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Lu fought Atlantic Records to release LASERS, and was working for them.

Also, the working class do all the work and create all the wealth in society, yet the ruling class keep the profits to themselves and leave the workers with just enough to survive, continue working and reproduce the next generation of workers.

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When Lupe gains confidence in a verse, he spits with passion and certainty, having no doubt whatsoever.

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A few lines before this, Lupe references his first studio album, Food & Liquor. That was #1 (his first) and this is now his 4th studio album.

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A metaphor comparing someone from the hood to a rose. They blossomed from the bottom AKA Chicago, and rose up to a dozen roses. Additionally, this could be a reference to Tupac’s “A Rose that Grew from Concrete”.

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Dot spits over the beat from “Dumb It Down” by Lupe Fiasco.

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Kendrick freestyles over The Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Who Shot Ya?” on the Funkmaster Flex Show. This is the second time he has murdered this beat, first doing it (with a very Weezy-esque flow) on his mixtape, Training Day. The 2nd Verse of this freestyle comes from Dot’s verse in “West Coast Wu-Tang,” off of his C4 Mixtape.

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“4-fever” refers to a .45 caliber pistol (“four fiver”) and “9 millimeter” to a handgun chambered in 9mm Luger, the two most popular handgun calibers.

9mm handgun:

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This is a reference to 2Pac’s song “I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto”, who got the same line from Spice 1 and his song “Welcome to the Ghetto”.

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Freeway Rick was a notorious drug kingpin who is serving life. He is popular in rap culture. This is a more direct reference to the fact that Rick Ross used Freeway Rick’s name. So, would Rick Rock use Freeway’s name if Freeway was never a drug kingpin and had been so famous?

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good kid, m.A.A.d city is the first major label album by Kendrick Lamar, released on October 22, 2012 through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.

Subtitled “A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar,” this concept album depicts a day in the life of a 17-year-old Lamar as he rides around Compton in his Momma’s (Paula Oliver) minivan. Click here to view an in-depth breakdown of the story.

Kendrick revealed the meaning of the title in an interview with L.A. Leakers, saying:

It’s two, two meanings. The first is ‘my angry adolescence divided,’ and the basic standout meaning is ‘my angel’s on angel dust.’ That’s the reason why I don’t smoke,” he said. “That was me. I got laced. The reason I don’t smoke, and it’s in the album. It’s in the story. It was just me getting my hands on the wrong thing at the wrong time, being oblivious to it.

Kendrick summed up his thoughts on the album during an interview with Rap Genius.

The first 12 tracks make up the standard edition of the album, and there are a variety of different deluxe editions including various bonus tracks. The album was re-released on March 19, 2013 with a bonus remix of “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” featuring JAY-Z.

GKMC was met with universal acclaim by music critics. Some of the reviews include the following:
- Dead End Hip Hop: Very Positive
- The Needle Drop: 9/10
- Pitchfork: 9.5/10
- XXL: 5/5
- HipHopDX: 4.5/5

On April 3rd, 2012, Kendrick released the lead single for the album, “The Recipe”.

On July 31st, 2012, he released the second single, “Swimming Pools (Drank)”.

On August 2nd, 2012, Kendrick commented on the album’s sound, saying:

I couldn’t tell you what type of sound or where I’ma be in the next five years as far as music. It’s a big difference from the next project compared to the last. And that’s what happened with this album. Going back to the neighbourhood and going to different spots, chilling with my homeboys, put me back in that same space where we used to be, bringing back them thoughts, reminiscing how I was feeling. I got myself right back in that mode and I got inspired by that. So this album won’t sound like Section.80. Completely nothing like it.

On August 15th, 2012, Lady Gaga tweeted that she was a feature on the album, on a song called “Partynauseous”. However, soon after, on August 23rd she tweeted, saying the song was delayed. Eventually, the song was completely cancelled. In an interview with Complex, Kendrick said:

Lady GaGa was going to be on the song. We had a date, but we had to meet the deadline for the pre-order date. That’s just the business side coming through and messing things up. But you know it’s God’s plan. I’m not really too tight about it because I know we have something special.

The song became the album’s second track, titled “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”. On November 8th, Lady Gaga decided to release the version of the song featuring her. Regarding this, in an interview with XXL, Kendrick said:

I didn’t even know she was gonna put that out. That was a surprise. I thought she was gonna hold that in the can. I was cool with it. It showed people we wasn’t playin’ with it; we was actually in the studio vibing out when we recorded. For her to put it out even undone, that says a lot. That says she’s confident not only about her work, but my work.

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