| Lupe Fiasco – Streets On Fire Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| it sounds like tania322 saw the marketing documentary from PBS Frontline called Merchants of Cool. | |
| Nas – I Can Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| it's your normal afrocentric history. i don't mind it, it's a lot better than most of what makes it to an mtv rap video. does anybody notice nas seems more enthusiastic in this song, like he has a less monotone flow? it does sound a little weird for him, but i wish he would flow this way on more songs. it reminds me of the cocky way jay-z modulates his voice. | |
| Nas – Hip Hop Is Dead Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| when i first heard this, i loved the chopped and screwed part. as i listened to the song, i was hoping there to be more production and lyrics that parodied the south/other mtv rap. | |
| Nas – Hip Hop Is Dead Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"Oh I they like me--in my white tee " should be Oh, "I think they like me," in my "white tee," name checking the Dem Franchize Boyz songs |
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| Jay-Z – Can't Knock The Hustle Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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1. "whonder whether foes" when the weather folds 2. "my cuff runnin over with hundreds" my cup runneth over with hundreds 3. "and i sip wine, and split ends exposed" and i sip fine wines and spit vintage flows 4. some of my favorite lines: "bottle off the champagne, cristals by the bottle its a damn shame what ya knot though me slick like i got though (who?) fuckin Jay-Z pops knew exactly what he did when he made me" corrected Idle off the champagne, Cristals by the bottle It's a damn shame what you're not though, me Slick like a gato, fuckin Jay-Z My pops knew exactly what he did when he made me |
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| Lupe Fiasco – Conflict Diamonds Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| i love the fuck bush line, because of how subversive it is. one of my friends heard somebody posted a quote of the song up to that point, omitting the line after, "cause there's people doing worse on this earth, and they black." he's saying fuck the "fuck bush" idea. | |
| Lupe Fiasco – Conflict Diamonds Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Yea, other than not hearing of Cecil Rhodes and De Beers before, some of the misreadings are really bad. 1. the empowerer of the kings that came to claims and disease believe what the native people were saying corrected "came with claims And disease to leave where the native peoples were staying" 2. "Most hated ladies best friend get merked for a clip." corrected "Most hated lady's best friend, get merked for a clear one." 3. "Sissero so old and genocide, until the countryside just to get his shine on! I fear what the beards and his peers use to do before the world really knew just to get they mind on!" corrected "Cecil Rhodes sold woe and genocide into the countryside just to get his shine on I fear what De Beers and his peers used to do before the world really knew, just to get they mine on" 4. That my necklace was funding a rebellion or a military coo, [coup] 5. At my birth there was the few. And my bracelet was the fuel 6. i took it for years now let me bring it back, [I took it to 'Ye] 7. they only lost half the value when i took em out the store. [I didn't know they lost half their value] |
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| Lupe Fiasco – The Cool Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| i like how the phrases "fresh to death" and brushing the dirt off his shoulders are literal here | |
| Lupe Fiasco – The Instrumental Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I had no idea what this was about when I first heard it, and this the early comments about the television explanation were really useful. It was kind of jawdropping to listen to it afterwards, as I started to interpret it myself. silentsoldier made some observations that are really good too, and i agree with them all the more because of how i see "daydreamin'" as a song about being an individual. (i just posted about that) i'll have to listen to the song and look at the lyrics considering that later on. now i'll say what i was going to, and i might repeat some stuff. "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" That's about people who would agree that a lot of stuff on tv is garbage, but they still watch it. To put the tv interpretation in my own words, Lupe is rapping about how "life" or your identity has become so deeply embedded in what the media puts out that it is impossible to escape the box or separate life/identity from what the box says. it's a lot like the dr eckleburg scene from the great gatsby, where george wilson is so deeply entwined with a different box, symbolism, trapped underneath so many layers that it is not just part of but it forms his identity and the way he sees things. "Hopin that it'll give him somethin that he can box with" and: "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" i relate to these lines, but to you this might sound vague and bullshitty. these lines seem like they're about reaching some kind of higher existential level, people hoping that there is more in "life" as society defines it, that this "life" will have more to come, eventually giving you the tools to be more. but ultimately this hope succumbs to a kind of desperate acquiescence coexisting with what is more clearly a pipe dream: "So he chained hisself to the box, took a lock and then he locked it Swallowed the combination and then forgot, it" "And he never lies (he never lies) Cause he never said anything at all" This to me brings to mind that he never does anything wrong because he has no position or takes no action or stand. This behavior isn't what society considers malicious or evil, but in reality is a more insidious and subtle problem. Or maybe as far as silentsoldier's interpretation, it's about not lying when you aren't "being yourself" because there wasn't much of "yourself" to begin with--"Cause he never said anything at all." "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" one of the first things that i thought of when i took the tv interpretation to later listens is why this song is called "the instrumental" and what that means in the lyrics. i thought it was market researchers. the in da club video with dr dre and eminem taking notes, wearing white lab coats behind the two way glass came to mind. these researchers pay attention to what people like, pop culture. they took away his voice by determining what the box plays to begin with, and they collect all this information and knowledge, but not to use it to improve culture, just to put out more garbage to sell. they jot down what the market seems to say it wants, but by only trying to give the market more of what seemed to do well, they limit the range of mainstream products. companies aren't going to want to take big risks, bad pop culture that does well becomes distilled and magnified. by this process of jotting down what the market says, ironically marketing and advertising people do not give consumers a voice. in the end, they dictate the culture, they are the ones doing the writing that determines what it will become. mtv and mainstream radio is a major example of this kind of pop culture. mainstream rap today is dominated by beats and production combined with dumbed down lyrics. so the instrumental that is left behind is specifically the instrumentals of rap songs. if you didn't know already "instrumental" is the specific term for the beat only track (as opposed to the a capella vocal only track). as a result of market research, there is no voice left in the sense that it is irrelevant and does not say anything. from here, it seems possible that the whole song (on one level at least) is about hip hop and its mainstream. The culture--"Everything he sees he absorbs and adopts it/Heeeeee mimics," and "Anything the box tell him to do, he does it/Anything it tell him to get, he shops and he cops it." Seeing a decline and becoming frustrated with the mainstream--and he mocks it/Really hates the box but he can't remember how to stop, it. Then the rest of the first verse is about how a listener hopes that hip hop will eventually save and liberate itself (Cause at that moment, it might show him/What to take off the locks with) and because he has grown up on it and it's such a part of his identity, he doesn't want to give up on it yet (scared to look away). this concept could be from the perspective of a rapper as well as a listener. the rapper could have also grown up on hip hop and is seeing a decline, but doesn't know what to do about it and is passive. he would like to do something, but does not know what. he does not want to give up on hip hop but it seems like he can only either wait for the scene to magically come up with a solution or wait some kind of inspiration or discovery that allows him to change the situation himself (Hopin that it'll give him somethin that he can box with). The "combination" could refer to the combination of features that made hip hop unique. swallowing the combination and forgetting it would mean forgetting these features and not spitting that combination any more. the doctors would be market researchers as well as a&r's and other industry people who shape lyrical and album content. the combination or prescription they decide on is the one the rapper now swallows. now, what the rapper or hip hop actually says is irrelevant. he is really spoken for by the doctors of the industry and all that matters is the instrumental. the second verse could be about the music industry a little more explicitly. the rapper is now trapped in the system of the industry: "Everything he hears he absorbs and adopts it Anything not comin out the box he blocks it See he loves to box and hope they never stop it" "He protects the box, locks it in a box" this could mean that the rapper continues to be a part of hip hop, defending it. locking it in a box would mean locking mainstream rap in the box of the word "hip hop", as if the two are really the same. on internet forums, you'll see people say that rap is the way it is now because that's what the people want, or that nobody should dictate the definition of hip hop to the exclusion and denigration of some mainstream stuff like southern or snap. in reality, the state of hip hop today is more complex, and not the culturally laissez faire process these people think it is. I think this line, "Cause at that moment, it might get stolen" suggests this interpretation also. |
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| Lupe Fiasco – The Instrumental Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I had no idea what this was about when I first heard it, and this the early comments about the television explanation were really useful. It was kind of jawdropping to listen to it afterwards, as I started to interpret it myself. silentsoldier made some observations that are really good too, and i agree with them all the more because of how i see "daydreamin'" as a song about being an individual. (i just posted about that) i'll have to listen to the song and look at the lyrics considering that later on. now i'll say what i was going to, and i might repeat some stuff. "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" That's about people who would agree that a lot of stuff on tv is garbage, but they still watch it. To put the tv interpretation in my own words, Lupe is rapping about how "life" or your identity has become so deeply embedded in what the media puts out that it is impossible to escape the box or separate life/identity from what the box says. it's a lot like the dr eckleburg scene from the great gatsby, where george wilson is so deeply entwined with a different box, symbolism, trapped underneath so many layers that it is not just part of but it forms his identity and the way he sees things. "Hopin that it'll give him somethin that he can box with" and: "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" i relate to these lines, but to you this might sound vague and bullshitty. these lines seem like they're about reaching some kind of higher existential level, people hoping that there is more in "life" as society defines it, that this "life" will have more to come, eventually giving you the tools to be more. but ultimately this hope succumbs to a kind of desperate acquiescence coexisting with what is more clearly a pipe dream: "So he chained hisself to the box, took a lock and then he locked it Swallowed the combination and then forgot, it" "And he never lies (he never lies) Cause he never said anything at all" This to me brings to mind that he never does anything wrong because he has no position or takes no action or stand. This behavior isn't what society considers malicious or evil, but in reality is a more insidious and subtle problem. Or maybe as far as silentsoldier's interpretation, it's about not lying when you aren't "being yourself" because there wasn't much of "yourself" to begin with--"Cause he never said anything at all." "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" one of the first things that i thought of when i took the tv interpretation to later listens is why this song is called "the instrumental" and what that means in the lyrics. i thought it was market researchers. the in da club video with dr dre and eminem taking notes, wearing white lab coats behind the two way glass came to mind. these researchers pay attention to what people like, pop culture. they took away his voice by determining what the box plays to begin with, and they collect all this information and knowledge, but not to use it to improve culture, just to put out more garbage to sell. they jot down what the market seems to say it wants, but by only trying to give the market more of what seemed to do well, they limit the range of mainstream products. companies aren't going to want to take big risks, bad pop culture that does well becomes distilled and magnified. by this process of jotting down what the market says, ironically marketing and advertising people do not give consumers a voice. in the end, they dictate the culture, they are the ones doing the writing that determines what it will become. mtv and mainstream radio is a major example of this kind of pop culture. mainstream rap today is dominated by beats and production combined with dumbed down lyrics. so the instrumental that is left behind is specifically the instrumentals of rap songs. if you didn't know already "instrumental" is the specific term for the beat only track (as opposed to the a capella vocal only track). as a result of market research, there is no voice left in the sense that it is irrelevant and does not say anything. from here, it seems possible that the whole song (on one level at least) is about hip hop and its mainstream. The culture--"Everything he sees he absorbs and adopts it/Heeeeee mimics," and "Anything the box tell him to do, he does it/Anything it tell him to get, he shops and he cops it." Seeing a decline and becoming frustrated with the mainstream--and he mocks it/Really hates the box but he can't remember how to stop, it. Then the rest of the first verse is about how a listener hopes that hip hop will eventually save and liberate itself (Cause at that moment, it might show him/What to take off the locks with) and because he has grown up on it and it's such a part of his identity, he doesn't want to give up on it yet (scared to look away). this concept could be from the perspective of a rapper as well as a listener. the rapper could have also grown up on hip hop and is seeing a decline, but doesn't know what to do about it and is passive. he would like to do something, but does not know what. he does not want to give up on hip hop but it seems like he can only either wait for the scene to magically come up with a solution or wait some kind of inspiration or discovery that allows him to change the situation himself (Hopin that it'll give him somethin that he can box with). The "combination" could refer to the combination of features that made hip hop unique. swallowing the combination and forgetting it would mean forgetting these features and not spitting that combination any more. the doctors would be market researchers as well as a&r's and other industry people who shape lyrical and album content. the combination or prescription they decide on is the one the rapper now swallows. now, what the rapper or hip hop actually says is irrelevant. he is really spoken for by the doctors of the industry and all that matters is the instrumental. the second verse could be about the music industry a little more explicitly. the rapper is now trapped in the system of the industry: "Everything he hears he absorbs and adopts it Anything not comin out the box he blocks it See he loves to box and hope they never stop it" "He protects the box, locks it in a box" this could mean that the rapper continues to be a part of hip hop, defending it. locking it in a box would mean locking mainstream rap in the box of the word "hip hop", as if the two are really the same. on internet forums, you'll see people say that rap is the way it is now because that's what the people want, or that nobody should dictate the definition of hip hop to the exclusion and denigration of some mainstream stuff like southern or snap. in reality, the state of hip hop today is more complex, and not the culturally laissez faire process these people think it is. I think this line, "Cause at that moment, it might get stolen" suggests this interpretation also. |
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| Lupe Fiasco – Daydreamin' Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Other forums confirm what flowcraft said, the average person watching the video will not get how great this song is. Some think he's just rapping about a robot and combined with the video, that it's just about how he's different. This song is incredible and is one of several on the album that show Lupe as probably the best concept rapper I've heard. He doesn't have a single concept song. Instead, he does it so much that it's a part of his style. There's an aspect that hasn't been mentioned yet. I think this song is indeed about how Lupe is different. Like the one person living in the hood, just sitting back looking at it by himself, but done in a way that makes it more than a song about a staple topic that any rapper can do. This is a second thing the song is about, on another level. With the robot concept, and the line "im sitting in my room, as im looking out the face something to write about" he shows both in the story of the song and in the act of making such lyrics that a person can 1 be an individual in such an environment and 2 still have imagination when thinking or rapping about this environment. The image that the whole song projects reminds me of nas on black republicans, "I'm standing on the roof of my building." What Lupe does differently than any other person who feels the same way is that he emphasizes why he is the storyteller and especially artist bringing you these scenes by coming up with the robot concept and being able to carry it out so skillfully. The song is about the relationship between the hood and the individual in the first verse; the hood, rappers that are supposed to tell something about it/these rappers and the individual in the second; verses and chorus taken together, about how the hood shaped Lupe's identity. At this point, the song takes on yet another layer of meaning when you think about what Lupe is doing as a rapper to his audience. He is changing the way we think about the hood by bringing individuality and artistic creativity into the picture. I probably repeated some stuff in here, but it blew my mind to hear this kind of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man mentality and skill in a rap song. |
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| The Coup – My Favorite Mutiny Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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"Said at least a track then, seeds & stems... I'm get my brain off of that and the Jesus hymns" should be "steadily subtracting seeds and stems... Numbing my brain off of that and the Jesus hymns" "Activate in the community"="activating the community" "It's like a free, it remind me of the beak hater's love for me" is "they sucka free, it remind me of the BK, it's love for me" "But beats got it twisted, I'll untangle it" should be "beast" "...I came in the game with any way to spit Ya got a questionnaire, who you bangin' with? Take it back to M hotel Killer flow form a real niggas laughin..." should be "I came in the game with a new way to spit That got you questioning who you banging with Take it back to Imhotep" "Killer flow form a real niggas laughin"="Killer flow for all my real niggas lamping [or laughing]" "Underground, still about McGruff" must be "my grop" after hearing a terrible papoose song on the radio all about "gettin grop" "Talib Kweli revolutionary mc, and that ain't about stuff" should be "that ain't about to stop" |
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