Songwriter: Lupe Fiasco

[Verse 1]
I was about as uncool as a niece's mother's biggest brother
But now it's all butter
Now I'm bout as uncool as some cover to a pool from a puddle
Like a monsoon but subtler
Slowly pull up my pants
A sagger to a flooder
Now you need a submarine the way I'm cuffin' my jeans
Like I'm arrestin' my dress code
The dress clothes and the dress toes
So let's roll
Ghetto Lambda Lambda's how I address those
Niggas might peep and think geek
But you need that when you knee-deep goin' on waist-high
Get up to your neck just like a great tie
I finally got the Windsor
Like on my eighth try
Your shirt's still soakin' wet
Your slacks ain't dry
And I have yet to even fall from the sky
I'm hotter than red with a head full of lye
Better run and get Spike, tell him I'm on fire

[Verse 2]
Hell, I don't wanna see you like a male stripper
As you picture yourself lookin' at pictures of male strippers
That's how that I don't wanna go to hell nigga
Wish you well like a wishin' well wisher wish itself
It fell at first so now I sail with you
If it happen to sink
I pitch in with pails
And pitchers, bucket, and cup it back to the river
Then cover the leak with Garbage Pail Kid stickers
{dynamite} and first aid the way your saviors
Now your flow look like my bedroom door when I was four
No rockin that boat, or you be swimmin', fo sho
Oh, I stay ship-shape all aboard
That's just how I roll
When I try and keep the run afloat
Hating's a disease
And it's deadly if you catch it
Crabs in the bucket
Always tryna pull me backwards
Position rarely change so they don't really matter
If not the same then similar like Asher and Mathers

[Verse 3]
Bully or I bogard
Bodacious so I'm Humphrey
I used to rubber band but now I got a bungee
If you let me expand
That refers to the money
Gucci's all good
Chanel is all chummy
And that ain't even for me
My honey and my mommy
I'd rather be bummy, nappy on top
Cipriani in my tummy
The fade is for the fans
Not even for my fans
It's more for like the brand
Whether you hear the words or just a show of hands
The sign language lady who be translatin' my jams
You really like the beats or you barely understand
Why I throw my set up wherever I am
Man, it's cause I love my town
My mind was a sponge, but now it's Sham-Wow
I never throw in the towel so just wipe me down
But don't you get too close
They might have to put you out

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.