, just pure, nasty talent.

Also, Nasty was his nickname in his early career, and he could be saying that those early fierce nasty lyrics are what propelled him forward, clearing the competition and allowing for more artistic freedoms;

First it was Nasty, but times have changed
Ask me now, I’m the artist…

If you didn’t know that his heart was cold, well, now you know.
(F.Y.I = For Your Information)

Very similar to the famous Biggie line.

Also notice the technical nuances in this line:

If you break down the sounds and listen to his pronunciation, “If ya ain’t” carries the rhythm of “F.Y.I” until the “I”, which is replaced by “knowing”. Thus this serves as a great transition line for the next rhyme scheme, where “knowing” becomes the dominant rhyme:

It’s F.Y.I, if ya ain’t knowing
What, go with you? Where? Nah, ain’t going.
Oh wait, you wanna date? Oh, well in that case ho, it’s June 8th, oh! and
Kinda like Beethoven composin' a symphony of hate
So much hate woven into these raps

Bear in mind that a lot of the words highlighted don’t rhyme by themselves, but Em manipulates their sound to make them rhyme. This is a characteristic feature of Eminem, and he’s talked about it in this interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kQBVneC30o

Bit of irony here. He says he isn’t messing around, but that’s obviously what he’s been doing the whole song. This lyric, like the rest in this song, is not meant to be taken seriously.

This a long running inside joke, because some twelve years ago, in the songs Kill You and White America, he was serious for the whole song and at the end he dropped a line like this:

Haha, I’m just playing, America
You know I love you

In this case, Em was playing around for the whole song, but revealed that he’s serious at the very end.

Em expresses his frustrations with some clever wordplay: trying to understand these hoes is like removing the kinks from a garden hose.

Another implied meaning could be that he’s still playing around with the kinky girls.

Typical procedure for snorting cocaine.

The woman was constantly admiring herself, and apparently this really annoys Eminem. In fact it makes him want to chop up all such hoes with a razor blade, like he’s preparing cocaine.

You always in the mirror with your face

This is another connection between cocaine and the self obsessed hoe, because a cocaine addiction will keep coming back and it starts consuming you, and you can see its effects every time you look in the mirror.