• Paul Smith is a successful and respected English fashion designer. He’s particularly popular thanks to the menswear he has designed.

• Steven Paul “Elliot” Smith was an American indie rock singer-songwriter and musician. For a large portion of his career he was known to be an alcoholic and drug abuser. Interestingly, in 1996 his friends untried to stage an intervention for him in Com’s home of Chicago. He’s well known for his hit ‘Miss Misery’, which was included in the soundtrack for the movie ‘Good Will Hunting’.

Common’s oftentimes looked at as a conscious rapper, but he’s definitely not one who’ll pass up on good sex. In many ways, it’s a tad ironic for a conscious rapper to be getting head, isn’t it? The ‘headlights’ runs on from this line into the next, tying the two ideas together.

Lupe’s playing off his previous line. The “can-dle” won’t be blown out, so he goes on to talk about his “can-do”. Somewhat corny, but has an excellent effect on the song

He also is using wordplay to initiate a darker meaning. Is Lupe a ghost that has control over you, your thoughts, and your possessions?

Maybe, because he has a “can do” spririt, he is also saying he possesses everything that all the phony rappers possess (through success) and because he implies they are are lazy in other parts of the song, he asks if they were on the couch when they heard of his success (typical lazy people sit on a couch and watch TV).

And, because his spirit is “possessing your possessions” it could be heard literally ‘by’ the couch or it could actually ‘buy’ the couch as a way to possess it. Adds some irony since the boogieman didn’t come to “buy” anything, but when you’re a “can do” spirit, you got it like that ;)

People who have asthma attacks are generally put on pure/fresh air to help them breathe regularly again. These attacks are oftentimes caused by allergies and air pollution. Considering that hip-hop has gone through stages where it was polluted and only a shadow of its former self, the people who longed for true hip-hop have suffered.

Common is to these people what fresh air is to an asthmatic person – salvation.

This continues the theme of both the preceding breath of fresh air and traffic jam lines.

Common is here to help with the resurgence of hip-hop and to ensure it moves along in the way that’s best for its future.

Several ways to see this:

• Common makes both conscious (pro-black) and hardcore (semi-automatic) music, neither of which gets played on the radio for people to jam to while being stuck in traffic.

• For Common, making music is akin to doing black magic. Thanks to this, he and his people won’t get stuck in the traffic jam that is the congested music industry.

He’s denying the people who want watered down music and talking to the producer of this album, No I.D. They’ve been promoting a musical collective under the name Cocaine 80’s (consisting of Common, No I.D.., James Fauntleroy, Jhene Aiko, and others), which makes music reminiscent of the raw days of hip-hop, jazz, soul, and other genres.

Many drugs are administered through the veins, and to be in a vein of something means to stay in that style or method of doing it. Cocaine 80’s is giving the people powerful and pure music – much like the cocaine that was so widespread in the 80s and like the music of that era.

Referencing Michael Jackson’s fifth album, Off The Wall, and its title track. Mike used to live off it, of course – it made him money and earned him respect and fame. Fast-forward to now and Common is posted up on this album because it was a classic full of songs relevant to life and set standards.

It’s a nod to “Sweet”’s theme as well – gangsters (an example of the non-sweet) often post up on corners and walls.

Also something that is ‘off the wall’ is crazy and hard to explain and understand, commonly a trait of great music.