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Some of your favorite rappers, these niggas Bi Polar
Some of your street niggas, these niggas Bi Polar
You industry ass niggas, you niggas Bi Polar
I see a lot of you pussy niggas Bi Polar Plies – Bi Polar
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Your favorite rappers are two-minded– they act like gangstas, but really don’t know what the gangsta life is about. Very common in the industry. Take Rick Ross, for example; although he’s a former corrections officer, he seems to have convinced himself that he used to be a wildly ambitious drug kingpin, hobnobbing with international criminals and moving cocaine on a massive scale

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You goin' to let me get in your mouth
Well that's where I'mma be Hurricane Chris (Ft. Bigg Redd & Big Poppa) – A Bay Bay
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He’s not afraid to turn an argument into a fight. Any pretext will launch him head first into battle, fists swinging, braids flying. Kinda like this:

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4 years
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F3a48614c801cebf034c29b05a088245

98

10 years

Adding on to the line above he’s saying if you gon let him stick his meat into your mouth then wherever she’s at he’ll be at.

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Rugged serpentine climb, pebble to rock
Let your pretty pink cloud nine expectations please you not Aesop Rock – Abandon All Hope
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He’s willing to take the underground route to success, earning respect from hardcore fans, while those who aim for mainstream fame will be disappointed

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will not grow our economy Barack Obama (Ft. Jim Lehrer & Mitt Romney) – First Presidential Debate of 2012
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Unconventional wording there, Mr. President

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I got rubber bands on my cheddar knots Nelly (Ft. 2 Chainz & T.I.) – Country Ass Nigga
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T.I. is known as the “Rubber Band Man” for carrying his cash in this fashion, a habit typical of drug dealers, while cheddar is a slang term for money. The nickname thus conveys a tough and street-smart image.

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That keep my bills paid
Hit the strip and my bills paid
Keep a nigga bills paid Frank Ocean – Pyramids
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Since he has your girl hitting the strip for him, the money she makes helps keep his bills paid

Frank may be referring to himself as a pimp. sending his prostitute out on the strip so she can make him money. which pays his bills.

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1 year

Good ‘Ol double entendre. Hitting the strip with his bills paid: he goes on lavish spending sprees on the Las Vegas strip because his bills are paid (through his pimping), this and the aforementioned strippers making him money to pay his bills and fund his Vegas Strip spending sprees.

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(Come on, come on)
That's just the way it is (Changes)
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is (That's the way it is, what?)
Aww, yeah-yeah 2Pac (Ft. Talent) – Changes
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The chorus is a reworking of the chorus from “The Way It Is” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range

That’s just the way it is
Some things’ll never change
That’s just the way it is
Ha, but don’t you believe them

Oddly, the new line “Things’ll never be the same” seems to suggest change has come.

Hornsby himself was asked about this change in an interview with LA Weekly:

Do you find it weird that the chorus on “Changes” is “Things will never be the same,” while the chorus on “The Way It Is” is the opposite, “Some things will never change”?

Yeah, well, that’s right, but I thought it was a positive message, I didn’t think it was a negative message.

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1 year

I see the line “Things’ll never be the same” as a reference to this line:

“I’d love to go back to when we played as kids
But things change, and that’s the way it is”

Meaning that things will never be the same as when they were kids.

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5 years

This line may also be referring to Sub-Saharan and West African culture and life before white racism, colonialism and slavery tainted the continent.

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7 years

Bruce’s song has an element of hope that change will come in the future and racism will end as more people think compassionately and find common ground with one another. More than 10 years later, Tupac looks back.. almost defeated because he sees no changes in our culture or understanding for one another. ‘Things will never be the same’ is a deeply meaningful twist on the original hook used by Bruce Hornsby. Tupac implies in this song that blacks and whites will never be the same, racism will never be defeated, and inequality will persist. As the 1st black president is replaced by a moronic racist that ~½ of the U.S. voted for, the feeling of despair and division encapsulated in this hook is 1,000x sadder. Even decades after both of these songs were released.

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Al
7 years

‘Things’ll never be the same’ is not referring to changes over time or progress. The phrase refers to the persistence of racism and inequality.

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Gang bangers and J's in projects where a nigga stay T.I. – Like That
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Low-level criminals and cocaine addicts (Junkies) are his neighbours

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[Verse 1] Frank Ocean – Pyramids
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This verse could either be told from the Pharaoh of the previous lines, dreaming of the future of his kingdom with Cleopatra at his side – or it could be her new lover, trying to woo her away with promises of the future

Additionally, it can be understood to describe the “modern-day America” timeline which occurs later in the song (so from the narrator’s perspective, the future) in antiquated terms. It would then refer to dancers at a strip club. As evidence for this interpretation, notice the reference to chandeliers, which would seem out of place in ancient Egypt.

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When you on dat ho shit, we own that dough shit Plies – Me Ho
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Plies and his crew are manly men; they’d rather keep on the grind for money, or spend it on awesome things, (such as this nice yacht),

than hang around talking like a bunch of girls.

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