What is this?

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Rappers are biting CyHi’s style and pretending like they didn’t.

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What is this?

The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.

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A fathom is equal to 6 feet below water, using the old metric system.

To fathom something means to understand a difficult problem or an enigmatic person, after much thought.

CyHi here makes the wordplay on fathom (meaning deep) and fathom (to understand), as CyHi is so deep (as in goes into layers of meaning), that most listeners can’t understand what he is saying, however, don’t worry:
#That’s what Rap Genius is for!

If you don’t know, now you know!

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What is this?

The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.

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Sodium is half of the compound sodium chloride, which is the chemical name for salt. The other ‘lame niggas’ are acting salty.

Cyhi’s delivering these ruthless bars for those haters running their mouths.

As a large stretch for the double E:
The chemical symbol for Sodium is Na. So Cyhi could also be talking about people who just say ‘Nah’ to his name.

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What is this?

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This is related to the popular phrase:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

This is used to encourage optimism and a good in the face of adversity or misfortune.

“Lemons” in this expression is used in the informal sense of the word, to indicate an unfortunate situation, a meaning which probably comes from the sour and acidic taste of an unsweetened lemon, compared to the sweet taste of lemonade.

Nas and the people from the ghetto made the best out of what little they had, such as Kool-Aid for hair dye in the previous line.

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A hushed image suggesting “the calm before the storm”–i.e. before the main events of the plot crank into motion.

The “little wind,” the first character of the novel, returns as a “little night breeze” to foreshadow change in the passing of the night as it did in the midday sun earlier.

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What is this?

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Pause

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Continuing the play on OJ Da Juiceman, he alludes to OJ Simpson, who infamously got away with the murder of his ex wife and a waiter in 1995.

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Since this was before the reunion of Bad Meets Evil, many people really wanted Eminem and Royce to get together again and make an album.

Suspicions were enhanced even further when Royce was shown in the video for the song “Forever” alongside Eminem.

Royce would eventually sign, and the rest is history.

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What is this?

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This is an outcry for the education system to not be one sided, to not only focus on one race oppose to another or to favor the rich.

The cure to cancer may be trapped inside the mind of a person not privileged enough to have education.

Nas is trying to illustrate that the only way for humanity as a whole to progress is by it being educated.

How can the poor escape lower class when all they’re provided with is textbooks looking like they’re straight from the dark ages?

How can the poor escape lower class when they’re lowest on the priority list?

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What is this?

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Interestingly enough, Wayne would sell over 1,000,000 copies in just the first week of his next installment in the Carter III series, however this was before all that.

Wayne loves money so much, we don’t doubt he would spend his actual days just counting and spending time with it.

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