"Ego Trippin' - Part Two" (De La Soul)

De La Soul has never been the type of group to play by mainstream music industry rules.  They've also never written lyrics that smack you over the head with their meaning.  Often, their songs take a couple of listens before the meanings begin to reveal themselves.
"Ego Trippin' - Part Two" from their third album Buhloone Mindstate (1993) is one of the most abstract, clever, filled-with-hip-hop-references rap songs ever written.  (By the way, there is no "Ego Trippin' - Part One," unless you count Nikki Giovanni's poem or "Ego Trippin'" from Ultramagnetic MC's.)
When the song was released, East Coast rap was getting eclipsed by West Coast gangsta rap.  So when listeners heard the line Tired of the merry go round and around and then saw the the video for "Ego Trippin' - Part Two," which featured an almost frame-for-frame parody of the pool scene from 2Pac's video for "I Get Around," people automatically assumed that the song was a dis to 2Pac and the West Coast.  
But that oversimplifies what De La Soul was getting at.
Really, it was an open letter to the hip hop community that asked: what do we want this genre to become?  Is it going to be a showcase for raw talent and lyricism?  Or is it going to be all about crass commercialism, misogyny, and fixation on material wealth?
If there's any doubt what camp De La Soul was in, check out who they name-check and quote: hip hop teachers (I'm something like a phenomenon is a direct reference to Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel's cautionary, anti-cocaine rap "White Lines"); hip hop wordsmiths and party-starters (When I'm on the mic / There won't be no delayin' is a reference to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's "The Show"); and hip hop storytellers (When they reminisce over you / For real is a reference to Pete Rock & CL Smooth's autobiographical "They Reminisce Over You.")  And there are tons of other references--from Big Daddy Kane (I'm the foot, but who's steppin'? / Ain't no half-steppin') to Boogie Down Productions (But they're still tellin' lies to me). 
So, they weren't specifically dissing 2Pac.  But they also weren't buying what gansta rap and the mainstream were selling either.  And they weren't about to change their style to cash in on the thug trend, or gimmicks like backwards and inside-out clothes, or "hardcore" yelling (hence the over-the-top screaming in the intro/outro, à la Onyx).
Luckily, that meant we got treated to that tasty Al Hirt "Harlem Hendoo" sample and some mind-bending lyrics from Plugs #1-3 and MC Shortie No Mas.