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A reference to Slaughterhhouse’s major label debut Welcome to: Our House. Using their album artwork as a template and the help of a digital artist, this image was created to graphically represent the line.

Most animals drag their kills to a private area (a backyard would do), so why does Crooked leave them in the front? Because he’s an Apex Predator.

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The first single from Crooked I’s Apex Predator. No Sleep Gang is a common hashtag used by Crook and describes the hustle of making money, whether that be through his music, or the drug game.

Crooked I’s gangs:
- House Gang
- Horseshoe G.A.N.G
- No Sleep Gang
And the track’s produced by Cardo, a member of Taylor Gang

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Heroin is very addictive and therefore ‘hooks’ users.
Likewise T-pain provides catchy hooks (choruses) to many songs, 34 by XXL’s count in 2011.
T-pain even released Motivated, a song with one short verse and a hook for other rappers to lay verses to, with the winner being featured on his prEVOLVEr mixtape.

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Trafficking refers to the manufacturing and selling of (often illegal) goods, this song talks about that all-day, all-night hustle that Crooked puts into his music, and earlier, into his drug-dealing.
“Find me a lane” likely refers to the road-side corners that can be used to sell drugs, or hand out mix tapes.

Note the wordplay on the homophone “traffic” and lane.

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A play on the album’s title, No Love Lost. He’s saying that no love has been lost throughout his years of hardship and conflict.

The music cuts off as soon as this line ends, and the next song is All In My Head. This might be a clever connection between the songs, saying that the years of conflict have made him more introspective and taught him to love himself

This is a core concept of the album; growing up and learning who you are

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Crooked’s wondering when his musical outlet will drive his skeletons out of his mind, a point he comes back to in the final line

But also he’s drawing on the cycle of drugs (in this case alcohol) in the rap game, he’s waiting for his music to help him move through addiction, but his addiction is fuelling his music, there’s a give-and-take where he feels he needs to be drunk to perform, and if he loses those skeletons from his mind, it will be left a ‘vacant lot’.

This drunken freestyle shows how alcohol is often his spark of creativity and is so closely tied to his music, the image of his manager Kino literally fuelling his addiction to create a performance shows this cycle perfectly

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

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Joe will appear on Season 3 of ‘Love & Hip Hop’ with his current girl Kaylin Garcia, and ex Tahiry Jose

Kaylin

Tahiry

With these two around he’s going to get a lot of attention; ‘more people will see me now’

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Kendrick puts on a number of voices for this song. A ‘golden voice’ generally refers to a radio voice or a deep, powerful voice.

His voice is also making him money, thus his voice is ‘golden’.

Also a possible reference to Goldenvoice, the LA-based concert promotions/planning company that has put on Kendrick Lamar’s shows.

As Kendrick often does, there’s also a homophone hidden under the surface of this line. “Golden,” as Kendrick says it, sounds just like “goading” (annoying someone to provoke a reaction). In the context of “Backseat Freestyle,” which represents a younger Kendrick’s goals and mindset, the multiple voices he employs throughout the song goad his older self on to write some of the more serious material in the latter part of the album. Good kid’s growing up.

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Crooked I’s real name is Dominick Wickliffe,
He’s saying that only people who have their priorities right can judge the way he spends or what he owes to the IRS. Crook takes care of his family, he’s not interested in people who don’t.

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Great rhyme scheme to start the song

Kenny’s letting us know his raps put people in the ground (an undertaker is a funeral director) and refers to himself as the Eight wonder of the world with a possible play on words ‘ate’ and ‘eight’
Notice the wordplay ‘Under-taker’ and ‘taking over’

Andale is a Spanish term coined by Speedy Gonzales meaning ‘hurry up’

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