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You better know that, son. Otherwise, how would he own a Caddy, dummy?
Well what seems good ain't always good
Even what's really good ain't all that it could be Shad – Progress (Part 1: American Pie , Part 2: The Future is Here)
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Talking about how conditions in the hood make bad things (crime, drugs, etc) seem good and even good things aren’t as good as they are outside of the hood.
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Ontario is the province that is north of the state of New York. North is the upper direction on a map, so this is a play on the phrase “stay up.” Shad encourages to stay up, as in keep our heads up and live our lives in a proper way because every second’s important.
Put her breasts in his hands and said "Never sing for less than a grand", bam Shad – Progress (Part 1: American Pie , Part 2: The Future is Here)
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Calling out the commercialism of the music industry. He implies that the night the music died was when people stopped making music for the sake of making music and started doing it only for the sake of the money and material things.
Can't speak out and I don't mean that we need a cell
And by cell I don't mean a jail, I mean hell
We locked up and these banks keep receiving bail Shad – Progress (Part 1: American Pie , Part 2: The Future is Here)
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African-Americans are still scared to live how they want to — it’s still the same as before. They can’t even speak out, which refers to not being able to express their opinion and not not having a cell to speak on. And “cell” here refers to cellphone and not to a prison cell, because black people are already in some kind of a prison — they are totally suppressed while big banks are bailed out.
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Pop songs are generally shorter than 4 minutes. If music becomes defined by pop maybe it has died.
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Shad is a veteran of the rap community, not a veterinarian. This also references an earlier line:
A lot of cats want to see the best watch".
Shad calls these other rappers (cats) out again — he’s not into them.
Well if you want to see the best, watch Shad (Ft. Ian Kamau, k-os & Lisa Lobsinger) – Intro: Lost
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Many rappers define popularity by who has the best watch or personal style.
Gold all on my watch, so big it’s like a clock (2 Chainz on “All Gold Everything Remix”)
I got diamonds all in my watch, horses all in my cars (Chief Keef on “Finally Rich”)
Dope money, coke money, Hublot, my watch better (Pusha T on “I Don’t Like”)
Shad calls them out, telling them that if they want to see the best they should watch him rap. It’s some nice clever wordplay with the two different meanings of “want to see the best watch”.
And I'm James Harden hooping, all meaning I'm a problem Houston
A constant nuisance, I cause confusion Shad – Epilogue: Long Jawn
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Earlier Shad referenced Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. That initiates a number of Texas references dispersed throughout the song, including this sequence.
Paul Wall is a rapper who gained the most success and mainstream attention in 2005 with the release of his second studio album The Peoples Champ. He is from Houston.
James Harden is an All Star Shooting Guard for the Houston Rockets. He’s most well-known for his offensive capabilities, and that’s why Shad uses the word “hooping.”
The city of Houston is also known for its car pollution.
Shad’s using these three different examples to describe how big of a problem and how confusing he is, plus to play off of the Apollo 13 line:
Houston, we have a problem
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The Hurricane Katrina incident occured in 2005 and obviously not so long after that Shad started writing the lyrics to his 2007 album The Old Prince.
This also refers to re-writing lyrics by Prince, a musician who famously changed his name to a symbol when he felt that his record label had abused his actual name. More specifically, re-writing the lyrics to “Pop Life”, a 1985 Prince single.
