Released: September 25, 2007

Featuring: Matthew Santos

Songwriter: Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco

Producer: Soundtrakk

[Hook: Matthew Santos & Lupe Fiasco]
If you are what you say you are (Yeah, yeah) a superstar (Gon' say now)
Then have no fear, the camera's here (Ugh)
And the microphones
And they wanna know-oh-oh-oh (The return)
If you are what you say you are, a superstar (What)
Then have no fear, the crowd is here (Yeah!)
And the lights are on (Haaa!)
And they want a show-oh-oh-oh, yeah (Free Chilly!)

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
Yeah! Ugh! a fresh cool young Lu'
Trying to cash his microphone check, 2-1-2
Wanna believe my own hype, but it's too untrue
The world brought me to my knees, what have you brung? You?
Did you improve on the design, did you do something new?
Well, your name ain't on the guest list, who brung you?
You! The more famous person you come through
And the sexy lady next to you—you come too
And then it hit me—standing outside of Heaven
Waiting for God to come and get me: I'm too uncouth
Unschooled to the rules and too gumshoe
Too much of a newcomer and too uncool
Like Shadow and Lavelle, I battle with it well
Though I need a holiday like lady who sung "Blue"
Go back, whatever you did you undo
Heavy as heaven, the devil on me, two tons too
Ha, ha, ha, ha-ha-ha

[Hook: Matthew Santos]
If you are what you say you are, a superstar
Then have no fear, the camera's here
And the microphones
And they wanna know-oh-oh-oh, yeah

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
And you better wear your shades
The spotlights here can burn holes through the stage
Down through the basement, past the Indian graves
Where the dinosaurs laid and (Pyoom!)
Out through China, nearly misses airliners
Magnified times five, this was pointed at the rhymer
Ricochets off the moon and sets the forest ablaze (Woo!)
Now, that's important to say
'Cause even with all that, most of us don't want it to faaaade
We want it to braid
Meaning, we want it to grow, meaning we want it to stay
Like the governor called, and he told him to wait
Unstrap him from the chair, and put him back in his caaaage
The audience ain't fazed
And they ain't gon' clap, and they ain't gon' praise (Ugh)
They want everything back (Back) that they've paid
'Cause they've been waiting since ten to see the lights get dim
Ha, ha, ha, ha-ha-ha

[Hook: Matthew Santos]
If you are what you say you are, a superstar
Then have no fear, the crowd is here
And the lights are on
And they want a show-oh-oh-oh, yeah

[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]
So, chauffeur, chauffeur, come and take me away
'Cause I've been standing in this line for, like, five whole days
Me and security ain't getting along, and when I got to the front
They told me all of the tickets were gone
So just take me home where the mood is mellow
And the roses are thrown, M&Ms are yellow
And the light bulbs around my mirror don't flicker
Everybody gets a nice autograph picture
One for you and one for your sister
Who had to work tonight but is an avid listener
Every song's her favorite song; and mics don't feedback
All the reviewers say, "You need to go and see that"
And everybody claps, 'cause everybody is pleased
And then, they all take the stage and start performing for me
Like, "Ha, ha, ha-ha-ha"
"Ha, ha, ha-ha-ha, ha"

[Hook: Matthew Santos & Lupe Fiasco]
If you are what you say you are, a superstar
Then have no fear, the camera's here
And the microphones
And they wanna know-oh-oh-oh
If you are what you say you are, a superstar (Superstar!)
Then have no fear, the crowd is here
And the lights are on
And they want a show-oh oh oh (Yeah)

[Outro: Matthew Santos]
If you are
What you say you are
Then have no fear

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.