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Big Boi lets the ghetto youth know that in the age of the internet you have a much better chance making it big through starting up a small business than you do from selling drugs. So instead of living from re-up to re-up (to “re-up” is to resupply one’s drug supply for peddling), Big Boi advises them to look at the big picture and try to make something of themselves.
No, it's the God, get your shit right Wu-Tang Clan – Da Mystery of Chessboxin'
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A place called prison and a place called jail
And Dada's probably on his way to all of 'em except one Eminem – Just The Two Of Us
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Hint: it’s heaven
And for the record “prison” and “jail” are not the same (so it actually is possible to go to both). Jail is usually local and reserved for people with misdemeanors while prison can be local or state, and is reserved for more serious criminals serving hard time. Criminals usually wait for their sentencing in jail, then go to prison when they get convicted, so Em could be spending time in both places if he gets caught.
Homophobic? Nah, you're just heterophobic Eminem – Criminal
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Streets too loud to ever hear freedom ring
Say evacuate your sleep, it's dangerous to dream Yasiin Bey – Mathematics
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Mos plays on the many meanings of “sleep” and “dreams” to great effect here. The working-class poor have to keep their alarms set and evacuate sleep because their job demands it, but Mos is also warning them to stay woke about the shady shit going on around them.
Along the same lines, the working class doesn’t have much time for neither actual dreams, because they get so little sleep, nor metaphorical dreams, because society often shoots down those brave enough to have a dream about a better day.
The phrase “let freedom ring” is a quote from “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”, quoted to great rhetorical effect by Martin Luther King in his [“I Have A Dream” speech]. Here Mos flips it ironically – the peal of freedom can’t be heard over the din and oppression of ghetto life.
And I was just checkin' the mail, get it? Checkin' the male?" Eminem – Criminal
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Gianni Versace was the founder and namesake of the famous Versace fashion company. He was shot and killed in 1997 in front of his house, presumably on his way to the mailbox to check his mail. But Eminem also plays on the “mail/male” homophone to suggest he might have also been checking out another male when he got shot.
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What is this?
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What is this?
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Eminem has never actually released an album in March, he simply means that his critics can’t stop him from putting out a new best-selling album every year. He is also calling his dedicated fanbase “fucking retards” for expecting that buying his album is enough to protect them from getting called out on a record.
🤞🏻
He want to proving that they’re wrong by their mental retardation by criticizing badly and diminished his abilities/ expertise
This sentiment is seen throughout Hip-Hop culture and can even be traced historically to famous showman P.T. Barnum, who famously uttered the phrase “there is a sucker born every minute”. Barnum meant that there will always be stupid and easily-fooled people to sell stuff too, which is something a lot of Hip-Hop artists feel: if Eminem’s content is bad or inappropriate according to critics, why do millions of people keep buying it and from a personal point of view why wouldn’t he drop those albums to get popularity and money.
You can hear a disabled “duh” sound in the background