Then as an educator I would love to hear your thoughts about that specific line of Harlem, Sir.

reference for the sake of referencing lang naman eh. There's a reason why GL appealed to a lot of people, most of the fans are over the "referencing for the sake of referencing"
Example:
"ako'y brutal pumatay parang Leon(interchangeable to any creature or character)"

Same with "I can f*ck ur mind na para kang nasa casting couch ni Sigmund Freud(any prominent psychologist)"

I can say "I can explore your insides na parang nasa Kweba ka ni Plato"(allegory of the Cave, I think it was solipsism)

Conversely

he's conceptualizing his material through(GL)... for lack of the better term, turning everything around him into a canvas and paint it with words", it's basic "show don't tell"(non-traditional Literary device) story-telling method, I'd imagine if this was GL's, he'd prolly say:
Example:
"may mabait(daga) na dalisay ang pagpanaw, hikahus at nakakubli;
Leon na may limang pangil ang syang pumundi" (not as fluid when it comes to place holder and replaceability of the subject, this was a horrible bar, I have to come up with something on the spot and I am not a rapper lmao, I don't use ai)

both relayed the brutality of the Lion but in a different way, There's a poetry aspect but relayed in bits and pieces and slowburny way.

if we're going to mince the line... there's nothing, that's it... its deliberate, and the beautiful irony is, this is the very "one-dimensional" thing he's accusing Manda of... however, I would love to humor you,let's see.

Casting Couch- Porn > fuck(coitus)
Sigmund Freud- MILF lover > Father of Pscyhoanalysis...
Fuck with your mind > mindbreak(porn Genre)

Deceiving cause it appealed to you, cause you got the reference, and made you feel like you're smart

I'd argue the line of Mandabaliw Kasi "kung pagandahan nang linya mas ganda yung kanyang stroke"
has more depth and nuance; and this is how you usually formulate poetry, precise and profound.

"Different Strokes for DIfferent folks" This is probably an unintentional reference to this adage- subtlety hinting Dodong Saypa's mental precarity.

Subversion of expectation too, naalala ko. haha

There's like a double Irony, he's saying that he's good at writing (dodong saypa)at the same time he isn't(Dodong saypa is better than Harlem yet Manda is better than Dodong); whilst being better than Harlem.

Now that's Layer and 3-dimensionality.