In 1993, Andre Harrell fired then Puff Daddy from Uptown Records. This came in the aftermath of the CCNY incident. Puff had overbooked a stadium for a charity event and in the resulting stampede, nine people were killed.

Referring to the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Jigga ran through packs of weed and bought a lot of it from Rastafarians (or impersonators at least).

“In hell” has the double meaning of “inhale”. Cole has gotten worked up and he’s trying to calm down by taking a deep breath. The very reason he’s trying to calm down is because he’s stressed by his hellish surroundings, and probably by the situation he speaks of nest: he has nowhere to live.

J. Cole is pretty fond of this in hell / inhale wordplay.

J. Cole is representing his city in this song by exposing and detailing the grim things that occur with it. One time for the city.

The chorus' purpose is to help guide and contrast the mood of the song. Sort of a calm between storms. To paraphrase abratster2:

When I hear this, I get the image of him taking a hit of a joint. He’s stressing but sort of celebrating at the same point. “One time for the city” would be him taking a hit off the joint in an act similar pouring some booze out for deceased friends. “Two times for you” would be doing the same, but for himself and his people (hence why he does it twice). He takes the hits as he contemplates the situation. This all ties into the weed usage spoken of at the start of the song. The instrumentation (mainly the piano, violin and slow choir) create a solemn tone.

It’s a deep song that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

This track (or tracks) he’s putting out now are leftover tracks from projects (possibly the album) but they are so good that they don’t harm his respect and thus his prospects.

Also note the double meaning on “foilin'”
(1) As detailed above
(2) Foil is usually what you use to wrap leftovers up to save them for later or another day.