| Nas – The World Is Yours Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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@[shegwin:44013] good analysis but it’s a little deeper I think. This song is true master class to start and you could write a book about the breakdown of these bars so I’ll break a couple parts down for now and if you guys want me to do more let me know! First one coming from the third verse: “and I’m amped up, they locked the champ up, even my brains in handcuffs. Headed for Indiana stabbing women like the phantom” This line is a reference to Mike Tyson who is the “champ” who was convicted of rape in Indiana 1991. When he says “heading for Indiana stabbing women like the phantom” he’s essentially saying that Mike Tyson “the champ” was not guilty and using “stabbing” as a slang term for sexual penetration as opposed to literal stabbing with a knife. The “phantom” is a reference to a ghostly figure or something that is not apart of reality. Hence, if a ghost raped her and ghosts are not real the she wasn’t actually raped. Meaning that the victim’s story was fabricated. The line “even my brains in handcuffs” is eluding to the truth being restrained from the court proceedings, resulting in a wrongful conviction of Tyson and playing into the next line that I described above. This entire song also has a religious overtone to it that is not made exceedingly obvious. Along with the initial meaning of his bars they also present subtle double entendres of recurring motifs of Jesus and the Devil appearing throughout by way of metaphor. For example the flow from verse 2: “Dwelling in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled Or caught by the devil's lasso, shit is a hassle There's no days, for broke days we sell it, smoke pays While all the old folks pray to Jesus, soaking their sins in trays Of holy water, odds against Nas are slaughter Thinking a word best describing my life to name my daughter My strength, my son, the star, will be my resurrection Born in correction, all the wrong shit I did, he'll lead a right direction” The “rotten apple” is a reference to growing up in the Queens projects. The temptation to turn to gang life or drug dealing as a way to get out is the path of Satan referenced by the “devil’s lasso”. Though the path may seem alluring as “there’s no days for broke days, we sell it, smoke pays” referring to easy money from selling crack. It is ultimately a “hassle” and not the right path to take. The next bar talks about Jesus offering a different path that the wiser “old folks” have taken and are “soaking their sins in trays of holy water”. Here the “old folks” are they key figures as this verse starts with “To ill Will god bless your life” referring to his childhood friend who was killed due to choosing the wrong path. The “old folks” were able to live a long life and grow old unlike his young friend that unfortunately lost his life, the difference was the paths they took. Will caught by the devil, the old folks pray to Jesus. The next line “odds against Nas are slaughter” refers to his initial journey down the devil’s path and the astronomical odds he had to overcome to stay alive and be able to change. The next line references his daughter who was born in 1994 the same year the song came out. “Thinking a word best describing my life to name my daughter” and he named her Destiny. Hence, the only way Nas believes he overcame the odds against him was it being his destiny to survive until he could chose a different path which is the next line. “My strength, my son, the star, will be my resurrection” Nas’s son was not born until 2009 so the bar is not referencing his literal son. Instead Nas uses this line as if God was talking through him about Jesus. Saying his son(Jesus) is now what gives Nas strength and offers forgiveness of his past sins through the resurrection after the crucifixion where he died for the sins of the world. This leads into the next line “Born in correction” that Jesus was born to correct the sins of Gods people, also tying back to the old folks “soaking their sins in trays of holy water” as Jesus allows for them to be able to shed their sins and wash them away. The next lines “All the wrong shit I did, He’ll lead a right direction” is Nas referencing his initial decision to go down the wrong path but now has chosen the right path and follows Jesus away from the “devil’s lasso” as he leads the “right direction”. The last one I’ll do is from the 1st verse: “The thief's theme, play me at night, they won't act right The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe The mind activation, react like I'm facin' time like Pappy Mason, with pens I'm embracin'” The initial line here refers to the “thief’s theme” which is a cleverly disguised double entendre. The first meaning being that Nas is a true emcee and that listening to his music will cause people to go berserk “play me at night, they won’t act right”. The people are so infatuated with his talent that they can’t help but go nuts when he’s on the mic. However the “thief” is another reference to the devil and playing the “devil’s theme” is as if satan is talking you into committing crimes. Kind of like the devil on the shoulder cartoon. The next bar “the fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe” is a reference to addiction. The fiend refers to Nas as an addict of hip-hop music, equating it to his “crack”. Much like a crack addict is “stuck” in the cycle of addiction from the high-withdrawal-relapse, and being unable to stop their downfall. The “fiend” is also yet another reference to Satan as the behind the scenes orchestrator of addiction, the party that causes addicts to be “stuck”. Therefore the “fiend” can refer to 3 separate characters in the single bar: Nas himself, a person caught in a pharmacologic addiction, or the Devil who imparts the illness upon the addict. The final line: “The mind activation, react like I'm facin' time like, Pappy Mason, with pens I'm embracin'” starts with another double entendre “the mind activation” first referencing the central nervous system stimulatory affects of the aforementioned “crack pipe” via its agonistic affects on the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward pathway and increased synaptic availability of norepinephrine. Essentially the “mind” becomes activated by inhalation of crack cocaine. Secondly, the “mind activation” also ties into the latter portion of the bar “react like I’m facing time like Pappy Mason with pens I’m embracin’”. Here Nas references a drug trafficker from Jamaica, Queens who killed/ordered the killing of a NYPD police officer and was sentenced to life in prison. The main defense during the trial was questions regarding Mason’s mental competency so when Nas raps “react like I’m facing time like Pappy Mason” he specifically is referencing the free flowing behavior and thoughts of a person facing Life without who is attempting to get a diminished sentence by acting insane or mentally unable to appreciate his actions. Acting without engaging the frontal lobes and not thinking things through. This ties back to the the “mind activation” reference of crack cocaine as a person under the influence of crack often acts free flowing and insane without thinking things through. So both Mason and the addict are not allotting any cognitive energy to modify their behavior resulting in psychotic behavior whether chemically induced or by the impending criminal sentence. Hence, the last part of the bar “with pens I’m embracin” is a flex to Nas’ ability to grab the pen and write his raps without having to exert any brain power to do so, it comes naturally |
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