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Most are rappers are almost always “iced out” with a lot of jewelry. Eminem is a notable exception, and is always sparing with the bling bling.
Em acknowledges this, and explains that his heart is the only thing iced out. He’s not kidding, because Em has always been known to be cold hearted, especially on songs from his early career (when he first started out), such as Kim and ‘97 Bonnie and Clyde, both of which were delightful tales of how he murdered his wife in front of his kid.
Also note the technical wizardry in this line. He makes “i started out” sound like iced hearted out, so the line sounds like “only thing i ever had iced out was my heart since iced hearted out.” It fucks with your head.
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Damn, Em is hard to please… he won the Academy Award/Oscar for best movie theme song for Lose Yourself, but he still has the angry, complaining mindset he had when he first started rapping.
The line is a also a play on Oscar the Grouch from the kids show Sesame Street.
Now, Oscar lives in a trashcan, which is funny considering that in 8 Mile (the movie that got Em the award), Eminem has his bag of clothes sitting in garbage before he moves in with his mother, so he was technically ‘living in the trash’, just like Oscar the grouch.
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Em has always been known to have a rocky relationship with women, especially his former wife Kim. Therefore his attitudes to women aren’t great, and this is his anger spilling out.
In fact, Em has made countless songs about love and in almost every single one he ends up getting tricked by the woman:
Kim: He finds out that his wife, Kim, was cheating on him, so he kills her.
Space Bound: Em falls in love and stays with the woman for a year and a half. But she tries to leave, and Em ends up killing himself and maybe her as well…
Spend Some Time: Another story of getting cheated on by a woman, except this time he doesn’t kill her...
And I'm leavin' no evidence Nas – Nas Will Prevail
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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?
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Nas and his crew command a strange power from spectators as they are likely intrigued by their presence with them being new on the rap scene.
Possibly a Star Wars reference:
In the world of Star Wars, stormtroopers were the elite soldiers of the Galactic Empire, and the force was a mystic power that was present throughout the universe.
The “force” appears in the most quoted Star Wars line of all time:
May the force be with you
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What is this?
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The awesome heat from Nas' voice will continue to melt the mic until the sound subsides.
Notice that he says until the soundwave is over, and not until he stops. He’s implying that his voice will continue to melt mics even after he’s physically done rapping.
This prediction turned out to be pretty accurate: the songs Nas recorded in the early 90s are still being played; his sound is still being heard.
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Getting existential, Joey questions the purpose of life. This ties into the Gold Soul theory – He believes human life has a meaning beyond the face value pursuits of wealth and power that we engage in during our lives. This is a clever connection, as gold is one of the prime examples of material desires.
This is also a reference to a line from AK of The Underachievers. In “Times Change,” AK says:
Man this life ain’t really what it is
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Joey indicates that he and his crew are not what they seem. He is in enemy territory, and this could be interpreted several ways.
In a “Me Vs. The System” scenario Joey is extra aware than a lot of people his age and much more than the system would want him to be.
The enemy side could also be the life of vanity and fame associated with the rap industry. While Joey is in that frame and works with that industry, he still keeps his roots strong.
This could also be about his lyrics – although his rhymes may sound like everybody else’s, they’re in disguise, and once you look deeper and make sense of all the nuances and homonyms, you understand why he’s not like everyone else on the ‘enemy side’.
This line could very easily be:
We in the sky behind enemy lines.
This makes sense as well, because in the video of the song he points out the sky. This interpretation of the song could indicate that he’s high (intoxicated) behind enemy lines.
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