“Ay yo, you heard the line, ‘Everybody plays the fool’?/ Well, I’ll be the exception to the rule/ The principal that hand-deliver lessons to the school.”
Referencing the classic song with the lyric “Everybody plays the fool, I’ll be an exception to the rule,” the rapper is challenging this assumption and suggesting he is willing to teach youth himself how to do the same. This line is relevant to many young black men who are misbehaving, lost, and give little attention to academics or work; Black Thought is emphasizing that he worked hard and is somewhat smart, so he is the ‘exception to the rule’ but he is willing to be the mentor and role model for these men personally.
“My homie told me to come with him to the masjid /Them brothers said, “Don’t go from written bars filled with rage/ To primetime television and your gilded cage/ Then forget it’s people in the world still enslaved.”
Black Thought converted to Five Percent Nation when he was young, so going to the mosque, he is given wise words that when achieving success, he should not give up his freedom for limitations of richness – with his band The Roots being the in-house band for Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night Show, for many it seemed that Black Thought sold out, despite few others having the talent or opportunity like him.
This is relatable to black men, as many seek to break out of the ‘hood’ through a music or sports career, but when achieving some level of fame, it is critical for them not to forget their past struggles in poverty and realize that so many of their peers are still bound the chains of not being to ever live another life.
“Yo, these weaklings is claiming they cutting up in the street/ N****, peace, you ain’t working with nothin’ but the police.”
In this verse, Black Thought is publicly calling out those who work with police to incarcerate others while pretending to be criminals themselves, undercover agents, and ‘snitches.’ This is relevant to black men who have experienced significant levels of violence and killings from police despite doing nothing criminal, so the idea that someone from the black community would go that far is the worst type of betrayal.
“I strike fear in the hearts of rap figures/ Who mind bare the stigmas of time, no black privilege.”
In this verse, Black Thought sends out a challenge to rap legends that he strives to be the best hip-hop artist of all time, as they have grown too old and there is no black privilege to protect them. This is relatable to black men because they, too, experienced the stigmas of time, meaning that racism and discrimination have not gone away over the decades.
Black privilege is viewed differently, being either the deserving of special treatment/reparations for mistreatment of previous generations or, as described by another hip-pop artist, the ability to create opportunity for themselves – but here, Black Thought suggests black men have neither.
“And then walk in the crib to the smell of crack cooking/ She was introduced to that substance abuse/ On some of the strongest drugs that the government produced.”
Here, Black thought talks about the raging drug epidemic in Black communities, where even the hard-working, honest folk like his mother who tried to make it through are exposed and eventually destroy their lives. This directly impacts black men, as they are the demographic group most likely to use drugs, die from an overdose, be incarcerated for drugs, or be involved in the criminal elements of the drug trade, most usually by far more involved than whites or Hispanics.