“The War of the Roses” is:

1. The British dynastic civil war memorialized in Shakespeare’s Histories; Henry Tudor ascended to the English Throne after the War of the Roses and he had a lot of problems with his wives – he even had to cut Anne Boleyn – just as Malice is having with this girl

2. A novel by Warren Adler who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation directed by Danny Devito. It is about a wealthy couple, the Roses, who share two children, a dog and a love for expensive objects (they meet at an antiques auction). Their ostensibly perfect marriage is actually fraught with resentment and eventually descends into violent conflict

Malice is comparing his relationship to the Roses' relationship: She says she loves him but he doesn’t believe her; there is a web of mistrust because she knows so much of his drug info and could go to the police (the “Law”)

He concludes that his love life is a consequence of his lifestyle (hence the inversion “the roses of war”)

“Number men” were the gambling entrepreneurs who would run the “numbers game”, a sort of underground lottery that was very popular, notably during the Harlem Renaissance

People in the streets are addicted to gambling, just as they are addicted to listening to Nas' music

The DBS – Aston Martin’s most baller model – doesn’t come in automatic, so even though it’s a nice car, he’s not interested

(Birdman likes to have a free hand while driving to give thigh massage, wave to friends, and – most importantly – play with his iPhone)

Clever pun here with scratch: scratch-off lottery tickets make you rich (if you win). “Scratching” is also synonymous with “hustling”

However, it also means “from scratch” as in “making something from scratch”. “Jr.” (Lil Wayne) – who Birdman is claiming to have “scratched”, i.e. made from scratch – became more successful than Birdman ever was. Weezy is ultimately Birdman’s greatest venture

There was a perception for a while that Kanye usually got outshone when he was on a track with another rapper. And Lil Wayne was killing most of his collaborations at the time this song came out. So Kanye knows that he had to bring the heat for this verse or risk getting shown up once again. “Finna” is short for “fixing to”; which basically just means “going to”.

Should also be noted that Kanye and Wayne have performed together 7 times (this song, Barry Bonds, See You In My Nightmares, Maybach Music II, Swagga Like Us, Forever and the All Of The Lights (Remix). And discounting one song which Kanye wasn’t actually on (the remix to his All of the Lights), Kanye has held his own against Wayne every time. It’s also interesting to note that this is the only time Wayne features Kanye, as opposed to the other way around or them both featuring with someone else.