The 9/11 terror attacks had a massive effect on the world, particularly New York City. But even with events as horrible as that, the city is still today a world metropolis.

The reason to this is, according to Tone, the inhabitants' feeling of being connected with the city and knowing that they could not allow NYC to crumble because of terrorist attacks – they had to adapt the new situation

Jay has evolved his sound and developed through the years since his debut in 1996. Every time people were starting to get tired of his current style, he’d switch it up and adapt to the new conditions – not only in music, as he goes on to tell later in the song.

He has developed from a street hustler, to a superstar in music to a business, man, to hanging with the Pres'.

You can’t pin this man down!

China earns billions of billions on their export trade. It has come to that point where the “Made In China” mark has become a meme more than just a stamp.

Jay mocks this fact by saying that even his mic is from China.

This continues the above line on Cuba and communism. While the US openly enforced an embargo against all Cuban trade, it is China’s main trading partner. Why, in Jay’s eyes, should Cuba suffer while we openly support an arguably more severe state?

This also continues on his name-dropping of different geographic locations: Houston, Cuba and now China.

China had communism before Cuba. When America ran through China to stop communism, they left cuba open to adapt the same type of government. But now we’re cool with China, so he thinks that’s funny.

Kendrick uses homophones to relate it to the re-used one: liquor/lick her and dive/die.

On the surface, it means that he knows that if he gives her cunnilingus, he might end up doing it Weezy style and drowning in it.

It could also mean that he knows that if he commits to her by giving her cunnilingus, a sex style which is often seen as degrading among males in the hip hop community, he will never get out of the relationship, eventually ending up dying with this girl. That could be interpreted both as something positive and something negative.

Hele tanken om at flygte fra det hele er ikke på grund af andre mennesker – det er på grund af ham selv.

Det viser at han nogle gange ubevidst forsøger at overbevise sig selv om at det er omverdenen der er noget galt med, i stedet for at indse at han ikke længere kan se sig selv i øjnene, og er blevet til en person han ikke ønsker at være.

Tanken om at flygte fra alting og starte på en ny er et tilbagevendende emne i Pede’s musik. Her overvejer han at flygte ud af landet, brænde alt der holder ham emotionelt bundet, og blot være sig selv.

Starten af dette nummer, og især disse linjer, tyder på at Pede har været meget tæt på at gøre hvad djævelen på hans skulder fra Intet At Miste fortalte ham..

Jeg har en djævel på min skulder der siger at jeg skal adlyde ham
Han siger jeg skal smide det hele på bålet og bare lade det brænde
For du' først rigtig fri når du intet har at miste
Ja du' først rigtig fri når intet har at miste

Et typisk morgenscenarie for Pede – kun lige når han vågner fungerer det helt for ham, og derfor prøver han altid at få mest muligt ud af det morgen-rush han har.

Et tydeligt tegn på den pessimisme som han i sangen fortæller han er præget af. “Det plejer at stop'” viser at han har lave forventninger til sit humør, hvilket højst sandsynligt kun gør det værre.