He’s depressed about his break-up and can’t move past it. She’s now the only person he can think about and people are concerned about his well being, since they don’t understand his feelings.

Possible Interpretations:

• He may be referencing how his ex broke up wiht him by saying that it wasn’t working out.

• Perhaps his girlfriend broke up with him because she thought that his aspirations to be a famous rapper were unrealistic, so now he’s doubting his own capabilities. he shouldn’t though, since he does have a song with over 800,000 views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr-m-_z23X8

Cassidy knows that it would be easier for him to be a player and go out on one night stands like the majority of other boys; but he can’t, for he is a man and only enters relationships for love. Because of this, he gets hurt more than the boys do, since he takes the break-ups harder.

Double Entendre:

• Grown men are stereotypically supposed to be tough and emotionless, so why is he crying over his ex?

• Grown men are supposed to have women to pleasure them, so why is he at home masturbating?

His use of the phrase grown men juxtaposes his use of boys in earlier in the verse. Cassidy suggests that boys treat women badly and don’t care about break-ups. Men, however, take them to heart.

Unlike the majority of people who say that they want change in the world, Mr. Bey isn’t just sitting around, watching the world go to pieces and complaining. He knows that just sitting around complaining won’t change anything, so he’s rapping to fight and spread aware of government corruption, prejudice, and to bring his family and all other black people out of the ghetto and into better lives of happiness and prosperity. As Bob Marley said best in “Get Up, Stand Up”:

Chucky D is driving at Public Enemy’s rival, N.W.A. Throughout the song, he references the song F* the Police and gangster rap generally. This line is a reference to Ice Cube’s line “I’m bad for your health”, from his song Check Yo'self. Chuck want’s to rid Hip Hop of “crime rhymes” which rappers such as Ice Cube regularly drop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bueFTrwHFEs

Budden has done a horrible crime and now he has inner demons constantly following him and reminding him of what he’s done, hence why he’s in jail with shackles and gloves. Budden is trying to fight and ignore these demons, but he can’t, for the only way to stop them is for him to acknowledge his crime and be truly sorry for it. Budden refuses to die with this crime on his conscious and vows to achieve inner peace.

Also, Budden is both in physical jail (hence the shackles and gloves that he wears) because of the crime he has committed and is thus treated like a slave and he is also in a mental jail, for he is a slave to the inner demons which torment him and it seems like there’s no way to escape them.

POSSIBLE INSPIRATION-Playing off of the Judaic idea of Purgatory in a way, for a lot of people believe that Purgatory is a place of mental pain and anguish and the only way to escape it is for you to purge your body of your sins, come to terms with your sins and confess them, and be truly sorry for what you’ve done. This relates to the internal prison that Budden is in right now.