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BX = The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City.
Collin Powel was born in Harlem but he grew up in The Bronx bitch! Real niggaz recognize real!
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Bang with the Wallace Gang Starr (Ft. Fat Joe & M.O.P.) – Who Got Gunz
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Christopher Wallace is the real name of Notorious BIG!
M.O.P. are from Brooklyn, Biggie’s hometown.
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Nine .9's, Mac 10's
Man this shit never end Gang Starr (Ft. Fat Joe & M.O.P.) – Who Got Gunz
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He’s quoting The Notorious B.I.G. from his song “Come On”:
I got seven Mac-11’s, about eight .38’s
Nine 9’s, ten Mac-10’s the shits never end
He first used the lyrics in a live freestyle which Fat Joe has previously mentioned he was on stage during that show.
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The Ownerz is the sixth and final studio album by the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, recorded two years before the duo broke up and seven years before Guru’s untimely death. It was well-received critically and boasts four singles, “Skills,” “Rite Where U Stand,” “Nice Girl, Wrong Place,” and the title track “The Ownerz.” Many tracks feature a drum kit sampled from an Oberheim DMX drum machine. The album was Gang Starr’s final album together.
This song contains a sample of “The First Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack
I mean, it mean the rough, the tough, the dangerous—we reign supreme Big Boi (Ft. George Clinton, Sam Chris & Too $hort) – Fo' Yo Sorrows
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Big Boi is a fan of Dirty South hip-hop, but he doesn’t want the South to actually get dirty due to the contamination from Hurricane Katrina.
“We reign supreme” is probably borrowed from the hook to “Chonkyfire”.
'Cause they used to fantasy, and it's what they do to dream
Call it "fiction addiction," 'cause the truth is a heavy thing Big Boi (Ft. George Clinton, Sam Chris & Too $hort) – Fo' Yo Sorrows
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Today’s youth would rather read magazines or fiction because – like drugs – they help you escape from the harsh reality around you.
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This ties in with the last line about suicide, as Sean Kingston had a 2007 hit titled “Beautiful Girls (Suicidal)”.
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The closing track to OutKast’s classic sophomore release ATLiens features a great spoken word verse by Big Rube before the duo begins to ponder their future.
We can’t BABEL no more than we can bob our head offbeat. Babel is an important word as it denotes the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible. Extra biblical traditions associate Nimrod, who is mentioned in the next line, as the person for building the Tower of Babel. Basically the poet is saying we can’t build things together any better than we (black people) can be offbeat or without rhythm.