Here, El-P refers to the pain and hardships that this soldier has experienced. The powers-that-be use this pain as currency; an impetus to go and wreak havoc on the lives of others' thus ironically causing the victims to endure suffering in the same ways the soldiers themselves.

The entire song enforces the idea of positivity & optimism in the face of negativity & hatred. Kendrick, being a good kid from a m.A.A.d city, had to deal with criticism once he became famous and left the hood.

In the same sense people spend their whole lives chasing the approval of others because they are criticized on a daily basis. You can either stand proud and be yourself or you can hide who you really are just to be popular.

This isn’t the first time Kendrick has referenced being paranoid. In “We Up” Kendrick says:

I made my first million fucking dollars
Bought a Bible, oh yeah, God got me
Made my second million dollars, bought a chopper and a binocular
I’m scared, this shit don’t happen to everybody

El-P is claiming that all life, between his birth and his death is a joke. The only point in his life is to make sure that he destroys these other rappers.

By releasing this aggressive song as the first single off Run The Jewels 2, El-P and Killer Mike have made their agenda pretty clear: to kill and destroy all the weak rappers in the game.

Joell’s lyrics revolve primarily around street-hardened, gritty tales from the hood. This is in sharp contrast with Drake’s more emotional lyrics, typically revolving around women and relationships, which gives him a huge female fanbase. As such, Joell and Drake’s fanbases don’t really overlap.

Despite this, Joell is able to have sexual relations with females that like to portray themselves as sensitive Drake fans but are willing to get crazy.

There are three meanings in these lines:

• Joell’s verse is the first on the intro track of the House Rules mixtape, i.e. the beginning of the tape

• Yellow tape is used to mark a crime scene, so Joell is indicating that he is about to lyrically slaughter the rappers that he finds disappointing.

• To be yellow-bellied usually conveys cowardice. Those who aren’t brave enough to face Joell can go ahead and join the legions of similarly scared rappers; the characteristics of whom Joell describes in the following lines after.

Bragging of the way his flow changes while freestyling, while still spitting hard lyrics, and how much the listeners love that.
Case in point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0KHdjeCqM

K.R.I.T. is showing that money isn’t an issue with his choice of daily drinks

Referring to Ross’s August 2012 Rolling Stone cover, which was a flamboyant display of Rozay excess.