There are many ways to interpret those lyrics, here is mine:<p>#1 -> don't brag. common sense<p>#2 -> never let them know your next move, is not exactly about innovation, it's about being unpredictable so it's harder to hit you. For crack dealers this makes sense. Innovation in the drugs scene would be to come out with a new way to get high (which crack actually was...).<p>#3 -> never trust nobody: Paranoia is the hallmark of the true junkie, as well as of the dealers scene. It serves no place in business, you <i>have</i> to learn how to trust people. Key employees, business partners and so on. This is coming from somebody that has been burnt once. I'd rather get burned again than to live my life in fear of what my partners could be doing to screw me over. And patents are totally against my principles, time to market is what it is all about and the internet has made that easier than ever before. You actually <i>can</i> make a killing on an idea+good execution these days. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't investigate if there is a fire when you see smoke. Paranoia spoils the atmosphere like nothing else will though, so use with caution.<p>#4 never get high on your own supply: crack dealers parlance to make sure you understand the difference between the stuff you've got for trade and for personal use. If you can't make that difference you'll use up your trade stash and you'll be out of business. For regular business people this is bs, if you would not use your own product you're basically telling people that it is not good enough for you. The chairman of a major car brand had better drive his own product, not a competitors or the press would have a field day with it.<p>#5 don't sell to friends and family: I've got mixed feelings about that one. It's true that you might not get the best feedback possible that way, but look at it from another angle, if they won't use your product, how on earth are you going to sell to perfect strangers. And discounts for friends, family and employees are quite ok, especially if the product is virtual.<p>#6 no credit -> agreed 100%, but also the other way around, take no credit for the company unless you absolutely have to. Very few startups need (large) lines of credit. If you're working on something virtual there are only a few things that will actually cost money. It's probably better to save for a bit and then to execute than to load up your fledgeling startup with interest payments right from day #1.<p>#7 separate family and business -> It depends. Some people work great as a team, even though they are family, some people can't even go to a birthday party together even though they are family. Just as with strangers with family it is important to have your responsibilities and rights absolutely clear. It's a lack of clarity and confusion that will lead to trouble, not whether someone is family or not.<p>#8 no weight -> this relates to not carrying stuff so that when you get stopped for a check you don't happen to have a load of stuff on you, so use dead drops and so on. Good advice in the drugs world. This is good advice, so keep your passwords where you can get at them but nobody else can, preferably in your head.<p>#9 I don't understand the slang, so no comment<p>#10 is about accepting drugs that you can not pay for, in other words consignment sales. Bad move for a crack pusher. For a business it's a way to finance real world stuff that they are sure they can move, it's a lot cheaper than going to the bank which is why it's done all over the world. But mostly in the physical goods trade. Hard to 'consign' a bucket of bits. The equity or loan question is a tough one, each startup sooner or later has to face it and if and when the time comes you'll have to weigh the price of equity very carefully against a standard loan.<p>So, no offense to the late Notorious BIG, but the interpretations were a little stretched.<p>If anybody should get any weird ideas about me because of the above, I grew up in a city with a very lively drugs scene, but I never even smoked a cigarette.