A crying shame can be an unfortunate situation, which the hookers from the last line are in.

They make margarita cocktails with salt around the rim of the glass.

The cheap tops suggests they use a cheap soda to top off their cocktails (rather than fresh lime juice) and wear cheap (slutty) tops to earn money.

More explicitly, both semen and salt are white.
“Cheap tops”= cheap blow jobs.

This line is also describing how these hookers are drinking (most likely to forget).

This line is a devastating critique of middle management “dead levels” i.e. people that get paid well but don’t really do anything productive. All these costs created by the record company have to be recouped before the artist receives any royalties.

In other words useless managers get to make some of the most important decisions which impact a recording artist’s career.

Wordplay

This line also continues the song’s theme of geometry and building.

Something is dead level when it is exactly horizontal.

Something is plumb when it’s perfectly straight vertically.

In Greek mythology Midas was the king of the royal family of Phrygia. He had the power to turn anything he touched into gold. This included human beings.

Medusa who in in the Greek mythology has serpents on her head and the ability to turn people into stone by gazing into their eyes.

Lupe is trying to say that Midas in a way would be more powerful than medusa by defeating her in a battle of their curses bringing Midas to the next level that is constantly said throughout the song.

Midas/Migos – wordplay

Perhaps Lupe is also talking about the power of rap in contemporary commerce.

The fashion house of Versace uses a medusa head as a symbol. The company had to restructure in 2009 due to financial problems.

The rapper Migos undoubtedly helped boost Versace’s sales turning them “into gold”(money) when he released the song “Versace” in 2013.

Although the fashion house played the song during their show in Milan, Migos revealed Versace didn’t reach out to them with an offer of free clothing.

You realize who you really are when you find your limits and how far you are willing to go.

This could also be talking about T&Y being Lupe’s last album with Atlantic, saying he is starting fresh again with this record release or has delivered another classic like F&L.

http://instagram.com/p/yF9SAswF-i/

In the American prison system, prison may as well be your home. You could be there for a very long time and once they release you (give you “the kick out”) you’ll most likely be back, because you couldn’t find a job and/or reintegrate back into society.

Indeed there is a phenomenon where convicts upon leaving prison feel so uncomfortable on the outside they commit crime so they can get back to the institutional environment in prison they have become accustomed to – “welcome home”.

Throughout its history, the pioneers of the genre have referred to hip-hop as a religion. Most recently, on “Gorgeous” from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West refers to hip-hop as a euphemism for a new religion. Here, Lupe takes those references and he says that numbers; meaning however much money someone can offer them, or something like record sale projections; is controlling the paths of new artists these days.

More generally for any religion to survive it has to have a sufficient number of loyal followers. Since the growth of file sharing, artists and record labels have struggled to convince listeners to pay for music.

p.s. I bought a CD copy of T&Y.

Lupe could also be referring to binary code (1’s & 0’s), which govern all technology.

Lupe is saying to hold onto to your values until everyone can see their merit.

A deep plot is a very cunning or crafty plan. A skyscraper is likely to require a deep plot (solid foundations).

Floor to ceiling windows allow plenty of light in and allow you to see what is going on around you.

Peep pots are another way of saying eye sockets.

So Lupe has his eyes wide open to what’s happening in the world.

Wordplay – big windows are also great for growing plants which can be started in peat pots.

Referring to the fact that if you want to buy free range or organic foods (particularly meat) you generally have to pay much more, making it unaffordable for many.

Efficient spitting (Lupe spraying lyrics) helps bridge divisions between people.

Lupe Fiasco is the stage name of Wasalu Muhammad Jaco. Lupe is a shortening of the Mexican/Spanish name Guadalupe. However Lupe Fiasco is actually of West African descent.

Literally Lupe isn’t Chicano.

The term Chicano originally had a polarizing negative connotation (i.e. would tend to force people apart rather than bring them together).

Chicano was later claimed as a chosen identity of some Mexican-Americans in the United States in a positive sense.