Classic Jay-Z from his first album Reasonable Doubt

Much hope was placed in President Obama to reverse the generations of policy negatively affecting the inner-city. However, the problem is more economic than political. After all, the politicians have all been bought by the wealthy elite. It all goes back to the haves and the have-nots. Real change only comes after a recognition of this reality.

This also refers to trickle-down economics, which purports to positively affect all economic classes, but often seems to only benefit the rich.

Possible reference to the federal sentencing laws that until recently attached significantly more prison time to crack possession than to powder cocaine. The laws, recently rescinded under the Obama administration, were clearly designed to disproportionately punish African Americans and less wealthy citizens

It’s like Immortal Technique says in “3rd World”:

And they might even have a black president, but he’s useless
‘Cause he does not control the economy, stupid!"

And Jay-Z says in “Pray,” off the American Gangster album:

Anywhere there’s oppression
the drug profession flourishes, refreshing

As long as there are people struggling, there will be an underground drug economy. That’s the same anywhere. And as long as those who are struggling are convinced they need to have some $80,000 whip, they’re going to do what needs to be done to get it. That’s how coke wars start, according to Jay

Horses are made to wear “blinders” so that they only look straight ahead and don’t get distracted on the race track.

Jay asserts that contemporary human have “blinders” too. They us from fully recognizing “the obvious,” like the fact that New Orleans was essentially stolen from its rightful inhabitants in the name of profit and power (A number of Jay Electronica songs reference the shiesty shit that happened in post-Katrina New Orleans).

New Orleans became a laboratory for “projects” that the wealthy envisioned to make more money in the American inner-city after Hurricane Katrina. By eliminating public housing projects, valuable real estate was open to investors interested in housing profits.

What is the “other project” that they’re building? It’s not a “project” in the sense of Section 8 housing–Jay means a societal project; a scheme to make money and achieve power through the oppression of inner-city citizens and poor folks generally.

A “drive-thru touchscreen” is the ultimate in convenience and contemporary technology. But what good is it if you’re still poor? It is only a lure to lull us into a false sense of wealth and well-being.

Symbols of dark mysticism. Jay Electronica involves a range of religious references in his work, assigning metaphysical dimensions to earthly phenomena. The Bush administration, for example, is often associated with black magic and Satanism in Jay Elect’s work. Here is no different. Immediately following the Satanic imagery, Jay describes the evil that came in the aftermath of Katrina, with the government and the rich using the devastation to implement their plans on New Orleans

Wealthy business interests and the government conspired to essentially eliminate public housing projects in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Jay’s childhood home, the Magnolia projects, was one of the victims.

Last Days of Left Eye. The film reveals the TLC star’s growing interest in numerology and other forms of religious mysticism

The film ended with footages from her camcoder that showed the accident in which she died.

“Moor” is a centuries-old European term for Moroccans, North Africans and people of color generally. Most broadly, “Moor” can be thought of as a term which designated “otherness” to 16th century Europeans. It shares a kinship with the American term “Negro” and its derivatives. A Moor, to Europeans, was not one of “us,” in much the same way some contemporary White Americans regard Hispanic immigrants and inner-city communities of color as outside accepted cultural bounds.

A fez is a hat traditionally worn by Moors.

The fez also has a negative connotation, too, though, thanks to its long history as military garb, particularly by Mussolini’s Italian army. This is why Jay wants to distance himself from the hat.