Lupe grew up in the poverty-stricken west side of Chicago. The three groups mentioned are well-known Chicago gangs.

Otsukaresama deshita is a Japanese greeting that is said upon leaving school, work and other places. Similar to saying goodbye in English, but also encompasses saying thank you for your time and effort. “Au revoir” is French for “goodbye until we meet again”. Both of these sayings add to the theme of travel mentioned throughout the song and show how well-cultured Lupe is.

Referencing the track “Walk It Out” by Unk, Lupe states that he walks around in limited edition John Lennon Chucks and vintage Goyard trunks that can sell for thousands of dollars

Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist, with one of his famous painting being a helicopter with a bow-tie. Lupe compares how fly, or cool, he is to that of the image portrayed in the art. Additionally, he gives double meaning to the word ‘high’ as helicopters fly high in the sky and he also states that he doesn’t use drugs to get high

Here, Charles details a conversation with his mother in which he tries to explain to her that he’s truly working hard on his musical craft. He takes the ‘family tree’ expression literally; saying he wants to help his family prosper by means of making his music. Instead of adding more family members to the tree, he plan on bringing more money – or green as he refers to it.

A lot of Charles' music is so complex that it’s incomprehensible to some people; thus causing it to go over the heads of listeners. This is similar to how the planets in space are literally over our heads.

“Carerra Lu” is Lupe’s alter-ego. He also, sometimes, goes by “Chi-town Guevara”, but only when he feels political.

He is referring to his brilliantly-worded lyrics, which are considered by some to be too complex to be commercially successful or popular on the radio. These doubters are telling him to make his lyrics more simplistic and stereotypically African-American.