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I can't take the smell, can't take the noise
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
'Cause a man with a tow truck repossessed my car Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (Ft. Duke Bootee & Grandmaster Melle Mel) – The Message
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These lines convey a claustrophobic image to the listener with their shocking imagery. The narrator is really living in squalor. His apartment is dirty, smelly, and infested with vermin; his neighbors are noisy and don’t care about keeping the place nice; there’s violent drug crime all around.

The narrator is far from content with his situation, and aims to better himself. However, lack of money holds him back – his car his been repossessed, and he doesn’t have a deposit for a new apartment. He is a prisoner of poverty.

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6

1 year

This verse conveys the narrator’s dilemma living in this particular neighborhood. While he expresses his discontent with the various conditions of his environment, from the presence of rats and roaches in his room, to junkies in the alley, he cannot seem to escape from his impoverished life.

His negative perception of his neighborhood might actually be contributing to his diminishing mental health, as displayed in the chorus.
Research done by Aneshensel et al.1996 and Snedker et al. 2012 show that adolescents and young adults perceived neighborhood hazards and stressors are associated with a decrease in mental health.

As for the narrator, perception of “Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat” as dangerous could indicate poorer mental health

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Vnuo5yddhyt

155

3 years

Second section next to the hyphen “his car has been repossessed” has is misspelled.

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Default_avatar_100

-3

5 years

Poverty is a state of mind love yourself and know that you were always the keys to anything you want

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5 years

Love you

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Default_avatar_100

-3

5 years

No ivan love you

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33fa74dd9ecb89a9f4af6e9a39cf7706

116

5 years

Showing and mentioning that many people perceives others as wanting to be in this situation and a sign of laziness but it is more of like this is a place that he is stuck in and has a hard time leaving. Even though he really wants to leave he is stuck and can’t.

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I got 99 problems and they all bitches
Wish I was Jigga man, carefree livin'
But I'm not Shawn or Martin Louis
I'm that Cleveland nigga rollin' with them Brooklyn boys Kid Cudi – Soundtrack 2 My Life
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This is a clear reference to Jay Z’s “99 Problems” hook. The obvious meaning is that all Cudi’s problems are with women. Alternatively, it could be understood that all his problems are really bad ones.

Naturally, Cudi wishes that he was already a successful rapper like Jay or Kanye West, who asked to be called “Martin Louis King Jr.” in 2009. At the time this song was written, he wasn’t massive like those two – but he had collaborated with them both.

Cudi grew up in Cleveland, but moved to New York in the mid 2000’s to further his music career. Jay Z is famously from Brooklyn.

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Neon King Kong standing on my back Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (Ft. Duke Bootee & Grandmaster Melle Mel) – The Message
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King Kong famously climbed the Empire State Building, one of New York’s most famous landmarks.

Here, he’s used as a metaphor. All the pressures of New York life are on dude’s shoulders.

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698

2 years

In the 1980s culture, especially in movies of the era such as 1982’s ‘Blade Runner’, neon lights was associated with the deadening nihilism of fast-paced, consumeristic, dehumanizing city life. Neon King Kong is two kinds of monster: The more traditional horrors of oppression through more directly forceful methods, such as being physically pushed down by another person or animal such as King Kong, and the more contemporary kinds of urban pain and desparation brought about by inner city life, the 1980s drug pandemic, and the all-consuming economic forces of Reaganomics.

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de
8 years

lol

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Dd253195f4b070433507489c5c304400

101

8 years

Neon king kong is a monkey on his back. The neon refers to the city.

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Sarah Martinez
9 years

The neon king kong stands for the white police always being on his back because he’s an African American. The term neon means someone brightly colored.

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Screams from the haters got a nice ring to it
I guess every superhero need his theme music Kanye West – POWER
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Insults are music to Kanye’s ears. He’s extremely self-confident, so he doesn’t care for dissenting opinions – he knows his “haters” are wrong. In a twisted way, it’s good to know that they are irate, because it proves that he’s doing really well.

Ye certainly hasn’t shyed away from controversy, leading to the gain of many haters. It’s also given him plenty of practice at being apathetic towards criticism. After Obama called him “a jackass” in the wake of the Taylor Swift incident, Kanye responded bullishly:

“I don’t care if somebody the President or not. I care about thoughts, and how you helpin' people, and what you bring to the world. My music brings joy to people. What I create brings joy to people, and I’m about people. Me, I’m not about me. I’m about, ‘I got an idea that people gonna like.’”

Kanye refers back to his “theme music” on his later song “Black Skinhead”.

This line is also stated in the film “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”:

🎃

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Show 'em how to move in a room full of vultures
Industry shady, it need to be taken over JAY-Z – Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
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Throughout his career, Jay has criticized the establishment of the music industry. In ‘96, he called for black-owned record labels; in 2015 he launched Tidal to compete with Spotify. That’s consistent with metaphorically comparing the music industry to vultures – disgusting scavengers, eating the flesh of struggling artists. Jay is trying to show other artists how to handle the corporate world – by dominating it.

Note the similarity to a Q-Tip line from “Check The Rhime” by A Tribe Called Quest:

Industry rule number four thousand and eighty
Record company people are shady

Although this line is often interpreted as a shot at Eminem, also known as Slim Shady, this is unlikely. Eminem featured on “Renegade”, so it’s unlikely Jay had beef with him. “Shady” is just a part of his lexicon.

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8d462a45b637f2155440a43035cb8bf5

2,173

7 years

The last line could also be referring to his Nas/Prodigy diss track “Takeover”, which is the previous song on the album

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