Don't want to, I need to, ya gotta learn to keep it cerebral Eminem (Ft. Big Sean, Danny Brown, DeJ Loaf, Royce da 5'9" & Trick Trick) – Detroit vs. Everybody
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A “roach” is slang for the burnt end of a joint, but it is also short for cockroach. Sean wanted to be as famous as The Beatles when he was on the come up, but like Kanye learned that most people end up closer to cockroaches.
This is also some clever wordplay – as Beatle sounds like beetle, and both roaches and beetles are insects.
I know it took way longer than nine months
But fuck it, it's all in due time Eminem (Ft. Big Sean, Danny Brown, DeJ Loaf, Royce da 5'9" & Trick Trick) – Detroit vs. Everybody
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Sean has been hustling his entire life to get where he is today, starting from virtually nothing to becoming a household name.
Here, he uses pregnancy wordplay to emphasize his point. A pregnancy lasts around nine months before the mother goes into labor and the child is born. The mother will also be given a due date for her child’s birth, much like Sean’s “due date” has come to burst out onto the rap scene.
Although it may have taken longer than an average pregnancy for Sean to become Finally Famous, it was well worth it due to the hard work he put in.
What's makin' you think I need a switch?
‘Cause I'm Adrian Peterson
When he's ragin' and heated and
On the way to go beat his kid?
On a track get spanked like he just did Eminem (Ft. Big Sean, Danny Brown, DeJ Loaf, Royce da 5'9" & Trick Trick) – Detroit vs. Everybody
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Em uses switch as a homonym:
Switch as in “flipping the switch”. Also note the wordplay on crazy/flip.
A switch as a piece of wood. They’re generally used for discipline; Vikings RB Adrian Peterson got himself in a bit of trouble when it came to light that he beat his 4-year-old son with a switch.
This is Em’s way of saying that he is never going to switch his style because he beats up every track he raps over.
Don't worry, man, them bullets will still be at your ass firin' (Brr, brr)
I still call it safe, I would suck if I was umpirin' Eminem (Ft. Big Sean, Danny Brown, DeJ Loaf, Royce da 5'9" & Trick Trick) – Detroit vs. Everybody
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Sean plays on the dual meanings of “firing” to speak to the desperation of his city. In Sean’s view, all that getting a promotion means is that you’re a more attractive target to rob, and bullets will soon be fired at you.
Additionally, unemployment is so high in the D that you could get fired from your job days after moving up the ladder. Both interpretations show that for every good thing that happens to you in this city, a bad thing will follow to even it out.
But despite all the evidence to the contrary, Sean still declares Detroit a safe place to live in. Since he’s probably wrong about this, he would be a terrible home plate umpire, since their entire job revolves around deciding who is safe at home plate and who isn’t.
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Hammerschmidt is played by Boris McGiver – formerly known for his role as the “Unit Killer” Lt. Marimow from The Wire.
And dream about that light that leads up to the lord Shady Records (Ft. Eminem, Slaughterhouse & Yelawolf) – Shady CXVPHER
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This is the second offensive line about fetuses in as many Shady cyphers. Here Yela crudely compares the way he crashes on his couch after a night of heavy drinking to a fetus floating in a jar after being aborted. Then he touches on the controversial topic of whether or not aborted fetuses go to heaven, just in case this line wasn’t going to piss enough people off.
Broadcastin' from uninhibited planets Shady Records (Ft. Eminem, Slaughterhouse & Yelawolf) – Shady CXVPHER
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This is likely a reference to the movie Interstellar, where the remaining members of NASA in a dystopian society organize an interstellar journey through space to find a new planet for humans to inhabit.
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Charlemagne and Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian have both had recent beef with Yelawolf. Jamar in particular claimed that Yela, and all white rappers for that matter, was a “guest in the house of hip-hop”.
This line is Yela disputing that claim, by not only denying that he is a guest, but by implying that he plays a big role in shaping the metaphorical “house” of hip-hop.
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Buster Douglas is a boxer known for knocking out Mike Tyson, and little else besides that. He is literally a “one hit wonder”. Em compares most other rappers to him because he sees them writing one hot song that gets on the radio and then fading into obscurity.
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Eminem usually tries to be humble when he isn’t playing a character in his songs, but he takes a lot of pride in the fact he got on the radio without dumbing his raps down. It’s important to him that despite being the best selling rapper of all time, he is recognized more for his skill than his popularity.
No one is iller than Shady, and it’s been that way ever even before legendary Detroit producer J Dilla changed his name from Jay Dee in 2001.
Ain’t Bein Conceited is also an alliteration to the ABCs he mentions in the next line.
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@LyricalPlugg This would be a good explanation if the song wasn’t about Detroit.
“Jay Dee Dilla” could also be a homophone for “Jay the dealer”. Contextually, we know Jay Z was a hustler before he was a rapper and his debut album dropped back in 1996 so Eminem could be referencing to this as a way of saying he was ill even back when Jay Z was still out on the streets.
And so “this shit” after A B C sounds like D and E. May be it is the reference to alphabet
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R.I.P. J Dilla 1976-2006
I would say he’s also saying that he didn’t need a “script” as in prescription, from dr dre as he has made it to radio (at least in Detroit) on his own before being discovered by dre.
Notice the “Ain’t Being Conceited” he plays on it the second line when he says “A B C”
Guys, what about the “syllables” feat Jigga, Dre, 50, Cashis? Looks like a reference