u/3carousel_11

So this post got inspired by a discussion in the "occult in rap music" post that I had with Otherwise Balanced. This post ain't gonna be decoding anything per se, it's more of a post to guide you on how to get started with decoding yourself by organizing things into separate layers.

The majority of the popular music, not just rap, but other genres like pop, afrobeats, RnB, etc. uses encoding in order to communicate a ton of information under the surface. There's various layers to this, which I've broken down in the following chart:

https://preview.redd.it/3runtbd0md2h1.png?width=1412&format=png&auto=webp&s=c0c0286359e1647904477227248b891c8faf85e9

For those who can't see the pic:

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1. CASUAL AUDIENCE LAYER

What the common listener hears/is told to hear. Usually simple explanations like “The song is just for fun”, “I wasn’t talking about anyone when I wrote that”, etc.

Obviously we won't be listing any songs like that here, although any of the times that J. Cole has pretended he loves everyone or Wayne has pretended he can't remember what he himself wrote might be good to cite here.

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2. iLLUMINATi/INDUSTRY LAYER

This layer is lyrics that purposely reference the illuminati, either in a positive or negative context. Usually references occult practices, aliens, etc. Also references programming. Might also be referring to label drama or industry drama.

This includes songs like the following:

Travis Scott - CAROUSEL (Travis excels at making songs abt this subject imo)

Drake - Headlines

Eminem ft. Kendrick Lamar - Love Game

Melanie Martinez - Cry Baby (the single)

Seyi Vibez ft. Zlatan - Professor Peller

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3. SUBLIMINAL DISS LAYER

These are where subliminal disses at other rappers exist. They involve gang code, industry code, and references only the combatants understand. Occasionally fans find them and get called crazy for assuming A would ever diss B (but A really wants to see B dead).

This includes songs like the following:

Eminem - The Ringer (going at Wayne and Drake)

Lil Wayne - A Milli (going at Eminem)

Jay-Z - 99 Problems (going at Nas)

Drake - 6God (going at Lil Wayne)

J. Cole - Everybody Dies (going at Lil Wayne)

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4. MATRIX/GAMES/ARGs/ANIME REFERENCES

Nearly all popular music nowadays is based off concepts from The Matrix series. This layer includes direct references to The Matrix, red and blue, pills/molly, game references (Atari, PS, Street Fighter, Minecraft, Tetris), and anime references (Chainsaw Man, High Rise Invasion, Ghost in the Shell).

This includes songs like the following:

Olamide - Metaverse

Melanie Martinez - Dollhouse

Travis Scott - Blue Pill

Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE

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This will probably help out with some of the stuff everyone's been wondering abt in regards to layers and shit. There's a ton of stuff out there that I could get into in another post, but this one's mainly to get ppl organized a lil bit more mentally and thinking abt shit.

A caveat here with these layers is sometimes, with artists like Kendrick and Eminem especially, you'll get multiple layers blended into the same song. Kendrick for example can discuss three/four subjects at once and blend it all into one line.

The tracks are usually written by ghostwriters sourced from underground rappers in colleges/high schools, especially those who've got proficiency in reading and writing. Some artists though, such as Kendrick and Em again, will write their own shit, and only get occasional advice on how to word smth better.

Plus, don't just be looking for codes and whatnot in mainstream artists. A lotta underground rappers will be on their own tracks complaining abt what they've seen going on, but doing it in code. Like Dax for instance, probably the most hated rapper ever, but his ghostwriters give him highly encoded anti-illuminati lyrics.

Will be available later on to answer questions in the comments.

Aight, so I ended up staying up late listening to the three pack of Drake albums checking mainly for subs n shit. There were a lot, we're pretty much back to normal ig. The albums were meh, MVs probably more interesting.

Now, one of the things this sub's failed in is looking at Travis Scott's role in this shit. And I think this is probably on purpose on the part of Travis Scott and a couple other artists. I'mma lay it out for you.

Three of Travis Scott's albums, Days Before Rodeo, Rodeo, and Birds in a Cage etc., are heavily TDE coded. You go through the lyrics and MVs for them albums, then go and compare to SZA or Kendrick albums from that era, and you'll see what I mean. Hell, that kid got features from like everyone in TDE practically.

At some point, idk when exactly, sometime after "Birds in the Trap" came out, Travis had a falling out with Drake. There's a couple tracks on "Huncho Jack" where Travis took shots at him, specifically on these lines off of "Best Man":

>Told 'em we gon' kill our opponents
Just because they never loved us, no
You want me to look back when you left us? No
Niggas on the Nawf can't leave the bando
Stayed down in the trap, tryna free the North Pole
Most niggas out here beggin' please to get on
Oh, no, not my gang, yeah, you know we build strong

Travis then kinda backed off for the time being, most likely to do "Sicko Mode" and "Meltdown". You still had that unresolved tension though, and that manifested on Baby Keem's "durag activity". I ain't gonna dissect all of the verse for sake of time, but here's the gist::

>Your energy is triple six and mine is blessed
Thank God I put them crosses on before we met

This is being spoken to Drake, direct reference to Drake's track "Energy". "Thank God I put them crosses on before we met" - this is referring to his previous albums using TDE symbolism.

>Ain't seen your ass in 'bout two weeks, but how you doin'?
But this Bugatti cost me three, I ten-to-two it

Lil Wayne has a Bugatti as he says on his own track "Dedicate" when addressing Drake: "You bought a Bugatti so you could flex". This line will be explained in a sec.

>If it's beef, it's pedigree, my dogs gon' chew it

And then Travis finally declares that he is indeed dissing with this final line.

So returning back to the Bugatti and Wayne.

Wayne and Drake have had beef for years, that should be clear as the blue sky by now. In fact, the Lil Wayne subreddit is up this morning wondering why tf Wayne ain't on any tracks with Drake. Yk why? They're enemies. You don't invite your enemies to do verses for you. Anyways, moving on.

About...idk, three years before the Durag Activity verse, Lil Wayne dropped Tha Carter V. Two songs on there are worth noting, "Let It Fly" and "Mona Lisa (Kendrick's verse)".

On "Let It Fly", which is a Wayne diss at Drake, Travis rapped:

>I'm tryna run the game, it ain't no subbin' in

Referencing subliminal disses by "Subbing In". There's a reference to "Sicko Mode" and then we've got these lines:

>I got a driver for the Bent' to drive me 'round when I'm bent
I keep some pussy just to lick to help me out when I vent
She wanna hit that shit again, nah

The "Driver for the Bent'" is referring to Wayne. Wayne's "driving" (helping out) Trav cause Travis is bent over Drake. Usually lines like these mean the same as "keyless", when you hear rappers talking abt driving some shit that's keyless, it's referring to being part of something bigger they ain't controlling (Drake: Popstar - I ain't driving nothing that I gotta stick them keys in). But I digress.

Anyways, "I keep some pussy just to lick to help me out when I vent" - the pussy is Drake. Trav's basically saying that he just keeps Drake when he wants to go around talking shit and get hits - like he did on Sicko Mode/Meltdown.

BUT there's a caveat - "She wanna hit that shit again, nah" - He ain't gonna be letting Drake just do wtvr he wants, they'll do features together, but there ain't anymore favors being done.

Kendrick Lamar then name-dropped Travis on "Mona Lisa" albeit in a roundabout way nobody caught. Kendrick's verse is a triple, maybe quadruple entendre depending on how you look at it. But anyways, for now, I'm just gonna leave it at saying he's rapping abt rappers who have beef with Drake and took advantage of him:

>Never gave two fucks, jumped in the backseat
Woke up in the morning to "The Great Gatsby"

This is Drake who jumped in the backseat and woke up to the Great Gatsby. The line on the surface references being cheated on by your girl cause the girl in the novel cheated on the main character. But here's the thing. Who wrote "The Great Gatsby"? F. SCOTT Fitzgerald. You see where I'm coming from.

Shortly after the beef, Travis pulled an anti-Drake stunt again by hopping on DJ Mustard's "Parking Lot". Idk why nobody paid any attention to this track when it got dropped. Travis willingly hopped on a Mustard song after all the drama Mustard was involved in. Shoulda been a red flag for anybody. I could go a whole post breaking down this song, cause it's layered, but this line shoulda been a red flag:

>Five niggas, one gram, we split it twenty, damn

The "one gram" is Drake - Aubery Graham. "We split it twenty" - made Drake think he was in a 20v1. This track is Travis doing a victory lap on Drake's head. Shoulda been noted.

Now we come to the final two parts of this whole puzzle: the beef with Clipse. I am gonna say this now: The beef with Clipse is fake beef. Push more than likely barely thinks abt Travis, the real beef is with Drake and the powers that be.

According to Push, beef with Travis Scott started when Travis played them "Meltdown". From the GQ interview: "(Travis) played the song, but not [Drake’s verse].” And this caught Clipse by surprise.

However, if you go and look at the lyrics of Travis Scott's "Meltdown" verse, this is patently untrue unless everyone was half-asleep that day.

Lines like these:

>I know what's at stake, I'm screamin', "Free Jeffrey"
Connect collect calls right off of the celly
Gave her the blues, not talkin' 'bout belly
Don't keep it sincere, I go Makaveli

(Anti-industry code disguised as "Free Young Thug")

>I met these Texas boys and ran it up a couple, maybe
Swanging in the pickup truck, baby, fuck Mercedes
I'll fuck a nigga bitch but she can't have the baby

Remember, Drake hangs with the Texas boys - J Prince and them. "Fuck Mercedes" - Mercedes is code for peace. The song explicitly says "Fuck Peace". "I'll fuck a nigga bitch but she can't have the baby" - he's dissing again, saying he'll work with the opps but not let them profit off of it.

>Now I let the chains hang, you gotta tuck yours maybe (Tuck it, tuck it)

Remember, Drake got his YM chain snatched.

>Man, the club ain't been the same since we lost Mercedes 

"The club" is referencing the industry. "Lost Mercedes" - again, Mercedes is peace. Basically, "The industry ain't been the same since this beef started".

With such lines such as this in the verse, there is no way on Earth Clipse coulda heard only Travis's "Meltdown" verse and thought nothing was wrong. The song literally says "Fuck peace". There ain't no way they heard this and said "Oh yeah, fuck peace, yeah, nice song, yayyy". It is more likely that Drake is the one who didn't hear the rest of the song, NOT Clipse.

Therefore, the lines on "So Be It" are NOT for Travis. They are for Drake. An alternate explanation of these lines specifically:

>You cried in front of me, you died in front of me
Calabasas took your bitch and your pride in front of me
Her Utopia had moved right up the street
And her lip gloss was poppin', she ain't need you to eat

If "You" is Drake, then whatever Drake did at Calabasas, which he's constantly rapping abt, was shameful. "Her Utopia had moved right up the street / And her lip gloss was popping, she ain't need you to eat" - if "Her" is Drake, and Travis is "Utopia", then this line is saying "Travis left you and is still selling records, he don't need your help".

Therefore, the "So Be It" lines are NOT a diss, they are a shoutout. This explains why Travis barely responds on "Champaign and Vacay", simply saying smth abt "Pushing t-shirts". Ik Travis. Travis can write a lethal subliminal when he wants. T-shirt puns ain't his usual fare.

There are also a lot of shots on "Jackboys 2" regarding Drake, specifically "Kick Out (2nd verse)" and "Where Was You (Travis's verses)". "Where Was You" had Future and Carti on it for crying out loud. They might get broken down in another post, idk, but basically, Travis and Drake are not on good terms anymore and it's pretty obvious.

Of course, you'd expect Drake to eventually respond to this. And he did last night. The first big hint shoulda been 40 some songs without a single Travis Scott feature or shoutout. Then, there were a couple subliminal disses:

From "Shebang":

>She said she miss me, all caps
Gotta aim better than that
What's up with life? It's lit
But I know it get better than that

"She" is Travis. "She say she miss me" is referring to "Where Was You" - "All Caps" - capping being slang for "lying". Therefore: "She say she miss me, all caps" - is saying "Travis is lying about missing me on "Where Was You"".

"Gotta aim better than that" - confirming he took the song as it was supposed to be taken, as a subliminal diss.

Now: "What's up with life? It's lit / But I know it get better than that" - Travis Scott's ad-lib, when he's rapping from his "La Flame" persona is "It's Lit!!!". Can't be any clearer than that.

Drake then took shots at Travis AGAIN on "Make Them Pay":

>I'm tryna catch one of you boys stargazin' in the field like little leaguers, yeah
And ain't no passes for you Crip walkin', all of that diss talkin', kiddo, beat it
I'm supposed to be my brother's keeper, so don't make us hit another buzzer beater

Remember, Travis Scott's song off "Astroworld" is "STARGAZING". "Ain't no passes for you Crip walking" - even if Travis joins Drake's Crip set (Drake is a Crip), Drake ain't gonna be happy with him. Drake then clarifies who this is for with "I'm supposed to be my brother's keeper". That ain't Kendrick. Kendrick never was his brother. Travis, who he's done idk how many songs with is the target here.

That'll be it for now. Over the next few days, it'll be interesting to dive into some more shit like this. Anything else ppl noticed, feel free to discuss in the comments, appreciated.