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And head to the heights where big coke is processed JAY-Z – American Dreamin'
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Washington Heights was one of the centers of Jay-Z’s hustling. From Decoded (page 92):

My life could be mapped with a triangle: Brooklyn, Washington Heights, Trenton.

Jay’s Uptown connects are referenced most famously in “Empire State of Mind”:

I used to cop in Harlem, Hola my Dominicanos
Right there up on Broadway, brought me back to that McDonalds

During the movie American Gangster the coke was also processed in the heights.

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Kevin Costner Twista – Whitney Houston Tribute
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Costner played Houston’s character’s protector in 1992’s The Bodyguard.

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Can't believe to tell you how quickly tears went through my eyes Twista – Whitney Houston Tribute
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Little known fact: Twista is both the fastest rapper and has the quickest tear ducts.

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Dum Diary Kool A.D. – Dum Diary
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With the title derived from the novel/movie Rum Diary, about Hunter S. Thompson’s Caribbean adventures, “Dum Diary” is Kool A.D.’s black-out, 10-minute homage to Cuba. The song and video may have been produced in Cuba, during Vasquez’s visit.

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Basic bitches rocking what I’m wearing Kool A.D. – Dum Diary
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Possible reference to fellow Oakland rapper Kreayshawn, whose “Gucci Gucci” calls out the fashion decisions of “basic bitches.”

The line ties in with the previous mention of Malcolm McLaren, who operated a fashion business with Vivienne Westwood before managing British punk group the Sex Pistols.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBVXnsJASs8

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I’m at the People’s Temple reaching for that purple stuff
Kool A.D., you can call me "Kool Purple Stuff" Kool A.D. – Dum Diary
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Jim Jones–the real Jim Jones–founded the People’s Temple, a politically radical sect concerned with poverty and civil rights. However promising the cult was, it ended in the famous mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

“Purple stuff,” then, is not lean, but the grape Kool Aid laced with cyanide which Jonestown residents drank at the behest of Jones. It is where the expression “drinking the Kool Aid”–meaning “foolishly buying into something”–comes from.

Other things to be noted:

  • Kool A.D. sounds a lot like “Kool Aid” or “Kool Purple Stuff.”

  • The line also continues the Caribbean theme with Guyana.

  • Comparing himself to the cyanide in the Jonestown massacre is potentially a way of saying he kills it on the mic, is extremely lethal, etc.

  • Saying listeners are buying into his program, thus drinking his Kool AD brand Kool-Aid.

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1358288165_1642_char

2,195

11 years

‘Purple stuff’ is a reference to a famous Dave Chappelle sketch in which he talks about grape drink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuTjQLfU6Gk

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Flow crazy just like Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo T.I. – I Need Dollas
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Athens, GA producer Danger Mouse teamed up with Atlanta’s Cee-Lo to form Gnarls Barkley, whose “Crazy” was a huge hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzV9QExGFQs

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Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Raleigh Barack Obama – State of the Union (2012)
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The cities are named because of their industrial roots but also because they are in battleground states in recent presidential elections.

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No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing Barack Obama – State of the Union (2012)
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Later in the address, the President boasts of trade deals with South American countries–Colombia and Panama–whose anti-union climate make them attractive to US corporations.

Colombia has been long plagued by anti-union terrorism committed by paramilitary forces ultimately funded in part by Washington. The Coca-cola Corporation, for example, has been charged with employing death squads to terrorize those Colombians wishing to unionize bottling plants in that country. Anti-union violence has also plagued Panama in recent years.

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Banks had made huge bets and bonuses with other people’s money. Barack Obama – State of the Union (2012)
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The Clinton-era repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act made it so that the firewall between standard commercial banking and hedge fund-like investment banking was removed. Suddenly, essentially everyone’s money was sloshing around in a giant casino.

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