originally comes from the idea that the white man can not see the black man's struggle, or perhaps chooses not to see his struggle.
The phrase has been adapted as a statement of toughness to indicate superiority.
A Pepsi/Coke/Mountain Dew/Whoop Ass can pipe is made from an aluminum soda can when you have some bud or resin and there's no pipe in the apartment. First, you empty out a soda can. Try to get it as dry as you can. Turn the can so the mouth hole is facing you. Squish the can in the middle on the side facing up. Then take a tack or safety pin and poke little holes in a circular spot on top in the depression where you squished the can. That's the bowl. Then poke a bigger hole in the side, near the bottom, or the bottom of the can for a carb. You hit out the hole you drink from. There's a medical fact or urban myth you can get Alzenheimers Disease from smoking from an aluminum can. It would be better if you could rig it somehow with a pipe screen or even a real bowl, but it's a fiend pipe. You might have to cut it open to scrape it if you don't have a long screwdriver, scissors, or knife.
Dude, you're gonna get Alzenheimer's smoking out of a can. Let me get a hit.
It means that if you look at things one at a time, you might not realize that a branch of separate "trees" go togehter to make a "forest"
When you are too close to a situation you need to step back and get a little perspective. When you do you will notice there was a whole forest you couldn't see before because you were too close, and focusing on the trees.
Simply that you have focused on the many details and have failed to see the overall view, impression or key point.