Released: September 19, 2006

Songwriter: Lupe Fiasco

Producer: Needlz

[Intro]
Astaghfirullah, yeah!
Yeah, this one right here, ha
I dedicate this one right here
To everybody out there…
Ya dig?
Check it out

[Verse 1]
Now I ain't trying to be the greatest—
I used to hate hip-hop, yup, because the women degraded
But Too $hort made me laugh, like a hypocrite I played it
A hypocrite, I stated, though I only recited half
Omitting the word "bitch"– cursing, I wouldn't say it
Me and Dog couldn't relate, till a bitch I dated
Forgive my favorite word for hers and hers alike
But I learned it from a song I heard and sort of liked
Yeah, further, ice and glamorized drug dealing was appealing
But the block club kept it from in front of our building
Gangsta rap-based filmings became the building blocks
For children with leaking ceilings catching drippings with pots
Coupled with compositions from Pac
Nas' It Was Written, intermixed with my realities and feelings
Living conditions, religion, ignorant wisdom, and artistic vision
I began to jot, tap the world, and listen
It dropped

[Hook 1]
My mom can't feed me, my boyfriend beats me
I have sex for money, the hood don't love me
The cops wanna kill me, this nonsense built me
And I got no place to go
They bomb my village, they call us killers
Took me off they welfare, can't afford they health care
My teacher won't teach me, my master beats me
And it hurts me soul

[Verse 2]
I had a ghetto boy bop, a Jay-Z boycott
'Cause he said that he never prayed to God, he prayed to Gotti
I'm thinking "Golly, God guard me from the ungodly"
But by my 30th watching of Streets is Watching
I was back to giving props again, and that was bothering
'Bout as uncomfortable as an untouchable touching you
The theme songs that niggas hustle to seemed wrong
But these songs was coming true
And it was all becoming cool
I found a condom on the ground that Johns would cum into
And thought; what constitutes a prostitute
Is the pursuit of profit, then they drop it
The homie in a suit pat her on the butt, then rock it
It seems I was seeing the same scene adopted
Prevalent in different things
With the witnesses indifferent to stop it
They said "Don't knock it, mind your business"
His business isn't mine and that nigga pimping, got it

[Hook 2]
They took my daughter, we ain't got no water
I can't get hired, their cross on fire
We all got suspended, I just got sentenced
So I got no place to go
They threw down my gang sign, I ain't got no hang time
They talk about my sneakers, poisoned our leader
My father ain't seen me
Turn off my TV 'cause it hurts me soul

[Verse 3]
So through the Grim Reaper sickle-sharpening
Macintosh marketing, oil field auguring
Brazilian adolescent disarmament
Israeli occupation, Islamic martyrdom
Precise, yeah, laser-guided targeting
Oil for food bartering, terrorist organization harboring
Sand-camouflaged army men
CCF sponsoring, world conquering, telephone monitoring
Louis Vuitton modeling, pornographic actress honoring
String theory pondering, bulimic vomiting
Catholic Priest fondling, preemptive bombing
And Osama and Obama and them
They breaking in my car again
Deforestation and overlogging, and
Hennessy and Hypnotiq swallowing
Hydroponic coughing, and
All the world's ills
Sitting on chrome 24-inch wheels
Like that

[Hook 3]
They say I'm infected, this is why I inject it
I had it aborted, we got deported
My laptop got spyware, they say that I can't lie here
But I got no place to go
I can't stop eating, my best friend's leaving
My pastor touched me, I love this country
I lost my earpiece, I hope y'all hear me
'Cause it hurts me soul

[Outro]
It hurts me soul
It hurts me soul
Hurts me soul

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.