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On “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” the classic first single off his 1994 sophomore album Resurrection, Common Sense (who now goes by Common for legal reasons) tells the story of a girl he met as a kid with whom he eventually fell in love. Over the years, though, they have drifted apart due to the girl’s changing personas.

It isn’t until the very end of the song that Common reveals that he hasn’t been rapping about a girl at all, but using the phases of the woman’s life as a metaphor for the evolution of hip-hop.

In a 1995 interview on Yo! MTV Raps, Common talked about the theme of the song:

It’s about hip-hop music. H.E.R. stands for Hip-Hop in its Essence is Real. And all I’m talking about is how I first came into contact with hip-hop music and how it evolved into where it is now. And it’s like all these gimmicks going on, all the phoniness, ain’t nobody being real with it. Everybody’s stressing that it’s real but ain’t nobody being true to it. I think that came about because — once it started becoming a business, then people started losing their soul and they started looking at it, taking it more as a business than an artform.

This track incited a feud between Common and Ice Cube over a perceived diss to the West Coast corrupting hip-hop, causing Cube to diss Common on the Westside Connection track “Westside Slaughterhouse” in 1995 and leading Common to respond with his classic diss track “The Bitch in Yoo.”

Common’s manager Derek Dudley spoke about the decision to release “I Used To Love H.E.R.” as a single:

We picked it as a single because we felt like ‘Man, this song is going to grab everyone’s attention.’ We felt like this was the song we had to come out with at the time. It wasn’t like we thought it would give us the best chance at radio or anything like that. We just knew it was a song that would pull people’s heartstrings. One of those songs that would grab people emotionally more than anything. People just connected to it.

“I Used to Love H.E.R.” inspired several hip-hop metaphor tracks: Common was featured on The Roots' 1999 track “Act Too (The Love of My Life)” and Erykah Badu’s 2002 Grammy-winning single “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop).” In 2007, Kanye West produced and featured in the single “I Still Love H.E.R.” by the Teriyaki Boyz, and Murs created an updated version in 2010 with 9th Wonder called “I Used to Luv H.E.R. (Again)”

About.com named “I Used to Love H.E.R.” as the #1 hip-hop song of all time and The Source magazine included it on their list of The 100 Best Rap Singles of All Time.

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Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. was born on March 13, 1972.

1982’s hip-hop singles include “The Message” and “Planet Rock.”

The phrase “she had so much soul” is an allusion to how hip-hop grows (in part) out of soul music. Many of the early breaks were pulled from soul artists like James Brown, The Winstons, The Isley Brothers, etc.

The last line could allude to the fact that people said rap/hip-hop would be a “fad” that would die out over time but it obviously grew and was instrumental to the growth of Lonnie Lynn’s common sense.

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The car smelled like that he got when he was uptown (125th street is in Harlem). He got some french fries with his fish: does Ghost like fish and chips?

Also a reference to an actual fish dish since a few lines later he soils his shoes with tartar sauce. Ghost is a fish enthusiast. Starksologist, fried fish halibut.

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Eminem describes himself as a “Rambling Man” who will never settle down. He trots the globe, like the basketball team the Harlem Globetrotters.

Popular mishearing: “lonely Rhodes scholar”.

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Biggie has “swift fists” like boxer Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho

But he’s not talking about throwing punches; Biggie uses his fists to snatch handbags (and maybe fire a gun if necessary)

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There are a couple guys eating dinner and watching tv. ‘Maricon’ is slang Spanish for something like ‘fag,’ but, absent further information, it’s hard to say whether these dudes are literally gay. The targets are probably Cuban: rum, plantains and rice, and onions on steaks are typical Cuban fare

We can’t really determine anything from the Sanford and Son–Redd Foxx’s appeal transcends cultures

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Like the closely-knit, creepy law firm in the 1991 novel The Firm, Jay and his “fam”(ily of hustlers) are really close.

The story is based around a law firm working out of Boston, where members literally never leave. If they attempt to retire or resign, they are killed, and the rest of the employees help cover the crime. Hence “getting down for life”.

The fire refers to weapons Jay handles, as well as his status in the game. He’s able to handle much more pressure than his contemporaries and competition.

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Jay’s stacking so much cash, he needs one of those money-counting machines

machine

This also recalls his line on I Can’t Get With That, one of his first tracks.

So I bought a money machine and it goes
A tat-tit-trrrrrrr-at-tit-trrrrrt-at-tit-tit-tit-to

His vocal rhythm increases to mimic the sound of machine gun fire.

He questions his cohorts who dream of taking his shine away, and having it for themselves. So many fiends to sell to, there’s enough money for everyone.

A fiend will “lean” when they are high on dope, Jay described the phenomenon in Decoded, retelling stories of his youth running around pushing “leaners” off park benches. To “lean” on someone is also to apply pressure.

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“Tweaking” usually means to get high on crystal meth; here, Warren G uses it to describe the hallucinatory high of his new musical discovery: G Funk

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A good reason to stay away from Eggs Benedict, which traditionally features Canadian bacon

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