Lupe Fiasco's song lyrics for Break the Chain and Words I never said on upcoming album

[PermanentSleep]

This album is getting an UNBELIEVABLE amount of attention prerelease (release date: March 8th), so it is reasonable to think a LOT of people, especially the mostly liberal hip hop scene will be listening to this album. I haven't gotten to pay close attention to the rest of the album yet, but I found these lyrics quite intellectually stimulating in Liberty's direction. Maybe I'm just hearing what I want to hear. Feel free to discuss these lyrics.

Words I Never Said:

It's so loud inside my head
with words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said

I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit
Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets
How much money does it take to really make a fulll clip
9/11 building seven did they really pull it?

And a bunch of other cover ups
Your child's future was the first to go with budget cuts
If you think that hurts, then wait here comes the uppercut
The school was garbage in the first place that's on the up and up


Keep you at the bottom but tease you with the upper crush
You get it then they move it so you never keepin up enough
If you turn on TV, all you see's a bunch of what the fucks
Dude is dating so and so, blabbering about such and such
And that ain't Jersey Shore, homie that's the news
and these the same people supposedly telling us the truth
Limbaugh was a racist, Glen Beck is a racist, Ghaza strip
was gettin bombed Obama didn't say shit
That's why I didn't vote for him, next one either
I'm a part of the problem, my problem is I'm peaceful
And I believe in the people

[Chorus]

Now we can say it ain't our fault
If we never heard it
but if we know better, then we probably deserve it
Jihad is not holy war, where's that in the worship?!
Murdering is not Islam and you are not observant

[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/words-i-never-said-lyrics-lupe-fiasco.html ]

And you are not a Muslim
Israel don't take my side cuz look how far you've pushed em
Walk with me into the ghetto, thats where all the kush went
Complain about the liquor store, well whatchu drinkin liquor for?
Complain about the gloom but when'd you pick a broom up?
Just listenin to Pac ain't gonna make it stop
A rebel in your thoughts ain't gonna make it whole
If you don't become an actor, you'll never be a factor.
Pills with a million side effects, take em when the pain's felt
Wash em down with Diet soda, killin off your brain cells
Crooked banks around the world will gladly give a loan today
so If you ever miss a payment, they can take your home away.

[Chorus]

I think that all the silence is worse than all violence
Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it
We're scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth
So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you
Sometimes I'm like the only person I feel safe to tell it to
I'm locked inside a cell in me, I know that there's a jail in you
Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath inhale a few
My screams is finally gettin free, my thoughts is finally yellin through!

[Chorus]

Lyrics to Break The Chain:

I waited all the night to play
I still can't find a way
But if I work it one more day
I might just break the Chain
I might just break the Chain
I might just break the Chain

Lupe Fiasco [Verse 1]
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom

Freedom, we can use some of that especially where we from
Where we grew up like a green thumb
Its like a criminal is the only thing you can become
Look at what I became
Something like a phenom, nothin but a g thang
Things I've seen when I'm looking out of these frames
Pictures I painted on the walls where we hang
From the trees we hung
Strange fruit man look at how we swung
How the hell you gonna tell us something
We ain't have a father
How to try to grow up and be one
See umm feel it in my bones
That I'm sittin on a throne
Like a killer with a crone
When I slit another poach
Shed a whole lot of light on a little bit of home

Lupe Fiasco [Verse 3]
Chain broke, you ain't make a rep for your chain smoke
No cigarrettes on my plane, yo
Stunt your ham bones from the game though
Put it on mine, take a long time
B-A-Barock is how I'm livin' online
In a webisode like let's go let 'em know
That I put up the footage that I'm takin' your shine
Wanna see the real change? look in your mind
Your brain look like anyway brotha?
Overgrow, overload, broken zone
Niggas playing games in the hood they got you stuck-up
Playa thinkin' that its cool to be a pimp still
We gon' set it free like a fish in a pimp hill
Take this home, rearrange it, change it
Danger, Sway-zer, Lupe Laser. Pow!

 

[PermanentSleep]

From another song his Lasers album called "State Run Radio"

We interrupt this broadcast
To bring you this special message about the forecast
The future's cloudy and it's raining on the poor class
Road to peace is closed, heavy traffic on the war paths
Love is balling on a budget
The military's says it's gon' need more cash
To keep fighting for your gas, keep us in our hoods
And hope we never explore pass, stay inside of your half
Believe the lies you learn in your class
That there's no treasure in your trash
And the ceiling has the same feeling that the floor has
And that's where you should stay; this is what they play

So beware what's on the airwaves,
and be more aware of what's not getting airplay
Independent spirit, you can barely hear what they're saying
Truth ain't getting on, like shampoo on an airplane
Propaganda's everywhere, constantly on replay
All the hits, all the time, back to back on relay
We're really where it lives, make them hear the records we play
Build your own station, become your own DJs

 

[thehighwaymanq]

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?277455-Lupe-Fiasco-quot-Words-I-Never-Said-quot

So great to see this album coming out this week!

 

[dannno]

Yes, I approve of the lyrics.. there was a complaint in the thread we had before on this regarding the line about education cuts always seem to come first, but he follows it by saying that the public education system sucks anyway.. on top of that Ron Paul had an interview the other day where the liberal host was trying to pin him to say he wanted to make big cuts to people's SS and medicaid.. Ron Paul was trying to say how there is a lot of other stuff to cut before cutting aid to old sick people, like the military industrial complex, foreign aid, etc, so I see this as pretty in line with our goals. He also had an anarchy symbol on the album cover or on the website where this song was released a few weeks ago, so I haven't seen any signs that he's a statist.

Also it's an amazing song.

 

[Rothbardian Girl]

I've always had respect for Lupe Fiasco. He's not one of the MOST popular artists around, but he is still relatively mainstream, so it could be possible that his listeners will at least think a bit more critically about certain things. His lyrics certainly are not exactly singing hymns of praise to the status quo.

Here's the lyrics to "Instrumental", another one of his (older) songs I found interesting lyrics-wise (maybe coming down harshly on the media for squashing people's critical thinking abilities? Again, maybe I'm reading too much into it, and it DOES have a touch of irony considering the fact that he relies on the media to gain popularity)

[Lupe Fiasco]
Uhh.. yeah
He just sits, and watches the people in the boxes
Everything he sees he absorbs and adopts it
Heeeeee mimics and he mocks it
Really hates the box but he can't remember how to stop, it
Uhh, so he continues to watch it
Hoping that it'll give him something that he can box with
Or how the locksmith, see the box as, locked in the box
Ain't got the combination to unlock, it
That's why he watch-es, scared to look away
Cause at that moment, it might show him
What to take off the locks with
So he chained himself to the box, took a lock and then he locked it
Swallowed the combination and then forgot, it
As the doctors jot it all down, with they pens and pencils
The same ones that took away his voice
And just left this instrumental, like that

[Chorus: Josh Matranga + (Lupe)]
And he never lies (he never lies, he never lies, uhh)
And he never lies (uhh, he never lies, he never lies, no)
And he never lies (he never lies)
Cause he never said anything at all

[Lupe Fiasco]
He just sits, and listens to the people in the boxes
Everything he hears he absorbs and adopts it
Anything not coming out the box he blocks it
See he loves to box and hope they never stop it
Anything the box tell him to do, he does it
Anything it tell him to get, he shops and he cops it
He protects the box, locks it in a box
when he goes to sleep, but he never sleeps
Cause he stays up to watch it, scared to look away
Cause at that moment, it might get stolen
And that's the last of the boxes
So he chained himself to the box, took a lock and then he locked it
Swallowed the combination and then forgot, it
As the doctors jot it all down, with they pens and pencils
The same ones that took away his voice
And just left this instrumental, like that

[Chorus]

[Lupe Fiasco]
(Anything at all..) He never lies
Uhh, and you can't tell me just who you are
You buy new clothes just to hide those scars
You built that roof just to hide those stars
Now you can't take it back to the start
And you can't tell me just who you are
You buy new clothes just to hide those scars
You built that roof just to hide those stars
Now you can't take it back to the start

[Chorus]

[Lupe Fiasco]
(Anything at all.. anything at all..)
Uhh, and you can't tell me just who you are
You buy new clothes just to hide those scars
You built that roof just to hide those stars
Now you can't take it back to the start
And you can't tell me just who you are
You buy new clothes just to hide those scars
You built that roof just to hide those stars
Now you can't take it back to the start
[repeats and fades as Josh ad libs]

Now... everything is of course open to interpretation. Take what you will from the lyrics, but it is still interesting nonetheless. In summary, you COULD be onto something here. It will be interesting to see if these lyrics have any effect on anything at all, or if they will go in one ear and out the other.

I don't necessarily think Fiasco is a libertarian by any means, but he could have leanings that way.

 

[PermanentSleep]

Yes, I approve of the lyrics.. there was a complaint in the thread we had before on this regarding the line about education cuts always seem to come first, but he follows it by saying that the public education system sucks anyway..

...He also had an anarchy symbol on the album cover or on the website where this song was released a few weeks ago, so I haven't seen any signs that he's a statist.

Also it's an amazing song.

How he said "if you think that hurts, then wait here comes the uppercut
The school was garbage in the first place that's on the up and up" is basically agreeing with something like the documentary Cartel. How it does suck that the first budget cuts seem to be to their child's future, but also that the school system is garbage, and with the "[it's] on the up and up, he's saying that it's starting to be accepted by more and more people and anyone who has a problem with that line should check their premises, think for themselves.

This cd is blowing my mind. I'll gladly throw down money for something this "real", regardless if I agree with all of the particulars or not, and even if I didn't like hip hop. This is an honest, sincere person standing up for what he sees as truth, which takes mad guts and principle. I respect that.

 

[yatez112]

How he said "if you think that hurts, then wait here comes the uppercut
The school was garbage in the first place that's on the up and up" is basically agreeing with something like the documentary Cartel. How it does suck that the first budget cuts seem to be to their child's future, but also that the school system is garbage, and with the "[it's] on the up and up, he's saying that it's starting to be accepted by more and more people and anyone who has a problem with that line should check their premises, think for themselves.

This cd is blowing my mind. I'll gladly throw down money for something this "real", regardless if I agree with all of the particulars or not, and even if I didn't like hip hop. This is an honest, sincere person standing up for what he sees as truth, which takes mad guts and principle. I respect that.

My thoughts.

Thanks for posting this, I'll be picking this up next week.

 

[JAHOGS]

I know this is a topic about Lupe and his upcoming album, but another artist that I fill falls in this topics category is B.o.B.

He has two songs out there along these songs lines. One of them is Dr. Aden and Generation Lost.

 

[PermanentSleep]

Lyrics from "All Black Everything" -I'm pretty sure he's using black in reference to the absence of color in the presence of light. This all sounds amazing, almost modern day MLK. The only thing that I see that makes me reconsider the libertarian leaning is the reference to W.E.B Du Bois writing the constitution. Granted, his outspoken communism was late in his life, and also "Dr. Du Bois' greatest virtue was his committed empathy with all the oppressed and his divine dissatisfaction with all forms of injustice." I'm not sure if he's just referring to Dui Bois in his stance on race, or if he is implying that his socialist/communist leanings in writing a constitution would create this harmonious, race free society. Discuss please, I'm very interested in other people's take on these words. From wikipedia on Du Bois:

Du Bois was one of a number of African-American leaders investigated by the FBI, which claimed in May 1942 that, "his writing indicates him to be a socialist".[43] He was chairman of the Peace Information Center at the start of the Korean War, and among the signers of the Stockholm Peace Pledge, which opposed the use of nuclear weapons.
In 1950, at the age of 82, Du Bois ran for U.S. Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket and polled a little over 200,000 votes, about 4% of the total. Although he lost, Du Bois remained committed to the progressive labor cause. In 1958, he would join with Trotskyites, ex-Communists and independent radicals in proposing the creation of a united left-wing coalition to challenge for seats in elections for the New York State Senate and Assembly.
On March 16, 1953, upon the death of Joseph Stalin, Du Bois wrote of him in The National Guardian:
Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also—and this was the highest proof of his greatness—he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.[44]
While Stalin had fallen into disfavor among some of the American Left of that era, and Communism had come to be regarded as "the god that failed" in the eyes of some African-American intellectuals as Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright, Du Bois persisted in his admiration for Stalin.[45] He was frequently challenged for his support of Stalin, particularly after Khrushchev's 1956 "Cult of Personality" speech. Having once, after a 1920s visit to Russia, observed that, "Russia is the victim of a determined propaganda of lies", he remained persistently skeptical of American media reports regarding the USSR; when challenged as to his beliefs on Stalin in 1956, in one instance he conceded that, "[Stalin] was probably too cruel; but... he conquered Hitler."[45]
In regards to Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956, the 88-year-old Du Bois defended the USSR, suggesting that the Hungarian Revolution was the work of, "landlords and fascists".[46] Regarding this, one scholar said he was "one of the great pioneers of anti-colonialist scholarship", he was, "a headstrong idealist: he idealized Stalinism... He saw what he wished and needed to see, and thus he replicated the hard, domineering consciousness he condemned."[46]
Du Bois visited Communist China during the Great Leap Forward. He was questioned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) about his alleged communist sympathies. He was indicted in the United States under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and acquitted for lack of evidence.[citation needed] In 1959 Du Bois received the Lenin Peace Prize. In 1961, at the age of 93, he joined the Communist Party USA, at a time when it was long past its peak of membership.
Just forty days before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at an event marking the hundredth anniversary of Du Bois' birth, at Carnegie Hall in New York City:[47]
We cannot talk of Dr. Du Bois without recognizing that he was a radical all of his life. Some people would like to ignore the fact that he was a Communist in his later years. It is worth noting that Abraham Lincoln warmly welcomed the support of Karl Marx during the Civil War and corresponded with him freely. In contemporary life, the English speaking world has no difficulty with the fact that Sean O'Casey was a literary giant of the twentieth century and a Communist, or that Pablo Neruda is generally considered the greatest living poet though he also served in the Chilean Senate as a Communist. It is time to cease muting the fact that Dr. Du Bois was a genius and chose to be a Communist. Our irrational obsessive anti-communism has led us into too many quagmires to be retained as if it were a mode of scientific thinking. …Dr. Du Bois' greatest virtue was his committed empathy with all the oppressed and his divine dissatisfaction with all forms of injustice.[48]

...In the New York Times review of The Souls of Black Folk, the anonymous book reviewer wrote, "For it is the Jim Crow car, and the fact that he may not smoke a cigar and drink a cup of tea with the white man in the South, that most galls William E. Burghardt Du Bois of the Atlanta College for Negroes."[12]
t is the thought of a negro of Northern education who has lived long among his brethren of the South yet who can not fully feel the meaning of some things which these brethren know by instinct — and which the Southern-bred white knows by a similar instinct: certain things which are by both accepted as facts — not theories — fundamental attitudes of race to race which are the product of conditions extending over centuries, as are the somewhat parallel attitudes of the gentry to the peasantry in other countries.[12]
While some prominent white scholars denied African-American cultural, political and social relevance to American history and civic life, in his epic work Black Reconstruction, Du Bois documented how black people were central figures in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, and also showed how they made alliances with white politicians. He provided evidence to disprove the Dunning School theories of Reconstruction, showing the coalition governments established public education in the South, as well as many needed social service programs. He demonstrated the ways in which Black emancipation — the crux of Reconstruction — promoted a radical restructuring of United States society, as well as how and why the country failed to continue support for civil rights for blacks in the aftermath of Reconstruction.[13] This theme was taken up later and expanded by Eric Foner and Leon F. Litwack, the two leading late twentieth-century scholars of the Reconstruction era.

LYRICS (italians/red are my thoughts):

You would never know
If you could ever be
If you never try
You would never see
Stayed in Africa
We ain't never leave
So there were no slaves in our history
Were no slave ships, were no misery, call me crazy, or isn't he
See I fell asleep and I had a dream, it was all black everything

[Lupe Fiasco-Verse 1]
Uh, and we ain't get exploited
White man ain't feared so he did not destroy it
We ain't work for free, see they had to employ it
(not working for free would indicate a division of labor, market society?)
Built it up together so we equally appointed
First 400 years, see we actually enjoyed it
Constitution written by W.E.B. Du Bois
(referencing his libertarian views on race or his socialist/communist leanings or both?)
Were no reconstructions, civil war got avoided
Little black sambo grows up to be a lawyer
Extra extra on the news stands
Black woman voted head of Ku Klux Klan
Malcolm Little dies as a old man
Martin Luther King read the eulogy for him
Followed by Bill O'Reilly who read from the Quran
President Bush sends condolences from Iran
Where Fox News reports live
That Ahmadinejad wins Mandela peace prize

[Hook]

[Lupe Fiasco-Verse 2]
Uh, and it ain't no projects
Keepin it real is not an understood concept
Yea, complexion's not a contest
Cause racism has no context
Hip-hop ain't got a section called conscious
Everybody rappin like crack never happened
Crips never occurred nor bloods to attack them
Matter of fact no hood to attack in
Somalia is a great place to relax in
(formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under communist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory.[2] The internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government controls only a small part of the country. Somalia has been characterized as a failed state[5][6][7][8][9] and is one of the poorest[10] and most violent states in the world. -Wiki)
Fred Astaire was the first to do a backspin
The rat pack was cool group of black men
That inspired the five white guys called the Jacksons
Eminem fitted in but then again he inspired a black rapper tryin to mimic him
And thats what really rose up out of Michigan, the sign of white rapper by the name of 50 cent

[Hook]

[Lupe Fiasco-Verse 3]
Uh, and I know it's just a fantasy
I cordially invite you to ask why can't it be
Now we can do nothing bout the past
But we can do something about the future that we have
We can make it fast or we can make it last
Every woman queen and every man a king and
When those color lines come we can't see between
We just close our eyes till its all black everything

 

[PermanentSleep]

I know this is a topic about Lupe and his upcoming album, but another artist that I fill falls in this topics category is B.o.B.

He has two songs out there along these songs lines. One of them is Dr. Aden and Generation Lost.

I'll check it out tomorrow, thanks for the recommendation!

 

[malkusm]

Gaza strip was gettin bombed Obama didn't say shit
That's why I didn't vote for him, next one either
I'm a part of the problem, my problem is I'm peaceful
And I believe in the people

^Daaaaaaaaaaamn!

 

[malkusm]

Let me give my take on the lyrics to "All Black Everything" before I go to bed.

Most of the lines, especially in Verses 1 and 2, are walking contradictions - as he said, he "had a dream" and he's basically offering up these "What if?" scenarios that stand reality on their head. Bill O'Reilly reading from the Quran, Ahmadinejad winning the Peace Prize, etc....so you have to view all of the lines skeptically in that framework. Therefore I don't think he's talking about the Marxist vs. capitalist view of labor at the beginning of the Verse 1 - he's just posing the scenario where slave labor was never implemented. He caps off that part of the rhyme by saying "Constitution written by W.E.B. Du Bois" in order to frame the next part: If the Founders (or one of them) were black, then you have this domino effect where there is no Civil War, a black woman leads the KKK (maybe the KKK crusades for something else in this alternate reality), and so on.

Thus I also take the "opposite" viewpoint on Somalia - he's saying that in this dream-state that Somalia is a nice place to relax in, implying that currently, things are not so good there.

I think Verse 3 is critical to understanding his point, though:

Uh, and I know it's just a fantasy
I cordially invite you to ask why can't it be
Now we can do nothing bout the past
But we can do something about the future that we have
We can make it fast or we can make it last
Every woman queen and every man a king and
When those color lines come we can't see between
We just close our eyes till its all black everything

The last two lines, to me, are really anti-prejudicial, pro-individualism. The line just before it ("Every woman queen and every man a king"), I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but it sounds like something more akin to socialist ideology. But it's probably not a big deal in the scheme of the song.

Overall, though, wow! Not many songs these days will make you think like these do.

 

[PermanentSleep]

Let me give my take on the lyrics to "All Black Everything" before I go to bed.

Most of the lines, especially in Verses 1 and 2, are walking contradictions - as he said, he "had a dream" and he's basically offering up these "What if?" scenarios that stand reality on their head. Bill O'Reilly reading from the Quran, Ahmadinejad winning the Peace Prize, etc....so you have to view all of the lines skeptically in that framework. Therefore I don't think he's talking about the Marxist vs. capitalist view of labor at the beginning of the Verse 1 - he's just posing the scenario where slave labor was never implemented. He caps off that part of the rhyme by saying "Constitution written by W.E.B. Du Bois" in order to frame the next part: If the Founders (or one of them) were black, then you have this domino effect where there is no Civil War, a black woman leads the KKK (maybe the KKK crusades for something else in this alternate reality), and so on.

Thus I also take the "opposite" viewpoint on Somalia - he's saying that in this dream-state that Somalia is a nice place to relax in, implying that currently, things are not so good there.

I think Verse 3 is critical to understanding his point, though:



The last two lines, to me, are really anti-prejudicial, pro-individualism. The line just before it ("Every woman queen and every man a king"), I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but it sounds like something more akin to socialist ideology. But it's probably not a big deal in the scheme of the song.

Overall, though, wow! Not many songs these days will make you think like these do.

Thanks for taking the time to read an analyze that. I agree with everything you said. I read somewhere that he has been upset for a while because Atlantic was forcing a more corporate-ized album and he basically didn't have much of a choice, saying 'the words are mine, the music is theirs. He said something about hoping that what he really wanted to say will get through to his fans. These lyrics really do make you think and dig deeper, and that's the kind of music I love.

 

[Ekrub]

Just a few points I found when I was trying to find his political views on the web:

1) His father was a black panther
2) He wanted Hillary in '08
3) Doesn't drink/smoke drugs/ cuss in his songs
4) Most interested in bringing to light foreign policy/ diamond conflicts/ or hypocrisy in politicians
5) Has tried to spread awareness about drinking water in 3rd world countries.

I think that if someone showed him Ron Pauls foreign policy he might be impressed with the consistency and the stance. Moreso than Hillary (maybe send him Hillary's talk with RP recently)

 

[malkusm]

Just a few points I found when I was trying to find his political views on the web:

3) Doesn't drink/smoke drugs/ cuss in his songs

Definitely not true, check out some of the lyrics above. Also, he's had much more of a libertarian slant in the last couple years (his EP "Enemy of the State" and then this new album, some lyrics of which are above).

 

[trey4sports]

I emailed AJ's team to see if they could get Lupe on the show a couple days ago

 

[dannno]

Just a few points I found when I was trying to find his political views on the web:

1) His father was a black panther
2) He wanted Hillary in '08
3) Doesn't drink/smoke drugs/ cuss in his songs
4) Most interested in bringing to light foreign policy/ diamond conflicts/ or hypocrisy in politicians
5) Has tried to spread awareness about drinking water in 3rd world countries.

I think that if someone showed him Ron Pauls foreign policy he might be impressed with the consistency and the stance. Moreso than Hillary (maybe send him Hillary's talk with RP recently)

Can you show me what you found about him liking Hillary? That doesn't make any sense.

 

[PermanentSleep]

I emailed AJ's team to see if they could get Lupe on the show a couple days ago

+rep

If you hear anything about this actually happening, please PM me. Thanks for doing that, really great idea!

 

[goldencane]

His dad was a Black Panther and he was raised with the Nation of Islam and his lyrics make sense knowing that. I don't think that any of these lyrics are rooted in libertarian views. Based on being raised by a Black Panther and in the Nation of Islam, I'm sure he has far-left reasons for the lyrics. That being said, it is still good and good music is good music to me regardless of any meanings.

 

[The Dude]

That song is outstanding. Very powerful lyrics.