1. “Bought and got all the buildings I was trapping out / Bankhead Seafood, me and T.I. / Apartments in the Bluff, yeah that’s me and got” — “Nobody Knows”

This couplet is a juxtaposition loaded with perspective. Being able to return to your old stomping grounds is one thing, but being able to buy it is a whole ’nother deal, especially when it’s the former homebase of your dope dealing operation.

2. “Nerve bad like I’m back to sellin’ crack again / Fame and money brought some factors I didn’t factor in / Happiness be happenin’, but what happened when / Depression say, ’I’m back again’ and get to tappin’ in?” — “Nobody Knows”

At his best, Mike blends autobiographical detail with the rare syntactic finesse you see here. Over the course of just two bars, he distills the trauma that comes with D-Boy PTSD and the concerns that come with fame. It’s an eloquent way to distill a complicated matter in succinct fashion.

3. “Take that street shit and the scholarship and run em all / I’m at attendance at the players and the mayor’s ball” — “Still Talk’n That Shit”

Killer Mike is a master at succinctly contextualizing his narrative, and this is probably his most concise couplet on the whole project. In a matter of two bars, he manages to summarize his role in the Atlanta continuum — a former D-Boy who made good to the point where he can kick it with the most powerful folks in the city.

4. “The Devil put me on his whipping post / The Lord did not ‘low him to whip me / So I went to sleep as free as can be and the next day, my son got a kidney”— “Humble Me”

Here, Killer Mike makes time to recount his arrest at the Grammy Awards, using some religious imagery to make a point about faith, destiny and purpose.

5. “Baby mama, I got several, several new hustles, a plethora / Cheddar, cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella, mozzarella / I been po’ as Allan Edgar, never been a beggar, beggar / Even when I stood on corners and I served like Roger Federer” — “Higher Level”

As the great Young Thug once said, hustler’s don’t stop, they keep going! For this one, Mike outlines his go-getting ethos for bars that are both motivational and super catchy.

6. “It don’t matter ’bout our valor if the system say we villains / It don’t matter if you Jamil Al-Amin or Jeffery Williams / ‘Cause yo’ enemies the same and they will never see you different” — “Bussin Bricks Intro”

In the eyes of a racist system, neither your profession nor your identity matter all that much, as Killer Mike notes in this incisive couplet. It’s dope to read the bars, but hearing him graft them onto the beat so precisely only enhances the effect, rendering his passion with a raw, visceral power that brings the lyrics to life.

7. “And crime got committed and I must admit it that I was addicted like dope to the dealin’/And whiskey and wickedеst women and lust and the luxury livin’” — “Had to Go Get It”

It’s normal to discuss the effect drugs have on drug addicts, but what’s seldom discussed is the psychological effect dealing them can have on the dealers. Mike deftly notes that aspect of the game in this section of “Had to Go Get It.”

8. “I been looked at, I been followed, I been suspected / Used and abused, I been accused, bitch, I been arrested / And if a nigga know some secrets, bitch, I ain’t tellin’ / I finally get it, all my haters, they was just jealous” — “Still Talk’n That Shit”

In what might be the most electric verse on the whole album, Mike stacks dense internal rhyme schemes into a series of not-so-humble-brags. Paired with his controlled, yet frenzied flow, and it’s one of the most memorable sequences on the LP.

9. “If you get digits, then I’m wit’ it, crime committed, yo, I did it / Must admit it got me rich as fuckin’ Richie”—“Bussin Bricks Intro”

Mike tightropes the beat for more reflections on the life of a trap star. It’s phrased in a way that brings you into the past with him, making it an immersive micro-vignette that makes some of the best rap songs great.

10. “I just be walkin’ a tightrope, am I gon’ always do right? No / Used to sell grams of that white coke on Ponce de Leon to white folk” — “Had to Go Get It”

Tightly wound and packed with writerly detail, these bars are a perfect one-stop exhibition for all that makes Killer Mike a technical master.