The long-running tagline for the popular lemonade beverage Sprite is “Obey Your Thirst.”

“Squirt” is also a citrus-flavored soda, who operate as a competitor of sorts to Sprite.

Note the numbered continuation in the first two lines: Jay counts “9, 10, 11” in the two bars.

Cash’s final single and video before his death in 2003 was a cover of a Nine Inch Nails’s song “Hurt,” where the first few lines read as:

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real

The video’s director Mark Romanek had to beg song producer Rick Rubin to shoot a video. Romanek also directed the video for the Rick Rubin-produced “99 Problems.”

Andrew Carnegie was fond of saying:

“The man who dies rich, dies disgraced”.

Carnegie made a fortune (founding U.S. Steel), then gave much of it away. Millions of dollars went to support education, a pension plan for teachers, and the cause of world peace (he was one of the founders of the American Anti-Imperialist League). Most famous as a benefactor of libraries, he funded nearly three thousand around the world. He preached the obligation of the wealthy to return their money to the societies where they made it.

Andrew Carnegie had a net worth in non-inflation adjusted dollars similar to Jay-Z – $492 million. However if we allow for inflation, Carnegie was one of the top five richest humans to ever live with a net worth in excess of $300 billion dollars.

(Carnegie’s mansion in New York)

While donating large sums to charity, Carnegie remained ruthless in the business world with some accusing him of failing to pay his many workers a living wage.

Carnegie wrote, ‘besides, it provides a refuge from self-questioning’
This returns to one of the theme’s of this song. If you are giving, are you doing it for the people you are giving to or for yourself?

Hublot is a luxury Swiss watch brand known for its craftsmanship.

Even on a song about charity, JAY-Z makes sure to save a plug for one of his favorite companies—he even collaborated with them on a limited-edition signature watch series in 2013.

Jay follows up on the “my time” wordplay and luxury watch brand reference with mention of a “two-door,” or luxury sport vehicle, just to drive the point home.

Michael Jackson was putting crystals on his socks way before the era of Bling.

Jay-Z stands defiant as a proud black man.

America through the FBI tried (and many would argue succeeded) in destroying any popular black leaders calling for radical change.

J Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, issued this directive in 1967:
“The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavour is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralise the activities of black-nationalist, hate-type organisations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership and supporters.”

He stated in a further directive:
“Prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’ who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement. Malcolm X might have been such a ‘messiah’… . Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and [Nation of Islam leader] Elijah Muhammed [sic] all aspire to this position … . King could be a very real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed ‘obedience’ to ‘white, liberal doctrines’ (nonviolence).”

In today’s money the United States government spent over half a billion dollars destabilising or destroying black, indigenous and left-wing movements in America, and their potential future leadership.

In addition, there was also a recent popular article on Hacker News. The FBI supposedly wrote a letter to Martin Luther King telling him to commit suicide, by allegedly leveraging a sex audio tape that was taken without a warrant.

While Biggie goes on the warpath by shooting holes in people, Jay-Z does it in the business world by being front row at basketball games.

Everyone knows Jay-Z’s sneaker game is on point, from Banneds to Black Toes and Black and Royals, he’s even been scolded by PETA for his custom kicks made from exotic animal skins.

He’s also referring to HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lanes. When you’re driving on certain highways, at certain times, and you have passengers, you’re allowed to get in the HOV and bypass cars with just a driver.

Above is a famous advertising meme used to suggest a product, or in this case a product category – cognac, has evolved beyond its original form.

The triumvirate of cognac brands are Hennessy, Courvoisier and Rémy Martin. Jay-Z’s taken the D'Usse endorsement money and is trying to convince the listener to abandon the “old” brands and get with the new.

While Maybach may rhyme with with yak, choosing a car brand which is no longer in production due to lack of demand may not be the best metaphor to pick.

Then again it is hard to find words that rhyme with Mulsanne:

“Yak” is an old term from the moonshine/prohibition era for alcohol. Hov is giving the listener some of the imagery and tastes of early America as contrasted with modern day America, while at the same time in typical Hov fashion, throws jabs at his detractors.