Kev takes it straight to the streets of Manchester with his fiery verse. Day savers are bus tickets that provide unlimited travel for a day. This implies that Kev has a lot of people to see (ladies, record labels, drug barons) and needs to get around. Because of this intensive use of public transport, getting a day saver also saves him a bit of money; life is tough in the city, money is scarce (contradictory to C-Mac’s verse…)

Levenshulme is an area of the City of Manchester, similar to Kersal which is a township in Salford. Both are part of the county Greater Manchester. Massive seem to have some sort of rivalry with Levenshulme, but the context of this insult is unclear.

HSBC Holdings plc (subsidiary of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British multi-national bank. Grafting has multiple meanings, but this case can be associated with extortion, gaining money via unscrupulous means. HSBC has been no stranger to money laundering.

This lyrics could however be a mis-hearing of “graphs”, which would mean Mac is bragging about their understanding of world economics.

The Massive’s car doesn’t seem to fit with a particular make, but is most likely a Renault Clio V6 Renault Sport, although 2005 was their last year of production. In this case the boys have had to add the twin-turbo to the engine themselves, to make those getaways cleaner (Note: this car was, like all of their gear, stolen)

The scene starts with a disagreement; the listener is brought immediately into a discussion. As the speech continues, we infer that two Roman soldiers are gossiping, and discussing the status of their general, Antony, and his newly found spouse Cleopatra.

Shakespeare does many things in this first act to foreshadow the tragedy to come. What better way than to make the first word the most negative of all (“no”)? This is similar in a way to the opening line of Beowulf, usually translated as “Lo” or “Behold”, suggesting a grand tale is about to be told.

If you stay outta his way, don’t overstep your place, and aren’t too flashy, Meth will let you do your thing.

Also a reference to the song “Ease on Down the Road” from the musical The Wiz, most likely the 1978 film version) as Meth lets go a high-pitched “heee!” in the background, a trademark of Michael Jackson, who plays the Scarecrow in the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGxBx8RzzrM

Sample of a line from Rock of Heltah Skeltah the classic Fab 5 (meaning Heltah Skeltah + Originoo Gun Clappaz) posse cut “Leflaur Leflaur Eskoshkah”.

A reference to Jules Verne’s book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Most likely a reference to how deep his lyrics are.