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hysteria- behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or panic

biting- in the hip hop community refers to an MC who copies another MC’s flow, content, rhyme structure, persona, etc.

Rakim is one of the OG MCs of the mid ‘80s. He is simply saying that even the MCs who are biting his style can’t be better than him at who he is as an MC.

Along the lines of “you can’t be me better than me”

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Tarzan is fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani “great apes”; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.

Tarzan’s jungle upbringing gives him abilities far beyond those of ordinary humans. These include climbing, clinging, and leaping as well as any great ape, or better.

He uses branches and hanging vines to swing at great speed, a skill acquired among the anthropoid apes.

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Rakim is telling his competitors to “fall back” unless they have a similar track-record as himself. This line and song in general implies that nobody can get on Rakim’s level.

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Rakim is saying that he “enlightens” his listeners with the stories he intertwines with his raps.
The opening “boom!” to begin the song sets up for the successive line about his tunes being dynamite.

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KRS ends the song in an empowering manner. This end to the song dramatizes how acting in vengeance and enacting in violence can only result in a negative result. At the end, KRS shoots the man who shot his brother and a cop. This leads to the cops shooting at the three men in his car, leaving KRS in a predicament that symbolizes the utter entrapment the ghetto youth feel everyday. This song, as well as many by KRS, is a call to stop the violence.

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Establishes the prominent religions in order to exemplify that we are all equal. All religions and cultures listen to hip hop avidly and all listen to music. There is not one race of people deemed superior than the other. KRS is simply stating that we are all people of Hip Hop

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Follows along the common perception the public views rap figures, who are publicized on mtv for their glamorous videos in which they are wearing fancy clothing and throwing money at strippers in the club. KRS is challenging MCs to be ambassadors of Hip Hop and represent the culture correctly. By rappers acting negatively and spending money as quick as they receive it, this is not only detrimental to themselves but more importantly Hip Hop as a culture and art form.

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Born: August 20, 1965 in South Bronx, NY
Name: Lawrence Kris Parker

Serves as an introduction of who KRS-One is

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KRS states that in order to better society men must treat women with equal respect. This follows along the theme that men need to consider that they were all once fetuses who were born from their mothers as well.
fetus-
1.unborn offspring: an unborn vertebrate at a stage when all the structural features of the adult are recognizable, especially an unborn human offspring after eight weeks of development

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New York’s state nickname is the Big Apple. The origin of this term comes from horse races actually. The prizes winners of these races would attain were called “apples” as horse racing courses were prominently in NY during the time this term was coins (1920s).

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