There are some lyrics in this song that are difficult to interpret so I thought I would thow some theories out there for discussion:

"How many gats in the slacks be showin'?
Betcha that the man downtown be knowin'
Wacks turn to beef when the gangsters meet
Son of a slave master keeping it goin'"

My guess is they "gats" are pistols - slang short for Gatlin gun...but what is the line "Wacks turn to beef when the gangsters meet" all about? Any theories?

Also "All the gates of Henry" is a pretty obvious reference to Henry Gates, an African American literary critic, historian and host of the series "Finding Your Roots" on PBS...

Finally, these lines are interesting:

"Black on black crime
Abel and Cain
You would think high yellow would be a shade
21st Century
It's still about greed and fame"

High Yellow is a term used to describe a light-skinned person of white and African ancestry that has been around since the 19th century.

So the line "you would think high yellow would be a shade" could mean a number of things (in theory)...interested to hear any theories any of you have...

Thanks!

'Gat' is pistol / gun.

It's used in 'Pheromone' (and possibly 'Wasted Kisses'), for example.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Gat is just gun High yellow is just light skinned I think he was criticising the term black on black crime But beyond that , many prince lyrics post 2001 just didnt make much sense or weren't coherent as a whole He seemed to think he was being clever but it ended up often just looking a bit aloof and haughty [Edited 8/1/21 0:21am]

Interesting...just curious - why the designation "post 2001"?