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There once was a story about a man named Jed KRS-One – MC's Act Like They Don't Know
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An allusion to the theme song from the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, which begins:

Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed

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Thank the Lord for Jimmy Mathis Pops they must remember
How you held it down when them other clowns disappeared Bubba Sparxxx (Ft. Kiley Dean) – Nowhere
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In Sparxxx’s “Dark Days Bright Nights”, Bubba says he was fortunate to have been loved by both his parents. Probably a lot of people he grew up with had fathers who split, and here he’s expressing how grateful he is that his dad stayed around.

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We take it to the water and yo' ship'll get sunk Bubba Sparxxx – Jimmy Mathis
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Allusion to the song “Take’m to the Water” from Bubba’s first LP.

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Come on, pana, we need more rhymers Big Pun – The Dream Shatterer
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Given pana, could mean specifically more Latino rappers or just more people who spit in general.

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86fadae17666626372c0a0c780c36108

198

4 years

pana is a Venezuelan word, Pun showing off his Multilingualism

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2744fa1a154cd7eb1c47f2c54654e723

122

6 years

Pana means friend

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They monopolizing news, your views
And the channel you choose, propaganda, visual cancer Nas – Sly Fox
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The network does not portray real views–just views that will advance their agenda.
NewsCorp is a huge conglomerate–it’s hard to go through life as an American without stumbling across one of their networks, which is why Nas views it as a monopoly.
The propaganda that Fox purveys is like cancer, in that once it takes hold it grows and expands until it overwhelms the system.

For more on this, see The 4th Branch.

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Default_avatar_100

502

9 years

also 90% of the media is owned by 6 corporations (Newscorp, Disney, GE, Viacomm, Time Warner, and CBS) They hold a monopoly over our sources of information and news

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Pimp the station, over-stimulation
Reception, deception, Comcast digital Satan Nas – Sly Fox
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Pimp the station: they’re really in it for the money.

Over-stimulation: TV is often accused of desensitizing people to violence and other bad behavior. Nas suggests that Fox is overwhelming us with propaganda until it starts to seem true.

Comcast is the largest cable provider in the US, and Nas compares them to Satan.

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cyclops Nas – Sly Fox
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Nas compares Fox News to a cyclops (a creature with one eye), because the network takes a one-sided view. Furthermore, the tv camera has one big lens like a cyclops’s eye. One of the drawbacks to having only one eye is a lack of depth perception.

Also a possible reference to the all-seeing eye, a symbol of the Freemasons. At any rate, eyes and the act of watching are crucial symbols in this song.

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3 years

This could also be a reference to CBS, which has a logo with one eye on it.

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Oh really? No rally needed, I'll tie you up Nas – Sly Fox
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While Nas did have a rally against Fox News, it happened a week after this album came out.
I think in the context of the verse, he’s saying that if O'Reilly really means all that shit he talks, they can handle it on a street level.

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Kids with similar skin color still don't wantcha Brother Ali – Tight Rope
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Even though he’s black, his culture is completely different from the African American children.

This line and the one following it take aim at the disturbing trend of negative sentiments in the African American community toward recent African immigrants, an enmity that often swings both ways.

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He has girlfriends but doesn't want a girlfriend Brother Ali – Tight Rope
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He’s gay. The straight women he calls his girlfriends are colloquially known as fag-hags.

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Tiffany
9 years

Fag-hags are women who want a token gay friend, and hang out with gay guys for the social cachet. A “girlfriend” to make a gay guy look hetro is a beard. This term is also used for the “boyfriend” of a lesbian.

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