What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
King Gheedorah, named after the three-headed alien monster from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, is one of Doom’s many alter egos, each of which has a different style and releases different albums.
The third rail was a wire rail that graffiti writers had to watch out for because its high voltage used to power metro lines that could be fatal. Likewise, in politics, an issue or topic considered too taboo or controversial is denoted “a third rail,” where touching it would be akin to political suicide.
As DOOM describes it in LSD Magazine #5 (1999), King Geedorah tends to rhyme things that have to do with 3s:
In that particular style I was using, I was the character King Ghidra, from Monster Island. He’s a three-headed dragon, so on one of his styles is the parables of three, like flippin verses in parables of three, and using things like three syllables.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
TSOL is the name of the album that this song caps off. In an interview with HipHopDX, Shad explains what TSOL means:
T.S.O.L. is “lost” backwards. I like the idea that when you’re lost, you don’t know when you’re lost a lot of times. If it’s backwards, when you look in the mirror, that’s when you know that it’s backwards. Sometimes, when you’re lost, it takes looking at something familiar, or some sort of realization.
However, it doesn’t necessarily have to stand for “lost” backwards. As Shad explained in another interview:
TSOL doesn’t stand for any one thing. I just liked the sound of it. It represents the insufficiency of language to express feeling and ideas, which is why we have art. It can stand for a number of things: “the struggle of love,” “truth shall overcome lies,” “lost” backward. It’s representative of the ambiguity of life in a way.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
This line can be taken 2 ways. Cole might be saying her personality is not equal to her physical appearance and that she lacks intelligence (mind). He could also be saying her personality does not match her appearance because it is assumed since she is pretty and “easy”, she is dumb, but she is not. She is smart, and the guy doesn’t like that.
It could be saying that she is great bodywise but isn’t fun to be around.