Released: January 1, 2013

Songwriter: Lupe Fiasco

[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 knife
What of Korea, are you scared?
Or is something not there, like a Welsh rabbit full of hares
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 its 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: 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 not dumb, 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 its 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 a midst, 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?

Lupe Fiasco

The Chicago born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco first tasted success when he featured on Kanye West’s hit “Touch the Sky”, a track that shortly preceded his real breakout, his 2006 debut album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, and he never looked back. He has established himself as one of the greatest urban wordsmiths of all time, with Genius even dubbing him the ‘Proust of Rap’.

While he’s now regarded of one of the 21st Century’s Hip-Hop greats, he wasn’t always a fan of the genre, initially disliking it due to the prominence of vulgarity and misogyny within it. In his late teens, he aspired to make it as a lyricist. In his early twenty’s, he met Jay-Z, who helped him sign with Atlantic Records in 2005. The following year, he released his debut album (Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor), which was met with acclaim from fans and critics alike, as did his sophomore effort, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool.

The following eight years of his career saw far less output than many would’ve anticipated. This can be partly attributed to his struggles with Atlantic Records. The executives wanted him to sign a 360 deal; however, as he refused to do so they instead shelved his already completed 3rd album, Lasers, and wouldn’t promote him as they had previously. The overseers at the label also interfered with his music (as they had tried to do with his fan-favorite track “Dumb it Down”); subsequently effecting the quality and sound of his third and fourth albums.