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In Michael Jackson’s classic music video “Thriller” Michael is a zombie

Also referring to how Michael, sadly, died.

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Running back that holds the NCAA record for career rushing yards and won the 1999 Heisman Trophy

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Click It or Ticket is a campaign to get all Americans to wear their seat belts. He could be saying this to get the listeners riding in their cars to “strap in” so that they don’t get bounced around by the heavy bass in the song.

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Robes are synonymous with wealth and royalty. This refers back to the Throne concept of the album, and mirrors Kanye’s first verse.

Like Big Daddy Kane said:

Ain’t no half-steppin

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Here Jay shouts out his early rap mentor Big Daddy Kane by interpolating lines from his 1989 track “Young, Gifted & Black 1989 track – a beat he freestyled over in 2003. Kane is a member of the Five-Percent Nation, a religious group Hov has been associating himself with more and more over time. The Five-Percent Nation believe that pigs are filthy animals that should not be eaten. “Peace, God” is a common greeting in the Five-Percent Nation.

Hov uses a common hip-hop trope, “fuck the police,” and refers to police officers as “pigs” to express his feelings on the law enforcement of America. This ties the line in with the previous one (bulletproof vests are typically worn by policemen) as well as with the next line and chorus (ham, just like pork, is meat from a pig).

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Two possible reasons for Em using “Melatonin” (which is an over-the-counter pill to help promote sleep) instead of the correct word, “Melanin” (which is a pigment that is the primary determinant of skin color)

  1. Proof might have messed up and said Melatonin instead of Melanin when he was talking to Em.

  2. Eminem made a mistake. He might’ve made that mistake because he was just recovering from drug addiction, and Melatonin might’ve been one of the pills he used.

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T.I. is made out to be a horrible criminal for getting caught with drugs, but Tip points out that his crimes pale in comparison to others'. The difference between him and these “other” criminals is that he is famous and his mistakes are put out there for everyone to see.

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Plain Pat produced this song, hence the shout out. This isn’t Cudi – it’s actually Kanye West.

This Kanye vocal sample is Plain Pat’s producer tag. It’s taken from “Better Than Yours”, which is on Kanye’s Freshman Adjustment Vol. 2 mixtape.

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Professional UFC Fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Side Note: I believe the only use of the Supa Dupa Flow on the album.

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Ah! Refreshing to encounter a young rapper who is not into fashion rap..

Cudi gets a lot of shit for rocking skinny jeans, but he is saying that the guys critiquing his clothes are more worried about homosexuality than he is.

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