“Heard they was looking for war but ain’t declaring me”

Insinuating that rappers are all talk and no bite.

In this line, Joey makes himself the personification of war. Rappers are looking for war (Joey), but no one is declaring war (no one is calling Joey out)

I think Joey’s using more wordplay here – Declaring me/That clear in me – He could be implying that it must not be clear to Kendrick how good he (Joey) is, to be looking for war with him.

“I am not a star? In fact im ‘Planet R’

MINDBLOWN! Joey rhymes with the “ar” sound the entire time which would be perfect to call out LamAR but then says he won’t drop names.

Joey’s reaching too far with this imo but he was a lot younger so…

and lamar rhymes with the whole bar

I think Planet R is a Final Fantasy reference. I’m not an FF fan tho so I’m not sure how it connects.

Hip Hop started in New York and one of the first famous Hip Hop tracks “The Message” says “It’s like a jungle out here”. The king of the jungle is the lion who also has a mane. Kendrick is commonly referred to as King Kendrick and also claimed to be the king of new york. Joey is mocking Kendrick and showing that he is the real king.

The champagne is a homophone to pagne\pain

Joey is saying Kendrick’s career is more fragile than he thinks it is and Kendrick shouldn’t see himself as above Joey. Kendrick being in a “swimming pool of champagne” is saying Kendrick is drunk off of what is recent and short term success in a battlefield like the rap game. concluding that Kendrick needs to watch his back for Joey he’ll clearly take the crown.(“Ha! we ain’t just gon' let that one hang”)

ps: this was pre-B.4.D.A.$.$. and Joey is comparing the fact that both him and Kendrick are hot artists whilst Joey has only released mixtapes (1999, Summer Knights) at this point to get media buzz, Kendrick has released one album that got media buzz and his other albums have gone under the radar. Clearly Joey is saying he’s the superior artist.

Very dope line. He’s saying that kendrick, surrounded by his flowing success (champagne) and making the bold king of NY claim set himself up to be humiliated, not just killed.

Champagne, while flammable is low in alcohol (around 11%) whereas Kendrick references hard (more flammable) liquors (e.g. malt liquor, vodka and tequila ). It also contains CO2 bubbles which puts out flames. Burning someone in champagne would be less effective than say grand marnier– you could call it sham pain.

Kendrick (and even NY rapper Kweli) downplayed his bars but he can’t escape the aftermath even if he did study/bite ny rap greats and their concepts even [emulating on mixtapes like no sleep til nyc] and making numerous covers.

Joey calls himself a king of NY and sees Kendrick’s claims as criminal offense. So he doesn’t want to just let it slide/ let him hang him on a cross like Jesus king of the Jews or as Tupac, king of the west depicted himself in Killuminati: the 7 day theory, he would punish him like a criminal. In the days of kings, when someone was to be made an example of they were hung drawn and quartered (being choked but not killed, dragged apart by 4 horses and buried in 4 coasts for each body part- fitting as Kendrick likes to claim coasts). In cases people died from a broken neck, not suffocation when being hung and people being burnt alive smuggled gunpowder on their body for a quicker death- Guy Fawkes, convicted for treason was due to be drawn and quartered and broke his own neck while being hung.

He can’t claim Joey’s zone without a war- coincidentally Eparnay the champagne region hosted many bloody battles were the invading Germans controlled it over several decisive battles but eventually lost to the rightful claimants, France.

Mane sounds like man, referring to a lion aka King of the Jungle. Kendrick proclaimed himself to be King of the Concrete Jungle, and Joey’s not about to let that one slide

Most indirect diss ever.

It’s related to the previous line about spitting fire. Joey’s saying that he’ll roast Kendrick in his own champagne pool (as everyone knows, alcohol is flammable as fuck)

mane is hair on a mammal, some people make fun for kendrick lamar by calling him Kendrick Llama.

“Champagne” could be “champions” as well, saying Kendrick’s in a pool full of champions. Also, “champagne” could have been used to express how others are celebrating there riches, wasting it on things like champagne. Just another suggestion.

“You in a swimming pool of champagne.”

Looking at his word selection, there’s definitely wordplay here. Considering he could have said, ‘pool of 'pagne/pain’ I think he could have also meant ‘champagne/sham pain’. Just a suggestion though.