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What's your life about? Enlighten me
Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet? Ab-Soul – Track Two
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Another gem from Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80, with these lines coming from “Ab-Soul’s Outro.”

This line paraphrases Mexican Revolution general Emiliano Zapata’s quote, “It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees.” Jay-Z also used an interpretation of this quote in his song, Lucky Me:

Swear to everything, when I leave this earth
It’s gon' be on both feet, never knees in the dirt

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But just imagine if Einstein got high and sipped juice
Broke rules, got pussy, beat up rookies on Pro Tools
You'd probably call his ass "Soul Brother #2"
And I just took a number two, and ain't this track number two? Ab-Soul – Track Two
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Ab-Soul compares his intellect to that of Einstein's—Soul goes as far as to say that if Einstein “got high and sipped juice, broke rules, got pussy, [etc.],” they’d be more or less the same person: Soul Brother #2, right after Pete Rock.

Notice he said “call his ass Soul Brother #2”? To take a number two is slang for “to take a shit”, and that’s exactly what Ab used “Track Two” to do to the competition. It’s the shit, or in other words: really good.

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Never been locked up, but I keep a sentence Ab-Soul – Track Two
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Ab’s never been sentenced to go to prison, but he’s got plenty of sentences to his name in any case. Much like you’d get locked up if he police caught you with a weapon, they’d lock up Soul if they realised what he was really saying.

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Yif22pq1qememepqmkzs

387

9 years

He keeps a sentence to prove himself capable such as the line he alluded to previously from 100 yard dash in which he mentioned granite

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Which one of you niggas wanna call my bluff?
Wish granted, call his ass "granite," now he mopped up Ab-Soul – Track Two
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Merciless spill in aisle two. Granite’s what many counter tops and floors are made from, and things spill on them in day-to-day life. Much like you’d wipe that stuff up, to be mopped up in this case means taken care of. i.e., ran over lyrically. Fear the bluff.

Also a reference to 100 Yard Dash from the first Long Term, in which in rapped:

Don’t jeopardize your life with a nigga, hard body made of cement
Plus I’m loaded like this clip, offered the C grams
Lay you on the floor like granite, granted
Your granny watching, I’m grinning like I ain’t just hit ‘em

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7906df9f95bf37eb3fb2c68a739b3d04

11,830

9 years

Great lyricism with the classic complex 3-syllable rhyme many rappers love to use, whilst also using heavy alliteration of the b sound.. There’s a LOT of internal rhyme here
“Had-shit,had-shit”
“Bad-shit,sick”
“Bag-shit,pissed”
“Bad-bitch,which”
And then “…..wish” to just continue the smooth flow he’s made with the sound through the beginning of the verse

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B-O, what up, my nigga?
E3, I'ma get you on these Backwoods, last thing I do, nigga
Yeah, oh shit, nigga!
Oh shit, nigga!
These niggas did done it again
Tae Beast, why you do that, man?
Why the fuck you had to do that, man? (Yeah)
This shit sound like a hundred birds under the Carson Sheriff Station
I told Rezack, "Get off my sack" (Yeah)
We really out here, my nigga! Ab-Soul – Track Two
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http://instagram.com/p/WkpvO1RwT1/
Soulo & TaeBeast

Ab begins by shouting out some people, namely rapper BO, his friend E3 (who he promises to get to start smoking or using Backwood wraps) and the producer of this beast, Tae Beast. What follows is an adaptation of his contribution to Kendrick Lamar’s “Ronald Reagan Era (His Evils)” which went:

Oh, shit nigga, something ‘bout to happen, nigga, this shit..
Nigga this sound like 30 ki’s under the Compton court building
Hope the dogs don’t smell it

In this version, Ab-Soul mentions “100 birds” instead of “30 kis”, referring to bricks of marijuana and kilos of cocaine, respectively. In short, the beat’s dope as fuck.

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siguy
6 years

Get you on these backwoods means we is going to pay him back for the backwoods he bought!

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FM
9 years

Sgt. Rezack was a very notorious sheriff deputy in carson, ca.

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Empathy Ab-Soul (Ft. Alori Joh & JaVonté) – Empathy
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A smooth cut for the ladies, delivered over Skyhe Hutch’s equally smooth instrumentation. Soul pleads with the opposite sex for some empathy, and the time. The guys will definitely relate too.

Ironically, he’s rapped about trying to outrap like Drake in the past. This song might generate a couple comparisons.

http://twitter.com/#!/absoul/statuses/197540731710226434

The music video, directed by Jerome D., was released on May 1, 2012 (shown below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Y3e4OPUbM

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Fe939b693fa205a7f331ab0c95a9e3d7

4,770

7 years

rapped about trying to outrap Drake in the past

Notice I didn’t say “like” and I used a better link (links to specific line)

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Double Standards Ab-Soul (Ft. Anna Wise) – Double Standards
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A look at society’s divergent views on the the do’s and do-not’s of men and women in relationships. As Soulo succinctly summarizes, the general unfortunate opinion is that:

She a ho, he a pimp

Production comes from Sounwave, who sampled King Crimson’s “Islands.” The guitar solo comes courtesy of J. Valle.

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0d939e0412c3cb7f278f32bcc6c07bd7

425

9 years

The first Verse is an insight to what men face when surrounded by their male peers. Always telling you to “Fuck hoes” and “Get money”. while at the same time, trying to balance out these influences with what your conscience tells you what is right.

The second verse is a description on what women really want opposed to what society tells them they want. It’s the story of a women jealous of her friend’s relationship, and wants something like that for her own.

The last verse is showing what our society says about a man and a woman doing the same exact thing. When the guy cheats, he is pictured as a pimp and gets all the fame and glory for it; when a girl cheats she is known as a slut and gets the exact opposite treatment of what a man gets for cheating. Therefore pointing out the Double Standards our society holds on men versus women. Ab really touches on a very relevant subject in this song.

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Marked this as restating the line?
6 years

Kanye has also sample this song from his song Power.

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Soul brother number one plus one Ab-Soul (Ft. Black Hippy) – Black Lip Bastard (Remix)
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He’s soul brother number 2, and Pete Rock is soul brother number 1:

http://instagram.com/p/ZRNSWjRwae/

Also a reference to James Brown, as he was introduced on stage as Soul Brother number one.

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See, the truth is they wanna know
How close me, Dre, and Snoop is
Or how the shoe fits when they choose this
To beat 2Pac, but truth, I give two shits
'Bout expectations or critics hatin'
Shit, I just put Moms on vacation Ab-Soul (Ft. Kendrick Lamar) – ILLuminate
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An adaptation of Dr. Dre’s line from “What’s the Difference” In that case it went:

You see the truth is
Everybody wanna know how close me and Snoop is
And who I’m still cool with

Nowadays, people want to know how close he is to the West Coast legends, if he’s the next 2Pac and maybe if they can off him in his prime, like they did the latter. Kendrick’s not concerned with the expectations though, or the critics. He’s more concerned with helping out people and family, like his mom.

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Ad38a6cb5b002d12e58de0fe346d276d

74,977

9 years

He also stated that if Dre ever tried to give him a handout he would break Dre’s hand

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They wanna share my light, they wanna share my light
They wanna share my light, they wanna share my light
They wanna share my light, they wanna share my light
They wanna share my light, they wanna share my light
You can have all my shine, I'll give you the light
You can have all my shine, I'll give you the light Ab-Soul (Ft. Kendrick Lamar) – ILLuminate
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As seen in part on Kendrick Lamar’s A.D.H.D:

You can have all my shine
I’ll give you the light

Ab-Soul’s fans want to share in his knowledge, which Kendrick confirms he has no problems with. Sharing is part of HiiiPoWeR’s search for knowledge. This could also refer to other artists wanting to get put on by Ab-Soul.

The song title and reference of light is one of many on Ab-Soul’s Control System. As he said in an interview with Complex Magazine:

“There’s a lot of irony [that I make songs like ‘Illuminate’] but I’m sensitive to light. I probably have a desire to be able to look directly into the light because I can’t. And then you think about the light and being enlightened, and what that means. I definitely like to do that. So just making all the connections with different words and where you want to see yourself. You’ve got to see it first.

The irony here is that he, who can only see so much literal light, is fact the most “enlightened” or illuminated, and is being asked to share his light.

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9 years

There is a strong possibility that Ab would love to share his light physically and knowledge wise because

  1. If he shared his physical light with others it would allow him the ability to look into the light do to its eventual decrements

  2. he is a very intellectual man who realizes the need to share his ideas and theories with those that are in the dark (not enlightened)

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