Wordplay

i've been all around the world i've been a new sensation but it doesn't really matter in this g-generation

---pretty obvious. our generation doesn't really care about international success, all that matters to us is that we like the song that's playing on the radio

the sophomore slump is an uphill battle and someone said that ain't my scene

---the sophomore slump refers to this being his second album, which is usually not as successful as an artist's first. and people tell him that he's not good enough to outdo his first album and he's already peaked

cause they need a new song like a new religion music for the television i can't do the long division someone do the math

---his record label was probably just telling him to crank out another hit cause he needs to for his career, but he's just like um i don't deal with the stats and the business side of this, someone else "do the math," so to speak, and deal with the business part for him, because he's strictly about the music

but the record label puts me on the shelf up in the freezer gotta find another way to live the life of leisure

---again, pretty straightforward. his record label isn't as interested in him if he's not gaining radio play, so instead of just settling with his old stuff, he needs to do something if he wants to continue with his "life of leisure"

so i drop my top mix and i mingle is everybody ready for the single?

---i don't really get this. i think the mix and mingle is a play on words, cause his style is a sort of white rapper thing (not as in eminem), so he mixes, but he's playing that off the expression to mix and mingle

and it goes ha la la la la now listen closely to the verse i lay ha la la la la la it's all about the wordplay

--- if you listen closely to the words of his songs, you'll see all his plays on words and puns and use of language

ha la la la love the wonderful thing it does because because i am the wizard of oohs and aahs and fa la las yeah the mr. a to z they say i'm all about the wordplay

---i love this part. it's a play on the wizard of oz. he's the wizard of aahs instead. and his name (mr. a-z) is another wordplay on his actual last name.

and it's time to get ill i've got your remedy for those who don't remember me well let me introduce you to my style

---he was best known for his song the remedy on his first album, so it's kind of a reference back to how people thought he couldn't top his initial success.

i try to keep a jumble and the lyrics never mumble when the music's making people tongue-tied

---his music style relies heavily on his fast-paced, hard-to-learn words

but the people write me off like i'm a one-hit wonder gotta find another way to keep from goin under

---similar to the "gotta find another way to live the life of leisure" part. starting this verse with reference to his song the remedy shows that he's not about to let that be his one (and only) hit

pull out the stops. got your attention. i guess it's time again for me to mention the wordplay

---he's gonna do anything he can to keep propelling his career forward. and i love the "got your attention" line. cause it comes right after a pause in the music, so if someone really wasn't paying attention to the words, they would still notice the stop in sound and pay attention, and its like he's saying "ha. now you're listening to me cause i did something to catch your attention. now i'll talk about my excellent wordplay again because you're listening."

there's a bridge across the stream of consciousness it always seems to be a-flowin but i don't know which my brain is goin

---great line. cause this is the bridge in the song. and stream of consciousness is a writing style that's like the monologue that goes on in the writer's head. so its a play on a bridge over a stream, as opposed to the bridge of the song being about how herky-jerky his inner monologue is and sometimes he doesn't know which way the "stream" of his brain is going

all the rhymin' and the timin' keeps the melodies inside me and they're comin til i'm runnin out of air

---he's always got lyrics coming out of his mouth cause he just never stops thinking of them

are you prepared to take a dive into the deep end of my head? are listening to a single word i've said?

---keeping up with the characterization of his brain as water(like a stream), he's asking if the listener can handle his crazy thoughts and language and word choices. is the listener really understanding the words he's using, or are they just taking the face value of it without delving any deeper?