Here Lupe’s character reassures MYH that the people he has been warned about in the previous verse are just haters. He claims they don’t have a shotgun and are not outside in a stolen car waiting on him. The exact opposite turns out to be true.

To “slip a mickey” in some one’s drink means to drug their drink in order to take advantage of them some how. Talib likens wack MCs wack music (and the manner in which they promote it) to the drugs used in a mickey.

“Small Wonder” was a 1980s sitcom featuring an android modeled after a 10-year old girl.

Reggae artist Gregory Issac has an album and single titled “Night Nurse”.

This is a reference to “Strokin'” by Clarence Carter, in which Carter details how he “be strokin'”. Specifically, Mr. Carter claims he does not stop making love to his woman until she is “sassified” at which point she repeatedly yells out his name, “CLARENCE CARTER, CLARENCE CARTER, CLARENCE CARTER!”.

We don’t have goodness in our hearts, we are only well behaved because people are watching us. This line also hints at privacy concerns surrounding big brother’s increasing surveillance over society, a concern Mos Def has addressed often in his music

This song was written before things like Facebook and Twitter caused people to readily volunteer private details about their lives

Referring to the “jokers” in the previous line, Mos is saying that although some may appear to be rich and famous, they may not be happy.

This line can also be applied to the next few lines, which explain that what is on the surface conceals what is really going on beneath.

“Planet Rock” is an Afrika Bambaataa track that has been heavily sampled. The track is also composed of a few samples of its own.

The song is also seen as the song that made one of the first steps to genres like house and techno

Although the song isn’t about one producer in particular, Mos Def references the Dr. Dre track, “Deep Cover” as an example. Deep Cover contains several samples, including bits from Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” and the Undisputed Truth’s “(I Know) I’m Losing You”.

The young man enacts the plan, sampling old songs to make hip hop pop hits, and as a result, he starts making easy money. As the money comes in, his greed consumes him and he wants more and more of it.