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Mike himself wrote in to us to explain his choice of author:

I also named Robert Beck aka Iceberg slim, a pulp fiction writer but more eloquent than Goines. Beck was educated at Tuskegee where my grand mother hails from

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Justin, who was eighteen at the time of this song’s release and has his own real-life girlfriend, moves with this song into (slightly) more mature territory, no longer talking about the days when he would see his girl on the playground.

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The singer’s “falsetto” on this song has drawn comparisons to another teen pop star with an R&B fixation – Justin Timberlake.

Bieber has a large vocal range. He can hit both low and high notes spot on. Due to puberty his voice isn’t the same as it was at the start of his career, but he has found the right way to use his voice again.

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Broadway is a main street in Seattle, WA, located in his home neighborhood of Capitol Hill.

Seattle’s first big rap star, Sir Mix-a-Lot, previously paid tribute to the area with his 1988 song “Posse on Broadway” – a musical moment Macklemore nods to here

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Tyler mentions his other favorite rappers here – the 1017 Brick Squad, a Gucci Mane-helmed collective that also includes Waka Flocka Flame, OJ Da Juiceman, Frenchie, Wooh Da Kid, and Yung Joey. The “Slim” mentioned here is Slim Dunkin, a Brick Squad member who was murdered in late 2011

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Tyler takes a second to shout out masked underground rap hero Daniel “MF DOOM” Dumile

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Tyler won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 2011. The VMA trophy is called “the moon man”:

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Tyler was famously smacked in the face with a flying water bottle during a show in Austin, Texas in November, 2011.

He lost his dignity because after this fan threw something on stage (while T was performing in Austin), Tyler, Hodgy and some other OF members jumped in the crowd to beat up the guy that threw it. Therefore, Tyler lost his dignity by attacking someone that provoked him, an action he’s not proud of.

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“Golf Wang” is OFWG’s commonly used Spoonerism for “Wolf Gang”

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Tyler has no real beef with comedian/preacher Steve Harvey, despite the fact that this appears at the end of many of his songs. Tyler just seems to do it for shits and giggles.

Steve Harvey has stated before that “atheists lack morals”

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