Released: March 10, 2006

Songwriter: Lupe Fiasco

Producer: Gorillaz

Once upon a time
At the foot of a great mountain
There was a town where the people known as happy folk lived
Their very existence a mystery to the rest of the world
Obscured as it was by great clouds
Here they played out their peaceful lives
Innocent of the litany of excessive violence
That was growing in the world below
To live in harmony with the spirit of the mountain called Monkey was enough
Then one day, strange folk arrived in the town
They came in camouflage
Hidden behind dark glasses
And no one noticed them
They only saw shadows
You see
Without the truth of the eyes
The happy folk were blind

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.