A pun on “question” – the line means there is no doubt that Jay-Z has a lot of answers, but it’s a play on the question/answer opposite

And for a really meta-explanation of the last four lines…

Too many ladies give these niggas too many chances
Too many brothers wannabe lovers don’t know what romance is
Too many bitches stuck up from too many sexual advances
No question; Jay-Z got too many answers

All four of these lines are connected. The first two lines answer questions that the third line might pose, before they arise. “Too many bitches stuck up from too many sexual advances” answers the question as to why there are a lot of stuck up females in the world. “Too many brothers wanna be lovers don’t know what romance is” answers the question as to why so many sexual advances are made towards woman. “Too many ladies give these niggas too many chances” answers the question as to why they get “too many sexual advances” and men don’t just stop after the first rejection. This line also refers to women that stick with their men (giving them another chance) after they do them wrong by cheating on them. We know that Jay-Z is referring to men cheating on their women because of the next line “Too many brothers wanna be lovers don’t know what romance is” giving this line more then one meaning.

The final line in this set, “No question; Jay-Z got too many answers” is highlighting how he just explained the last three lines in a way that built up to the final explanation, leaving no room for any questions on the subject. It also speaks towards Jay just being knowledgeable in general which he starts to expand on with the next line “I been around this block too many times” and goes on a bit about it after that.

This of course isn’t the format I’d use explaining these lines but there is a lot more going on in this verse (and whole song) then what’s on the surface.

Too = 11

This first verse, as per the title of the song, uses the word “two” or its homophone twenty-two times, as an extended pun on the .22 pistol. Years later, Jay would pen a sequel using the same technique, called “44 Fours”

A reference to the underground jazz-rap song “Can I Kick It” by A Tribe Called Quest. Since Jay Z would become the leading light of late 1990s mafioso pop rap, hearing him talk about ATCQ as respected contemporaries is a reminder that hip-hop was much less fragmented in the early and middle part of the decade.

Hollywood would still be burning a decade later when this song was remade by the Roots with Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and Chuck D himself. The new version appeared on the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s devastating takedown of Hollywood racism, Bamboozled

A racial slur dating from the early 1900’s. Some speculate that it is a portmanteau of “jig” and “bugaboo”

Could be a reference to either (or both) of two things:

• The classic Sly and the Family Stone album There’s a Riot Goin' On.
• The song “Riot in Cell Block Nine,” by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and originally done by Richard Berry with The Robins. The chorus goes: “There’s a riot goin' on.”

From a 2003 article in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media:

African Americans were more likely to appear as perpetrators than as officers on the news while the opposite was true of Whites. In addition, African Americans were overrepresented as perpetrators on local news in comparison to crime reports.

Spike Lee wrote, produced, directed, and acted in most of his early movies, one of the only black people to do so at the time, and certainly the most popular / critically acclaimed.

Of note: his seminal film Do The Right Thing features Public Enemy on the soundtrack.

Um, Kane? Hollywood Boulevard is a street…