Before his Tommy-John surgery, Mike was an All-American pitcher at Duke. The major leagues (and AAA ball) were a very real possibility for him at one point. But his reality has changed now.

This is also a parallel to his rap career. He is on the brink of making it to “the big leagues” in the music industry, having only been in the game a very short time.

Even in the beginning of his career, Mike’s eyes stayed focused on his MacBook laptop and the “digital” dreams he had for a successful music career.

J.J. Redick is an NBA player for the Los Angeles Clippers and along with Stud, is a Duke alumnus. Redick played college basketball for the Blue Devils and was arguably the best player in program history.

Here, Stud uses a simile to compare aiming for his goals to J.J. Redick’s tendency to shoot and knock down three point shots.

Mike’s referring to Rebecca Black’s viral song, “Friday”, which coincidentally has some of the greatest annotations Genius has to offer.

Instead of growing up and getting real jobs, they just throw down lyrics to songs and party. Kind of an “I Love College” vibe here.

Instead of spending the usual 4 years of college he wants to spend 5 years (and did spend 5 at Tufts), because…

He never wants to grow up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zXDo4dL7SU

Mike uses a sample of Mika’s “Happy Ending” here and throughout the song, to show that none of the stories he’s about to share have happy endings.

Even though this is a sample, it may have been better to do “No love, no hope, no glory”, as it would fit better with each of the 3 verses.

Danny is really excited to start a new life and do things for himself, as well as defend his great nation. His mother didn’t approve, presumably because she thought a college education would be best for him, and didn’t want him going off to war where he may never come back.

Despite this, Danny was still a good kid. He wanted success, but knew he didn’t want to accomplish it academically at a university. He felt he had a different calling in life.

Danny didn’t enjoy school, and didn’t get along with any of the teachers. He showed up because he had to, but didn’t care about being on top of the class or earning any academic accolades.