Applying to situations in my own life, I see it as a retort to those people who want to tell you how and what to do, but don't want to do the work themselves. So you tell them "either step up or step back". Also the writer is saying however he does it, he doesn't abandon his moral code ("I don't write no bad checks, I have no wish to repent") which whoever he's addressing the song to, may want him to. It could be a business deal he's being advised on: "Maybe I'll get much more than I need or much less than I should own", but he's not going to back down.
Applying to situations in my own life, I see it as a retort to those people who want to tell you how and what to do, but don't want to do the work themselves. So you tell them "either step up or step back". Also the writer is saying however he does it, he doesn't abandon his moral code ("I don't write no bad checks, I have no wish to repent") which whoever he's addressing the song to, may want him to. It could be a business deal he's being advised on: "Maybe I'll get much more than I need or much less than I should own", but he's not going to back down.