The prison system in the United States is increasingly privatized meaning that housing and caring for inmates is contracted to corporations and private owners. This movement has resulted in a huge industry pulling in billions of dollars per year in subsidies from the government and profits garnished from prisoner wages.

The takeaway is that the industry needs more people in prisons so that it can make more money, and so it’s no coincidence that prison populations have only grown larger since the privatization of prisons started in the eighties.

D'oh! The guy he tried to sell to was an undercover police officer.

He was so sure that the kid was wearing that shirt to be ironic, too…

He’s moving half-ounces of cocaine. That’s a large amount for a dealer, but it shows that he’s not a kingpin — just selling hits to users. He’s not deep into the coke game, he’s just dabbling.

Just like Hova before him,, the drug game has made this kid grow up faster than a toddler pageant queen.

He’s become hard and has no respect for the people who take life as it comes. He only has respect for people who try to change their situation, even if it’s in a shady, dangerous way.

Subtle nod to Nas' classic line on Represent.

I wonder if the teach wrote her a note that said he might not pass beforehand…

Even as a small child, the kid knows something’s fucked up here that he’s not getting enough to eat.

Poverty and bad decisions are a cyclical thing. The child that Saigon tells about in this verse was screwed from the beginning because he had no real role models. His father isn’t around and wastes money, and his mother makes money but prioritizes cosmetic surgery over feeding her child.

Over 2 million American citizens are in prison, about 1 in 142 of the US population (by far the largest proportion in the world). The nation has been abandoned because so many of its people are behind bars.