A feminine bikini made out of Barbasol would be a shaved/bare bikini area or Brazilian (waxed).

First off, all of these annotations are amazing and I add this to build upon things they’ve each touched upon.

I think one part of this rhyme scheme is making a devotion to the women of black diaspora in Central and South America (Brazil specifically) as an opposed to the goldie-lox thots of previous passages.

Lupe starts the imagery with the line “just like a Stacy Dash waterfall.” As is previously stated Dash is not a stranger to a Lupe’s verse. Also, Dash is probably meant as an example of black diaspora femininity being of (at least partly) Bajan descent.

Continuing the rythme-scheme Dash is (or the concept of her) “more torturing than a waterboarding Barbie doll.” The choice of waterboarding immediately conjures Guantanomo Bay (Cuba again being apart of the black diaspora) as it is the location of the US’s unofficial prison camp where the torturous act of waterboarding has been reported—not to mention Guantanamo actually has the meaning “land between the rivers” (it’s a stretch, I know). It’s really the next line about “rivers of women” and Brazilian Carnival making it seem less likely a coincidence.

The real reason why I’m here is for the line “swimming in feminine bikinis made out of Barbasol,” as I can’t ignore the nod to the legendary Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass album Whipped Cream & Other Delights which features a dark-haired model posing covered only in shaving cream. Connect this to the fact that Herb Alpert (one-half the founder of A&M Records) originally signed the Sergio Mendes Brasil ‘66 and it makes a full circuit of mental hopscotch.

I know it’s all a mouthful, but I’m convinced that this was all taken into account like many of the stream of consciousness rhyming tactics Lupe is fond of using.

It’s also a double entendre since Amore means love in French. It’s meant to signify how we torture ourselves for the people we love or attention we crave via beauty standards

This should be “a more torture rain than water boarding Barbie Doll”, not more torturing. Rain (falling water) both in reference to the falling water used to waterboard Barbie and from the Stacey Dash waterfall

This should be a more torture rain, not more torturing. Rain (falling water) both in reference to the falling water used to waterboard Barbie and from the Stacey Dash waterfall

Carnival is held in Rio de Janeiro. Rio means river is English. “river of women, like a Brazilian Carnival” It’s probably just coincidence this album was released in January…which in Portuguese is Janeiro……

A shaved/waxed bikini area is known as a Brazilian. shaving cream as a bikini refers to getting a Brazilian.

Could also be shots at her beauty but having been slammed for comments on her being Republican. Shame she has such beauty but how does she use it?

The Feminine bikinis are made of a utility used by men…i.e. they are made for men by men…contrast of feminine interest and male domination of those interests…calls it like i hears it

This line is referring to what Lupe’s been talking about in the last few lines… He’s saying that he’s using the homophone reign as in “Queens that reign over made man.”

He refers to women as Queens instead of being strippers that have money “rain” on them. The made men are the men who go to these strip clubs and live a lavish lifestyle in a hood-type sense and those men who see women objectively.

Lupe wants to see the women rise above these made men.

Also refers to women not reining by being slaves but by being seen as equals.

The sleigh man line is a double entendre. He says it like “Suleiman” as in Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest REIGNing ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

Both the band and the queen of England are British (duh.) A nice little connection is drawn, making yet another detail in this whole mural he is painting.

Guiding could also be Gaiden, meaning side story, from Ninja Gaiden.

Raiden is also a character from Mortal Kombat. I don’t think that Raiden was around when Lupe was a child.

“Keno” may be in reference to the character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, played by Ernie Reyes, Jr. In the movie, Keno is a pizza man and martial artist who befriends the turtles, and ultimately goes undercover for the turtles in order to infiltrate the ninja Foot Clan.

the cards goes back to the previous lines of games you play in bars. Playing darts,pool, and card games (blackjack,poker,spades etc..)

I also read this as he’s the one holding the cards, so he essentially “runs”, or controls the gamut/gambit, because he is the dealer (“throwing cards”). The dealer in a card game is inadvertently deciding the fate of all who play. He controls, or at least possesses, the cards, therefore he controls the wide range of possibilities – gamut – and the gambit, which is defined as a calculated move that is inherently risky but used to gain an advantage. Lupe controls the ability to make a gambit, because he runs the entire game in the first place.

Lupe has been known to use gambit for gamut – he’s definitely saying that he runs the gamut, too.

I think lupe is referring to the the galileo theory that people are ignorant and that’s what happened to Tony Montana he fell from his balcony and landed in the pool together with his money at the same time. Just like galileos experiment.

symbolic*

fountain of youth in a mountain of powder represents Tony’s ascension to a kingpin of sorts
resulting of this he became more ambitious/power hungry as a result. take into consideration that he eventually ended up using his marketed product(I.e. cocaine mountain of powder) which led to him feeling invincible (fountain of youth will be explained further) up until his death (truth in the fountain drowning in power)
His ambitious and larger than life nature led to his downfall
the fountain of youth is both a representation and means to an end as in this case it’s part of what “kills” Tony drowning in power is solid as it put him in that place . I.e his ambition destroyed him and he didn’t realize it until it was too late and he was dead being so focused on gaining more that he didn’t see it coming

Also a reference to the song World Runners on These Days by Ab Soul which Lupe featured on, now that Ab Soul is on Lupe’s song

It sounds to me that he says Surrounded by doubters as in Tony was surrounded by those who doubt him perhaps this led to what he became.

yeah, I think he’s saying the world is in fact ours. Tony sold himself short, essentially allowing himself to be satisfied and reinvigorated by mountains of cocaine, money, and the power that came with them, when there was a whole world out there just waiting to be conquered. I mean, he could’ve done what he did to gain his status in the drug game to gain that status amongst humanity in general.

I think that Lupe saying “only to find the truth in the fountain” means that the world IS yours, which would also make sense with the first line about being ignorant to it.

Hey @CT123, could you give me a little more. Who’s the quote from?

He actually says “the gall” not “the God”. Essentially “ignorance that the world isn’t ours, the gall of this”

Backstroke in my pool of thought seems to be referring to meditation.
Backstroke is a bit more relaxed style, as one would be while meditating.
Backstroking isn’t the ideal swim style to navigate or to get to a specific location. While mediating, you’re not trying to get to the bottom of something or come to a solution. While meditating, one isn’t fully engaged in or by thoughts. During meditation, you may encounter some unwanted or negative thoughts (sharks) but you pay them no mind while engaged in meditation.