He represents people who ‘graduated from the streets’, which usually implies they took part in various criminal activities, hence the use of the phrase ‘grabbing a biscuit’

Bonus side note – Although Kweli himself never attained any sort of college degree, he comes from a home of incredible academics.

His mother is an English professor at City University of New York, his father is an administrator at Adelphi University and his younger brother is a professor at Columbia Law School.

DAMN SON!!

XV’s about to spit off the dome, aka; off the top of his head. During the 90’s, the term “freestyle” indicated that the verse was rapped without any type of preparation. However over the years, the term’s definition has changed to mean a pre-recorded (non concept) verse — even Wikipedia acknowledges this. XV’s used to writing down his verses, freestyling off the top is an art, so don’t expect anything amazing.

He is driving while getting a BJ (brains) from a fine woman sitting in the passenger seat. (See “Road head”)

His use of the words ‘fast lane’ also implies that he credits his fast rise to stardom for this special treat.

He only cares about woman enough to follow them on twitter (the word “tweeting” is consistent with the bird theme), and only talks to them when he wants to meet up to have sex(Holler). The term ‘Game’ is used to define a relationship that involves a lot of lies, tricks, secrets and dramatics; so the title here seems appropriate.

Wicked Games is also a reference to a song by The Weeknd.

These girls want to ‘blow him’ like a Saxophonist, but he has to leave because he has to go deal drugs (1 Bird = Kilo of Cocaine).
Charlie Parker was a legendary Jazz Saxophonist from New York whose nickname was “Bird” and played a song called “Ornithology”.

And Ornithology is, you guessed it, the study of birds

‘They’ try too keep the people in the hood down and at an average/mediocre level, but Kweli is rising above the preset ceiling. Sea level is the 0 altitude (as low as possible) in any specific region. ‘Sea level’ also sounds like C-level, which is the grade assigned to students who have an average academic performance. The C & A are both trains in New York that do the same route, the major difference being the A train’s express title, making it much faster than the C.

Reference to the 1990 Comedy Film Quick Change where Bill Murray plays a clown who robs a bank. In the movie, even though the mission is supposed to be easy and simple, the getaway becomes a nightmare. Hence the play on “Control your mission”.

He uses the phrase “fruit for labor” (which is referring to the rewards he rakes in for putting in work) as wordplay to connect the proceeding part of the line.

With several mainstream rappers talk about the same things, what Talib Kweli brings to the table is much lyricism… with a lot of substance and texture (pun intended).

Kweli carries on this image by mentioning arugula and rutabaga: two colorful foods.

Note the use of manage and serve in these bars. Talib is a great lyrist – he’s serving this woman with complex rhymes, just like a world class waiter. In particular, he plays on “serving long sentences”, this emphasizes his feeling of obligation, considering it usually means to serve prison time.

Lady Chatterly is a 1928 novel, that was first published in Italy. The novel tells the story of a relationship between an upper class woman and a lower class working man. – Oh and the woman he is talking about also has some sexy tattoos.