Lupe Fiasco

[fox69]

"Angels (Remix)"

"Angels (Remix)"


I see, diamond flooded demons, Lamborghini angels
Halos down with the doors flapping when they came through
Windows up, system bumping, you the one they sang to
Same two, who said they the ones you should send your thanks through
Pockets full of blessings, they can sanctify and saint you
You can hear them revving/reverend up in heaven now, can't you?
Sandals made of chrome, his soul made of leather
An engine full of sinning and candy painted feathers
The sound of the motor only revving/reverend you confess to
I see this all in the eyes of the girl I'm next to
I asked her "Where we going?" and she just told me "Pleasure"
Hands on the wheel and her heels on the acceler-
-rator, told her wait up, she kept going like et cetera
But like a broken record, we’ve come too far to just wheel it back selector
So we going ride forever, forever, forever, forever, forever

Uh, said she was a fan of mine
Knew she was New Jersey, but said that she was Anaheim
Butterflies turn to suicides, now it's phantoms flying
Used to whisper in my ear, but now she trying to Vander mine
That holy feeling/Holyfield all gone, slowly feeling all wrong
None of this is satisfying, pull it over, let me out
I'll just hitchhike back to mine
Nothing's really as it seems, yeah I should of known that
Thought I called a angel, devils had my phones tapped

 

[fox69]

"Animal Pharm"

"Animal Pharm"


[Verse 1:]
Quiet as a kitten
Reply as silent as a Raphael-given instrument for stickin'
Or maybe riot as a lion
Would he tie in tiger for attention?
Tiggers and Poohs, niggas and jews
Mr. Opulent Christopher Robinson too
Reversal like
When that predetermined term expires on a turtle's life
What of Korea, are you scared?
Or is something not there, like a Welsh rabbit full of hairs
Animal farms and imaginary bears
The body is a house like a kangaroo pouch
Or an oyster-hoisted cow over crescent moons as it looms low in the night sky
Platoons of coons stand ready for the drive-by
Steady as the medley booms from the Akai
Affirm as in "Aye aye"
Like it the second
Like a junior, like a third, like a eye
Like a observe from the view of a bird as it fly high
Sitting heavy like spaghetti in the belly of a wise guy
Who let these G's out the PI_STY?
Seems they taking cues from The Wire
Okay decorum, and keeping you from wanting to buy it
But you still buy it like you never left it's sight
And like a slow gunfighter gun: unfired
Cow dung walls, hermit crabs in the mall, sting ray from the stars and barnyard laws
These are

[Hook 1: Atoms for Peace sample]
Hey hey, just cause I got thumbs, that don't mean everybody is dumb, huh huh?
Just cause I got one, that don't mean that they got none, what what?

[Verse 2:]
Quiet as a mouse in the House of God
In the jaws, like tyrants in the mouths of mobs
Ripping it to pieces like a picture and a preacher
If a cricket was a speaker, it's it's own chicken bones on the garbage can top
Ugly mother freakers is predator opposite on top of it to make it fox
So if similar appeal, administer the seal to make it real
Elephantine but never mind
Half-ton gorillas in admittance, they'll never find
Hungry as a hippopotamus, gobble it 'til your bottom and your body is as wobbly as Skrillex
Eeyores and Piglets, blind bats nailing tails to a riblet
Time only limited (ed) if you make it
Blind rat's nails hold tales of Unseeing Eye selves
Out is out, so they only seeing thy shells
Ghost Dog
Oh lawd
These are

[Hook 2: Atoms for Peace sample]
Hey they not dumb
I ain't smart just cause I got thumbs, what, say what?
Hey hey, just cause I got one
That don't mean I'm better cause they got none, say what, say what say what?

[Verse 3:]
The butcher says to the bovines
You're all just pastrami when it's showtime
Cowboy co-signs, attack the cat samples
Own worst enemies
Chop down the trees, we need the axe handles
Like a heel in a sandal saying "hell no"
Or you trapped like the yells of a nail in the shell-toe
Clever as a fishbowl on a sailboat
Landlocked as a ham hock on a railroad
Sandbox by the swimming pool
Two times as clever as a fishing school
Pills for the pressure
Broken seals on the pills for the pleasure
If you feeling ill, whatever
Animal farm, you're all dumb
Tickle 'em with your articulated thumb,
A tapeworm will never play the drums, but um
These are
These are

[Hook 3: Atoms for Peace sample]
Hey hey, just cause I got one
That don't mean I'm smart cause they got none
W-what, w-what
Am I not an animal cause I got thumbs?
That don't make me smart cause they got none, say what?
W-what, w-what
Here we come
Am I not an animal cause I got thumbs, say what?
Say what, say what?

 

[fox69]

"ANKH:HER"

"ANKH:HER"


Balance
A drunken ground for my niggas
But what if up was down for the liquor?
Then pour in something stiffer
Filter mud from the champagne on blood
Might just milk a tub out my hand vein
Ivy league, I receive, Irie vibes
What a dream! What I mean? Ideaize
You see the storm brewing way up in the heaven
A statue wouldn't mourn'em so I wake up to erect, damn
And the bed made of women
Who came first with a head made of chickens?
Break the fast, break the mask on a egg-making mission
With X-rated visions
And the glass
I wish that I could live inside jazz
As hecklers shekel magpie
Note-blowing standard
Scat over improvised ragtime
Red magic, dead rabbit, energize me back [?]

Feather me or let it be
(My nigga, what's up?)
Tether me or sever me
(My nigga, what's up?)
Definitely won't set me free
(My nigga, what's up?)
But you look like a set of keys
(My nigga, what's up?)

May I die from a hand that is not black
Lie down my crown where Mike Brown dropped at
At the spot where he was unchained
To pour liquor on it and watch a King grow from the blood stains
Then hug him, I'm just here, I ain't here to judge him
I hear the jeers, the cheers, I'm adjusted
It's the day, it's judgement
(Ankh: hers)
For the sippers and the drinkers
Lift her by the shoulders like hangers
Pterodactyls, there are damsels, in their fingers
Ambulance chasers bad chance ain't no mash for the bangers
Ash with a bad hand, cash for the danger
Bottom made of glass, shake that ass for the strangers
I'm on the wrath with the danglers, shaking my shaft
You just bass to the anglers (hooked)
Drift to mausoleum, shackle my feet in 1919
Hollerin' droppin' cosmopolitans on the crime scene
Xenophobian, hemoglobin soakin' on white queens
Pale-face invaders to foreign devils and gaijin

Feather me or let it be
(My nigga, what's up?)
Tether me or sever me
(My nigga, what's up?)
Definitely won't set me free
(My nigga, what's up?)
But you look like a set of keys
(My nigga, what's up?)

Has the moon killed the sun yet?
Over dim sum steamed bamboo basket bun sets
A brisk run to keep the lungs fresh
Hung sweats on the radiator
Two shanks for the date rapers and baby tapers
Clear the vision with the spit inside the aviators
Legit but quit because the lick promised them pits of paper
Will we eliminate the innovators?
Will we commemorate the imitators?
You are now set tripping with eliminators
Life given persimmons
So now your lemons persimmon flavored
Why you mixing different neighbors? Spike it
Now the wrists are slitting razors
(Ankh: hers)
The benefits of red wine
Drunken box thieves fighting bars to charge a dead mine
Iron wing Icarus, dip a bit, fly a Siamese chicken strips
Well-designed to keep from liftin' shit

Feather me or let it be
(My nigga, what's up?)
Tether me or sever me
(My nigga, what's up?)
Definitely won't set me free
(My nigga, what's up?)
But you look like a set of keys
(My nigga, what's up?)

 

[fox69]

"Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)"

"Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)"


[Verse 1]
First off say peace to Pine Ridge
Shame on all the damage the white man wine did
Ghost dance, Trail of Tears, 5 million beers a year
And all that other crime did
More peace to the teachers of blind kids
To rebels in small cells keeping their mind big
Say everything’s hostile
Suicide bombers and prosperity gospels, emaciated models
With cocaine and blood pouring out their nostrils, they got to
Just to stay awake on the catwalk of life where everybody watch you
Straight hair, high heels and a handbag
Crucifixes, racism and a land grab
Katrina, FEMA trailers, human body sandbags
A peace sign and a pants sag
A money toss cause a 9 stripper mad dash
A friend request following a hash tag
Now everybody want it like the last laugh
A Michael Jackson jacket or a daft mask
Purple Jordans or the mixed girl in your math class
Stable is when the Ba’ath had Baghdad
But corporate jets really had to have that gas bad
War and they hope they all fall from the ratatat
Cause that’s just more dinosaur for the Cadillac

[Hook]
Live from the other side what you see
A bunch of nonsense on my TV
Heaven on Earth is what I need
But I feel I’m in hell every time I breathe
Reporting live from the other side what you hear
A bunch of nonsense all in my ear
Rich man, poor man, we all gotta pay
Cause freedom ain’t free, especially ’round my way

[Verse 2]
And we marvel at the state of heart of man
Then turn around and treat Ghana like a garbage can
America’s a big motherfuckin’ garbageman
If you ain’t know, you’re part and parcel of the problem
You say no you ain’t, and I say yes you is
Soon as you find out what planned obsolescence is
You say no they didn’t, and I say yes they did
The definition of unnecessary-ness
Manifested
Say that we should protest just to get arrested
That goes against all my hustling ethics
A bunch of jail niggas say its highly ineffective
Depart from Martin, connect on Malcolm X tip
Insert Baldwin to similar the separate
To me, the truth is more fulfilling than a meth hit
Or finding really fast internet to have some sex with
It’s all one song short of a set list
Couple croissants shy of a continental breakfast
Or blowing out your birthday candles just to make a death wish
So absurd word to Chief Bone Necklace
Down at the Lakota Sioux Casino
A whole culture boiled down to giving you paquino
I go as left as a heart in the chest
Cause the Horn of Africa is now starving to death

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
An all white Los Angeles, the dream of Mr. Chandler
Hope and pray they take Columbus day up off the calendar
South Central an example of God’s gifts
So shout to all the mothers raising babies in spa 6
The projects of Oakland city, Detroit ghost towns
Monopolies on poverty where D-boy coke bound
It’s parts of Manilla like the video for Thriller
But the US Embassy is reminiscent of a villa
If poverty is chocolate and privilege vanilla
Then what’s the flavor of the Sunday preacher’s pedophilia
Cash rules everything around these niggas
As classrooms everywhere around me wither
Hither you can be Mr. Burns or Mr. Smithers
The tyrant or the slave but nowhere in the middle
Of the extremes of America’s dream
Freud fighting Neo, Freddy Krueger refereeing, naaa…

[Hook]

 

[fox69]

"Atomic Misphilosophy"

"Atomic Misphilosophy"


[Intro:]
War gives value to life by showing it can be taken away
And in a perverted way, those who wage war delude themselves into thinking they create life
Or at least make it meaningful
Thus, using that as a basis for grandiose notions of supremacy
Falsely giving themselves the title of masters of the universe
And gatekeepers of morality

[Verse 1:]
Peace trials and living power pleasure over pain
Geiger counters check amounts of radiation in the rain
Biochemical nuke, gas masks and rubber boots
Inhale your last gasp without a Hazmat suit
Terrible, unbearable miracle of the modern scientific
Arms race, chase for the horrific
Manhattan project, man cancelling concept
Catastrophic bomb, a fabric-shattering context
A little boy falling from a metal bird
Followed by a fat man who left behind a leveled earth
Imbalanced challenge to survival of the whole piece
Have seeked to staff the whole planet with their own peeps
A zone beeps of contaminated contents
Atomically activated, saturated beyond its
Limits, to live within its boundaries with conscience
To cancer cells, I'm not totally unresponsive

[Hook:]
Cause in future's shock, there where everything's storied
I don't feel like there's anything for me
I hope they put this out
Cause in future's shock, there where everything's storied
I don't feel like there's anything for me
I hope they figure out
This atomic misphilosophy

[Verse 2:]
Uninhabitable avenues, third wars in southern latitudes
Mutually assured that it all happens to
International violence leaves us black and blue
Blast us back into the past if attack ensues
A pack-approved tactic fully practiced
On the evil of the axis back in World War Two
The melted lunchbox of a disintegrated girl
Dogs on fighters, mosquitoes, flies and squirrels
Men, women and children have their bones cooked to ash
And their shadows burning to the ground from the flash
And if they didn't pass what's the future, Hibakusha?
You say you need a job, but they won't give it to ya
In the era where they said the greatest evil was that white man
From the reich land, but this was coming from the same people
Who thought that Jim Crow was all 'ight then'
Same thing that kept Colonel Tibbets on his flight plan

[Hook]

[Verse 3:]
Nuclear stockpile's America's second largest
The world's most destructive and the world's most heartless
Under the auspices that war will be rendered harmless
And everlasting peace will be in reach if we just bomb shit
Technologically fanatic racial socio-
Economic faux-intellectual fucking nonsense
Dripping with political interludes, typical of a system
Stark raving mad and operating unconscious
Now how do we proceed?
Knowing through the man's fatalism
And probably you'll never leave
A disease trying to cure its own symptoms with disease
Creating an epidemic just to see if it can be
Genuine mistrust of everything but us
Based on artificial evidence, but mostly racists at the crux
Let's pray they throw 'em all out
And I hope I don't see you
Through the foggy field of vision in the fall out

[Hook]

 

[fox69]

"Audubon Ballroom"

"Audubon Ballroom"


God is great!

[Verse 1]
Ghettos, America. U.S. to the izzay
Killa in the citywide sprizzay
Where there's sunshine in the shizzade
Church won't pull him out the pin like a grenade
For acting out their fears like a charade
'Til they blackin' out their tears like it's lights out
Bring em out the black like a lighthouse
And wave to em before they wiped out
Lifesaver, threw em, hope they catch it
But it's so Titanic to be iced out
That's just scratching the surface like triple axels
Want to roll around that Bentley like Crystal Castles
In addition to the chain
That's just to take the attention from the pain
Or is it the mission of the man
Audubon Ballroom, Motel Lorraine

[Hook]
Now white people, they can't say nigga
So I gotta take it back
Now black people, we're not niggas
God made us better than that

[Verse 2]
No break, ah wait
Little mayhem for your All-State, nay ham, all steak
Get a good ball great like a golf grade
Make the ball break
Just one swing, no putting
That's how I try 'n does things always
Especially when your past is
Martin, Baldwin, Audubon Ballroom
Turn the glass ceiling to a glass floor
Make a trampoline out of trapdoor
On that gasoline when I was back poor
Now they crafted out my dream underneath a tap floor
Backpack battle-cat underground rap lore
Anonymous but dominant - what's a Mac to a hacker
In other words, lyrical Zuckerbergs
Pimp you may move a mouse but what's a rat to a cat store
It's like a gig to an app store
I rap Black history, you can only see my past if you fast forward

[Hook]
Now white people, they can't say nigga
So I gotta take it back
Now black people, we're not niggas
God made us better than that

[Verse 3]
Black Panthers, black anthems, black blues
With black answers for black stanzas: Langston Hughes
Breaking rules, ain't it cool?
Took it old, and made it new
Black painters, musical black anger
Black mothers, beautiful black anchors
So let's hear it for 'em! Let's hear it for 'em!
Let's hear it for 'em! Let's hear it for 'em!
Black America! Trap America!
80s Babies! Crack America!
Rap America! Bad as Erykah!
From the era of family tearing up
But we just won big, can't be undid
Form a whole culture in just one kid
Miami dope boys, Oakland militants
Harlem Renaissance it's our deliverance

[Hook]
Now white people, they can't say nigga
So I gotta take it back
Now black people, we're not niggas
God made us better than that

 

[fox69]

"Ayesha Says (Intro)"

"Ayesha Says (Intro)"


[Intro/Chorus]
Hijabs, hoodies, afros, locks
Teddy bear, liquor bottle shrines, rocks
Tanks, prayer rugs, church pews, Mexican corn stands
Blood, sweat, and tears, police batons
Gas masks and bullets create graffiti on corners

Murals that salute freedom or death for liberty
Be it Inglewood or Egypt, Bedstuy or Baghdad
Syria or Liberia, the west bank or the west side of Chicago
Where food and liquor stores still occupy the block
While police and community watchmen justify why they shot
Emmit Till and Malice Green, Rekia Boyd and Trayvon Martin
Better not wear that hoodie while shopping for a carton
Or whatever they sellin in your food desert
Cause your soul is dessert and will be dissected and consumed
On the Fox evening news while we sing the blues
The new Jim Crow caged bird sings
Cause he's tired of occupying his misery and of our marching
He wanna fly to a higher consciousness
But his school on academic probation
They gave him medicine, diagnosed him with a felony and mental retardation
So he refuses to cease the firin, nobody's hirin
In Illinois, 67 is the new age when you retirin
Class lines have blurred, those who used to have, have not
Pensions bein snatched
Those who never have keep their hands stretched
Social services being cut
Sterilization clinics giving out pills to numb the womb
Young girls referring to their vaginas as tombs
Thinkin protests are temporary and trendy
Well rock a t-shirt and carry a poster
And two weeks later it's back to normal
But they say times are changin'
The revolution is becoming second nature, causes are combining
People carrying torches, hope burning from their hands
Attaching explosive devices cause they keep stealing their lands
In the name of freedom

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"B.M.F. (Building Minds Faster)"

"B.M.F. (Building Minds Faster)"


[Lupe: Talking]
Uh huh, Friend of the People!!
Yeah, I mean c'mon. What the FUCK do I gotta do?
This one for the fans here Jack

[Lupe: Hook]
I think I'm Malcom X, Martin Luther
Add a King, add a Junior
Some Bible verses, couple Sunnahs
An AK-47 that's a revolution!! (nigga)
Think I'm 2Pac, Bob Marley
Fela Kuti, Marcus Garvey
Them the real ones, light a lighter for 'em
Letcha know, that I'm ridin' for 'em

[Lupe: Verse 1]
Gon' gimme some, a lil' more beat
Call yo' friends around, then call the police!
Im ridin' wit my flow, it take up four seats
So I'm gon' ghost ride, but with no sheets
One man by myself, even then I'm 4 deep
Like hotel swimming pools, that's 4 feet
These niggas like the rooms, so suite(sweet)
Priceline! so cheaaap
I'm the cell phone, they the room keys
I'm some shell toes, they some shoe strings
I turn 'em off, I take 'em out
I'm Reverend Run, with the laces out
Adidas, so adios
All day I dream, like I'm comatose
That's your ship sinking, and I'm so afloat
I'm T-Pain, I'm on a boat!!!
Not the slave one, Decaprio's either
Hear the waves come, they started in the bleachers
So I'm swag surfin', the pool's getting deeper
You still sweet though, here come them room keepers
Ok I'll be the strings, you be the shoes
But guess what (what?), now they Jimmy Choo's
I wear the pants, you in the pools
Yo shit meows, my shit AWOOOOOOOOO
I got a fifth flow, call me Brother Man
Africa the set, yea that's the motherland
For that BP, I shed 50 tears
In Nigeria that oil been spillin' for like 50 years!
Fifty years! Hell naww, hell yeahhh, tryina tell ya'll
At this rate, niggas gon' lose!
Can't search for water, or grow your own food!
Tell me what's gon' happen, when them stores close
And ain't gon open up, no more
Yeah that's the realest shit
You gon' feel dat, hungers yo' enemy
But you can't kill dat!
Nigga wake up, don't join the army
Kill your own peoples, but fear Illuminatis
And they ain't even real, or are they?
But you ain't even know, because you partay
Too fuckin much, if you start to doubt
They already in yo mind, and comin' out yo mouth
Its not a trick, nigga, it's a trap
Survival of the fit, is what they aiming at
And niggas ain't fit, fat as hell!
Fat in mind, body fat, as well
Who use most the drugs? Americans!
Whats in Afghanistan? heroin!
You think thats by mistake? They can't stop dat?
Don't think you safe though, because you not black
Greed is colorblind, so I'm colorblind
They gon' fuck with yours soon as they done with mine
They say I try to hard, verses overwhelm
I learned most of this, from niggas sittin' in jail
Where you think I'm from? I'm from the streets nigga!
Triple OG's told me to teach nigga!
And that ain't made up, nope! Thats a fact
They say that gangsta shit, is the shit I rap
Look who I attract, look at my inner circle
Bunch of street niggas, and a couple Erkles
Look at my fanbase! Oh yess!
Fuck what Pro say! Look at this protest!
Where they do that at? Who they do that for?
Must mean I'm doin' bad, and things is movin' slow
We talkin' revolution on public radio!
Then catch me down in Houston, sittin on them 84's
Trae wassup, ABN, gotcha back nigga, sink or swim
Free Chilly Chill, shake off yo' mastas
Pray to God; Build yo mind faster

[Lupe: Hook]
I think I'm Malcom X, Martin Luther
Add a King, add a Junior
Couple Bible verses, and some Sunnahs
An AK-47 that's a revolution!! (nigga)
Think I'm 2Pac, Bob Marley
Fela Kuti, Marcus Garvey
Them the real ones, light a lighter for 'em
If you ain't know, I'm ridin' for 'em

 

[fox69]

"Baba Says Cool For Thought"
(feat. Iesha Jaco)

"Baba Says Cool For Thought"
(feat. Iesha Jaco)



They thought it was cool to burn crosses in your front lawn as they hung you from trees in
Your backyard.
They thought it was cool to leave you thirsty and strand katrina.
He thought it was cool to carry a gun in his classroom and open fire, virginia tech columbine,
Stop the violence.
They thought it was cool to tare down the projects and put up million dollar condos,
Gentrification.
They think its cool to stand on the block hiding products in their socks making quick dime bag
Dollars.
They think its cool to to ride down on you in blue and white unmarked cars, bustin you upside
Yo head.
Freeze....cause the problem is we think its cool too.
Check your ingredients, before you overdose, on the cool.

 

[fox69]

"Battle Scars"
(with Guy Sebastian)

"Battle Scars"
(with Guy Sebastian)



The wound heals but it never does
That's 'cause you're at war with love
You're at war with love, yeah

These battle scars don't look like they're fading
Don't look like they're ever going away
They ain't never gonna change
These battle

Never let a wound ruin me
But I feel like ruins wooing me
Arrow holes that never close from cupid on a shooting spree
Feeling stupid 'cause I know it ain't no you and me
But when you're trying to beat the odds up
Been trying to keep your nods up and you know that you should know
And let her go but the fear of the unknown
Holding another lover strong sends you back into the zone
With no Tom Hanks to bring you home
A lover not a fighter on the front line with a poem
Trying to write yourself a rifle
Maybe sharpen up a song
To fight the tanks and drones of you being alone

I wish I never looked, I wish I never touched
I wish that I could stop loving you so much
'Cause I'm the only one that's trying to keep us together
When all of the signs say that I should forget her
I wish you weren't the best, the best I ever had
I wish that the good outweighed the bad
'Cause it'll never be over, until you tell me it's over

[2x]
These battle scars don't look like they're fading
Don't look like they're ever going away
They ain't never gonna change

These battle

(And just leave then)
You shouldn't have but you said it
(And I hope you never come back)
It shouldn't have happened but you let it
Now you're down on the ground screaming, "Medic!"
The only thing that comes is the post-traumatic stresses
Shields, body armors and vests
Don't properly work, that's why you're in a locker full of hurt
The enemy within and all the fires from your friends
The best medicine is to probably just let her win

I wish I couldn't feel, I wish I couldn't love
I wish that I could stop 'cause it hurts so much
And I'm the only one that's trying to keep us together
When all of the signs say that I should forget her
I wish you weren't the best, the best I ever had
I wish that the good outweighed the bad
'Cause it'll never be over, until you tell me it's over

[2x]
These battle scars don't look like they're fading
Don't look like they're ever going away
They ain't never gonna change

These battle

'Cause you've set me on fire
I've never felt so alive, yeah

Hoping wounds heal, but it never does
That's because you're at war with love

And I'm at the point of breaking
And it's impossible to shake it

See, you hoped the wound heals, but it never does
That's 'cause you're at war with love
Hope it heals, but it never does
That's 'cause you're at war with love!

[3x]
These battle scars don't look like they're fading
Don't look like they're ever going away
They ain't never gonna change

These battle