Everything I could find about Assassin’s Creed on Ghoti:

“Manifest the new world that Columbus thought he found”
“Assassin’s Creed, rapping it back indeed
Like a mansion that’s lacking fees, tapping the blackest keys
Capture catastrophes like a camera feed
Ball like a can of peas, fall like Michael Jackson on anaesthes’”
“Neuralink is now pirating all your fantasies”
“Lasso to the hammer squeeze (I see your power)
Thor and Wonder Woman battle at the apple trees
Or like Adam-Eve happened at an Applebees”
“Giant leaps, beware where that landing ladder leads”
“Egyptian museum, they keep the kings in crates”
“You decide, apple pie or the fries come with the snake”
“They catching bait with fish”

1. “Assassin’s Creed” can be a killer’s beliefs and rapping that describes rappers announcing their murders in song form, which is currently being used as evidence against them in court. Will they defend themselves?

2. If belief is interpreted more religiously like the opposite of the Apostle’s Creed, there is a hypocritical killer who believes in God, even though the 5th Commandment says “Thou shalt not kill”. If you boil down “assassin” to the essential part, sin, you’re left with a sinner’s belief in God.

3. Continuing “Manifest the new world that Columbus thought he found” from The Lion’s Deen, the New World Order in Assassin’s Creed was the ultimate goal for the Templar Order, a concept of worldwide peace for humanity under the control and supervision of a one world government. This false utopia is equally as backwards as Columbus misusing religion for imperialism. The “new world” that we should be manifesting is the one that Assassins strive for, a world at peace through free will, instead of control. Being an open world game also adds a meta layer to the search for freedom.

4. You have to kill 9 Templar targets like there are 9 actual songs on this album.

5. In Assassin’s Creed, the Apples of Eden were used to control humans, who were created to work as slaves for the Isu. Eventually, Adam and Eve steal one of the apples like the biblical story states and a war breaks out, pitting humanity against its creators. This ultimately leads to The Great Catastrophe or Ragnarok, hence the mention of Thor in the 2nd verse. The event seems like our worst fears of global warming confirmed as the entire planet burned for weeks and catastrophic blazes ravaged what remained of the earth.

6. “Ball like a can of peas, (Propo)fol/fall like Michael Jackson on anaesthes’” implies the phrase: ball til you fall. “Can of peas” can be read as canopies or the crowns near the top of trees, as opposed to the ground where you can fall like apples. “Blackest keys” can be flats on a piano or flats as in a smaller form of housing than a mansion. A more extreme contrast is going from a mansion to the flat surface of no property when you’re flat broke. These various forms of descent can describe the rise and fall of the Isu civilization in Assassin’s Creed. However, you can still communicate with them with the help of Crystal Balls, but will we actually learn from their mistakes?

7. “Giant leaps” like The Leap of Faith, in which you dive off a high structure and land, unharmed into a cushioning material such as hay. It’s not a tool to use against your enemies, but an act you embrace for strengthening your resolve like meditation. This is meant to contrast with Neil’s Armstrong’s “One giant leap for mankind” and the questions raised by our technological advancement into space travel.

8. “Rapping it back” implies repeating. The Animus allows its user to relive the memories of their ancestors through their genetic material. Extended use creates a bleeding effect that gives the user some of the skills and capabilities they experienced with their ancestor.

9. “I see your power” can apply to said memories like Power Corrupts All and Power to the People, you decide.

10. “Tapping the blackest keys” and “Pirating all your fantasies” are references to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which takes place during the Golden Age of Piracy. The protagonist of this part, Edward Kenway, is eventually killed inside his own mansion by Templar-employed mercenaries.

11. Preceding the Templar Order, “The Snake” refers to The Order of the Ancients, which was founded by Egyptian Pharaoh Smenkhkare, hence the Egyptian museum line. He upheld a strict supremacist view of the Isu and sought to use the Pieces of Eden to politically and religiously shepherd humanity into recreating Isu societies on Earth, as well as revive the Isu. As one of The Order’s members approached death, Eudoros’ last words were “The Snake will never die”. Related is the Grand Temple Key, which contains the Ouroboros design of a serpent biting its own tail, symbolizing cycles and infinity.

12. Biblically, “fishers of men” refers to delivering sinners from hell by converting them to Christianity. Then, the linguistic transformation of “Ghoti” into “Fish” can be interpreted as religious conversion, since the fish is a symbol of Jesus. However, even by the end of the song, Jesus is barely here and no one is converted. It’s more like mapping out where we need to go by Track 10. “They catching bait with fish” is backwards, but lines up the devil deceiving Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit. The devil’s goal is not to catch fish for immediate food, but to give you temporary pleasure in the illusion that you could be anything more than bait at the bottom. If the final takeaway of the song is backwards, then maybe the song title is too. The opposite of the fish is the snake and that’s where we’re at right now. I think of the early descent from mansions, which are equated with heaven in Mural Jr./The Gospel of John and a more straightforward title could be Fallen Angels. Currently, it feels more like Ghoti=Snake, but the hope is that it will become the fish of Jesus sooner than later.

So, Pac-Man was the originator of drill music lol. I don't care if it's intentional at this point, this s*** hilarious. "Is this his day-to-day? Cause this is like a week to us"

"Mos(t) would pull the trigger if the weapon's full of blanks
But when there's a pool of sharks and you step into the tank
That's the pool of art that got 'em headed to the plank"

The irony is that Lupe wishes the false bravado was still there when real guns are involved. Rappers die too much. The last bar is also probably another art reference to David Hockney's A Bigger Splash and his swimming pool mural at the Roosevelt Hotel.

Autoboto was the beginning of the album Rollout.

“How you gon survive in the (Nishigawa Iaido) Club?”
Lupe wears a jacket for the Nishigawa Iaido Club, which connects a lot of the remaining dots for me. Nishigawa means “westside” as in Westside Chicago. Iaido describes living in harmony with one’s surroundings (or The Way, the meaning of Deen), always prepared to respond to any threat. The original purpose of iaido was to efficiently slay an opponent with one stroke of the sword immediately after unsheathing it. Opposed to drill music, this was primarily for self-defense and the gun equivalent would be a headshot. Nowadays, iaido is performed solo as a meditative practice for cultivating peace of mind. The same motions of the sword are carried out against an imaginary enemy. Another way to look at it is conquering the enemy within yourself and confronting your own imperfections to find Zion within you. The end goal of iaido is less about skillful sword handling and more about overcoming the enemy without having to use the sword in the first place. To convince the enemy not to attack is preferable over engaging in meaningless conflict and I feel this captures the arc of the album. From lethal weapon to an artform which examines the spirit, residing in the sword. “You each have blades that will drill a new earth”

In the XXL interview, Lupe said the album was more or less recorded in chronological order. Skipping over The Lion’s Deen, it makes sense if Autoboto was actually the 2nd song, since it broadly outlines what he needs to talk about: transformation, inner conflict, knowing thyself vs. the powers that be, segregation vs. cultural fusion, original sin/ghosts of the past, religion/meditation, water/rain, trial, lies and truth. When I think of the album as a whole, I return to Autoboto the most. Not saying that everything was planned from the start, cause we know it wasn’t, but it’s possible that he kept drawing from this well for direction.

“Reporting live from the hive”
The Machines in The Matrix form a seemingly connected hive-mind, especially at the end of The Matrix Revolutions, where they coalesce into a face to speak to Neo. Also, hive as in the Autobot, Bumblebee.

“But it was the (Black) Souls, the (Vice) Lords and GDs (Gangster Disciples)”
“Maybe my ghost knows (Boo)”
The street gangs representing Westside Chicago already have a blend of wickedness and righteousness to start with. However, by omitting the first half, it highlights the spiritual aspect and goes along with seeing his past self as a ghost in the second verse.

“Got wise to the nudge”
Wake up, Neo. Could also be about the The Oracle nudging Neo into thinking he wasn’t The One in order for him to later be fully aware of the sacrifice he would have to make.

“I ain’t wanna headwash no more”
He didn’t wanna water it down with a whole bunch of conditions lol.

“Like a helmet with a GoPro, but I mean Golgo 13”
This references the assassin for hire from Golgo 13: The Professional, abbreviated as GoPro like the camera. Golgo 13 shows little to no emotion when shooting to kill, contrasted by the tears at the end of the album. Lupe pauses in between Golgo and 13 to fit the flow, so you can also hear it as Go Go (Gadget Flow) for the upbeat tempo, opposite of slo-mo. Golgo is short for Golgotha, known as The Place of the Skull due to the cliff’s face resembling a human skull. It was the location of Jesus’ crucifixion and the Golgo 13 logo features a skeleton wearing a crown of thorns. If Jerusalem is Zion, then Golgotha can be the Drill Music. Combined with the unlucky number 13, the only implication of rappers aiming for headshots is martyrdom.

“I get signals from The Source”

1. Carerra Lu was his alter-ego before F&L’s official release and the plug/drug dealer anti-Lupe Fiasco represents the source of his career. Several songs feel like callbacks to previous work and this wouldn’t be the first time he portrayed the fast life of a car as a negative influence. “The sound of the motor only reverend you confess to”

2. In The Matrix, The Source is believed to be the central computing core for the entire Machine mainframe. The previous 6 versions of The One were signaled to end up at The Source and reload The Matrix, but Neo instead forms a truce with the Machines in exchange for ridding The Matrix of Agent Smith.

3. Not quite the tongue twisting (“I can Twist”) of Adrenaline Rush, but Autoboto is the most upbeat song on the album. The 100 Chicagos video has similar shades, watch and pinky ring to Twista’s in The Source magazine. The Source was The Bible of Hip-Hop and The Matrix gets its signals from the real Bible.

4. Joan of Arc believes she heard voices and saw visions sent from God, signaling her to free France from the English. It’s worth mentioning that Ghoti illustrates a problem with English.

5. Before his assassination, Malcolm X made a pilgrimage to Mecca or the source of Muhammad, signaling his conversion to Islam.

6. In Transformers, The Autobot Matrix of Leadership gave Optimus a way to communicate with the source of his lineage, the deceased Primes who came before him. Assassin’s Creed works similarly by reliving memories of the ancestors through the Animus.

7. The source of drill music was a rapper named Pacman, signaling the completion of the Pac-Man family in the Mural trilogy and a Pac-Man interpretation of the album cover.

In The Matrix, the second representative of The Source is named Deus Ex Machina, which translates to God From The Machine. Originating in greek and roman theatre, an actor playing God would be lowered by a crane onto the stage to resolve the plot. In the XXL interview, Lupe mentioned his attempt at being that savior for Rondo, but reality isn’t as convenient as a story. The situation was beyond both of their control and all you can do is write raps about it. Taking the union of God and machine literally, it can apply to the Transformers religion and robotic sentience. “Computers ain’t got no souls, but I be giving da’wah to the Pro Tools” Alternatively, it can speak to the incompatibility of technological advancement with the long standing traditions of religion.

“You was Vampire Hunter D, now you Alucard
See that’s the thing, cause we praying for you”
“To see my vampires in the sunlight
To look my eye, right in the suns
And bring all my knives to the gunfights”
“Cause I’m a part of the problem”
In Vampire Hunter D, D has a symbiotic Left Hand with a face, who can literally talk back and disagree with D like Lupe’s own hands do on this song. Outside of general combat, D and his Left Hand are on different pages in terms of personality and strategy. D’s weapon of choice is his longsword vs. the guns favored by Alucard in Hellsing. They both hunt their own vampiric kind as literal parts of the problem. The difference lies in D being half-human/half-vampire and Alucard being full vampire, so Lupe is losing the balance to become more of a monster. Hellsing as in singing of hell, representing a sinner you might want to pray for. On Seattle, Lupe revisits the idea of confronting his demons in the form of vampires. This likens hellish imagery with vampires burning to death in the sun and the D side of himself prevailing as the blade overcomes the gun, even if it’s an uphill battle. Also, Alucard is Dracula spelled backwards, continuing the reversed way of thinking in Ghoti. Nayirah alternating between seductively ending Autoboto and regretfully beginning Precious Things probably plays a part in this too.

I wonder if Vampire Hunter D’s Left Hand was the main inspiration for the song. Another theory I had was Thing being the name of the sentient hand in The Addams Family, who communicated through hand gestures. Adam’s family can biblically refer to his descendants being doomed to Original Sin by his wife, Eve, grabbing the Forbidden Fruit with her hands in the Garden of Eden. While you can leave things in God’s hands like Moses did during the parting of the Red Sea, it’s also said that idle hands are the devil’s playthings.

“I can twist and I contort”
“How they turn on me”
“Hi to the Crips, goodbye to the Bloods”
“Now, you don’t even wave”
Besides the contorting twists and turns of Neo’s body around slo-mo bullets, the other enduring image of The Matrix is that of two hands holding the blue pill and the red pill. The blue pill lets you sleep in blissful ignorance and the red pill lets you wake up to the ugly truth. The same colors of blue and red are present in the gang rivalry of the Crips and Bloods. Autoboto chooses the crips or the blue pill, since Lupe was still taking the wrong turn and living the fast life at that point. The waves for hi and goodbye are additional hand motions as well.

“It’s like you could’ve did more to try and keep us out them handcuffs”
I think of Precious Things as the red pill or the wake-up call. It has a similar approach to Gotta Eat, flexing focused wordplay on one topic for the whole song, while addressing the problem with putting out negativity into the world. This lifestyle was catching up to Lupe when police raided Chilly’s home and they both ended up in handcuffs. Lupe was acquitted while Chilly stayed in jail until he was bailed out with the advance money from Atlantic and they had the conversation that Lupe could actually be somebody. When it came time to finalize the direction of F&L, their choices were between following the same negativity as everyone else and the riskier album with Kick, Push. We all know which one was chosen.

“I put karats on them”
A karat is a unit of weight used to measure the size of a gemstone such as a diamond, setting up the next song.

“I asked for peace signs, they gave me Leon Spinks”
Muhammad Ali fought for world peace, but was beaten by Leon Spinks. Muhammad Ali also means “Beloved of God”, going along with the other religious references.

“I swear my hands were pure, I gave ‘em manicures
Became my adversaries, became my saboteurs”
“Who put the arms in arms?
I put arms/alms in palms”
Almsgiving, more commonly known as charity, is an expression of love in Christianity. It follows the same good intentions of purity soiled by sabotage in the first verse. Alms turns to guns and love turns to hate.

“Pinky speaker, thumb receiver how we used to call make
All shakes”
“We was back catcher and pitcher, now you don’t even wave
We used to throw the shaka/Chaka (Kahn), Honolulu from the stage
Now you just wanna throw hands and technicals on my plays”
Playing off the back catcher signaling what type of ball the pitcher should throw, it turns into throwing the shaka sign and technical fouls. In baseball and other sports games, the wave is when the crowd gradually stands up from side to side and throws their hands up to simulate the motion of an ocean wave. Honolulu is located in Hawaii, abbreviated to HI, as in how you used to wave hi. The shaka sign is a gesture of friendship in Hawaiian and surfer culture, but the stage part didn’t really fit until I considered Chaka Kahn. She’s a stage performer and the Kahn part of her name means con-artist in this context, implying the shaka sign’s friendliness was fake.

The shaka sign is the same as the “call me” sign and Lupe might be pointing out the similarity by placing “shakes” right next to it. While “shakes” mainly refers to handshakes, it can also apply to the shaking motion of the shaka sign when using the “hang loose” definition.

“Now I don’t even know who wrote those
Maybe my ghost knows”
“You turned a deaf ear to what we was saying to you
We was hear/here, can’t go back to before
The problem is you don’t use us to write the raps anymore”
Deaf people use sign language to communicate and the inability to hear led to Lupe ignoring that his hands were right here. What’s done is done, can’t turn back the hands of time. Continuing the ghostwriter joke from Autoboto, it ends with the double-edged sword of flex and betrayal in Lupe no longer relying on his hands to write nowadays.

“Funeral processionals increase their frequency”
I don’t know how to describe 4:00 in more specific music terms, but the increase in frequency mentioned in The Lion’s Deen seems to fit like a glove.

“Precious” conveys something highly valuable, so the question is whether it’s something of monetary value or something more priceless. Another way to view the album’s transformation is in things developing personhood, becoming people we love. While there’s always a human element involved, the first 4 songs are primarily about certain things: fish, cars, hands and diamonds. Ms. Mural is the turning point for me, which transcends the thing to become a person, Joan of Arc. Naomi is dedicated to Naomi Osaka facing criticism from the media and Lupe aspires to be like Malcolm X in the second verse. Unlike Drill Music in Zion’s first verse mentioning robotic autonomy, the vengeance of “I know exactly what you did and you gon pay for it, you b****” is a very human reaction. Not to mention, the soulful hook from the heart also sounds like a plea for help. Seattle trades melancholic rain for the strength of a whole basketball team and Goku’s spirit bomb is the result of the combined efforts of many people. The sound bite at the end features Lupe’s uncle, Lawrence x Donaley, reinforcing the idea of pain fueling his personal growth as a fighter for his people. On Faux Nem shows Lupe at the album’s most vulnerable, unpolished and unsure of correcting his mistakes. Ending with a bunch of maybes and no confident answers, but I think that’s only human.

Nah you are Lupe

lol no, just too much time on my hands. He my goat tho.

Nah I’m glad you got that passion I was in the zone tetsuo and youth year so I get it

“I got something to show you if you got the time to spare”
“Come across as BOSS and be so timely and prepared”
“I’m cool, man, I’ve got a watch already”
Hugo Boss or BOSS for short, designs luxury fashion watches. The songs begins the same way it ends, by emphasizing time and the kiosk worker may even be aware that they’re selling you something you already have. It reminds me of What It Do in that sense.

“Look like a million dollars off of signing with the Bears/De Beers”
“Sometimes, I hide inside Kerouac for protection
From the Thanksgiving where bears attacking the dressing”
De Beers, “The Bears” in dutch, is the world’s largest producer and distributor of diamonds. The Chicago Bears bait is clearly an empty promise, but underneath, there’s the idea of athletes deciding to become animals for money like this is sport. On Faux Nem finishes this train of thought, relating the bear’s ferocity to America’s history being built on genocide and stolen land.

“I think it’s more a temple, not a stall
But, no, not a religion, not at all”
“We’ll find something else useless to put our faith in”
Maybe pointing out that the word “kiosk” has its origin in actual temples, such as Trajan’s Kiosk and The Kiosk of Qertassi. Eventually, kiosks became known as stalls where merchandise is sold, but the holy meaning remains superficially. A temple is a place of worship dedicated to a deity and kiosk workers approach you with the understanding that even if people don’t believe in God, they can still worship diamonds. De Beers’ enduring “A diamond is forever” slogan sells people the lie of eternity and the kiosk workers are doing the same thing on a smaller scale. If this sounds similar to the Serpent tricking Eve in the Garden of Eden, it’s because the real eternal treasure isn’t in a phony temple. It’s in heaven or Zion.

“If you wanna show off and just ball”
“You ain’t got a budget for these Nuggets
You can keep it plain Jane”
“You ain’t gotta be a criminal involved
Know how to rap or knack for dribbling a ball”
Denver Nuggets, another sports reference which boils down a person’s worth to nuggets of gold. That’s not even the whole thing, just a little piece of it. Hard to say if it’s any better than Janes Chicken Nuggets. Their slogan is “Ready for anything!” and Lupe proceeds to list any situation where you could benefit from diamonds, from regular people to rappers.

“Stand behind me like JoJo”
“You can keep it Plain/Plane Jan(i)e or blow out they brains when you in public”
“It don’t really matter if you get jacked or you get robbed
You can go on, let ‘em have it, it’s not a factor or a prob”
“A deceptive game you are killing to play”
Dress to impress or literally blow out their brains. Let ‘em have your jewelry, because it’s fake and worthless or let ‘em have bullets for attempting to steal what’s yours. The 2nd verse juggles the glorification of diamonds and gun violence at the same time, similar to the difference between the modest Plain Jane and Janie’s Got A Gun, by Aerosmith. In JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (referenced on Seattle), Aerosmith is a plane, which creates the Plane Jane meaning too. The reason Janie has a gun in that song is because she was raped by her father, which can be seen in parallel with the predatory language of the kiosk worker. Not to mention, Industry Rule #4080, record company people are shady.

“They say you can’t escape when rich
It’s just a bigger plate, they catching bait with fish”
“The quality’s the highest and the price is very fair”
“But please don’t let them haters try and drag you from the top”
“Everybody’s equal in the middle of the mall”
If everyone’s equal in the middle, there is no chance of reaching the top. However, if you start from the bottom, you may have a distorted perception of the top. The reality of that is actually only the middle and you will never be more than middle class. The highest quality is truly very fair, meaning average or mediocre. It’s just another way of phrasing the naive belief of the fish being able to escape once they get rich enough. You’re stuck exactly where you are right now until you stop playing the game.

“The problem is you don’t use us to write the raps anymore”
“We are not the center of applause
But secretly, the center/sinner of the cause/KAWS”
“Haters want to put X’s in my eyes like KAWS”
Continuing Precious Things’ lack of using hands anymore, the kiosk literally can’t be “The center of applause” if the center is defined as the act of bringing hands together. That said, the kiosk worker is an unreliable narrator and this can be misdirection away from the metaphoric applause or clapping as in gun violence. KAWS’ Companion character has a skull and crossbones for a head, with X’s in his eyes, so “The center of the KAWS” reinforces the death of gun violence. The iconic pose of the face hiding behind separated hands means they can’t be brought together to applaud. Lupe previously referenced KAWS on Marty McFly, but the main reason I considered this theory is because Naomi’s 2nd verse is filled with X’s.

Alternatively, “center” can be heard as “sinner” to illustrate “secretly, the sinner of the cause”, a backwards phrasing similar to Alucard and the end of Ghoti. The secret is it’s the cause of the (Original) Sinner.

“It sways, takes your mind off todays”
The sway of a changing opinion motivated by the sway of dangling jewelry. Also, certain brands seem to embrace the word to conceptually design jewelry which expresses rhythm and motion.
stylegallery.ae/collections/sway-with-me
lawsonjewelry.com/collections/sway
lencollective.com/products/sway-ring
misajewelry.com/products/sway-ring

“I know it’s kind of simple and it’s small”
“Now I have diamonds, it’s odd feeling this way
But when they start to sparkle that star-glittering glaze”
“Gabriel’s in Afghanistan passing out AKs”
Not small at all, but the kiosk is a simplification of bigger ideas like the illusion of equality in The American Dream. “Star-glittering glaze” refers to light hitting the diamond’s facets for a sparkling effect, as well as the stars on the American flag. It’s an ideal, very distant from the truth. The Pledge of Allegiance promises “Liberty and justice for all”, but it doesn’t have to really mean it, just like the kiosk worker. The gun distribution highlights America’s War in Afghanistan over the past 20 years and how the failure to retrieve American-supplied weapons allowed them to end up in the hands of the Taliban last year.

“Diamonds only worth what you are willing to pay”
“It’s a rage
The diamond sometimes are suedes while putting ‘em to the blade”
Diamonds are literally Precious Things, since they are 1 of the 4 precious stones, along with rubies, sapphires and emeralds. However, the preciousness is cheapened by reducing it to a symbol like diamond cut patterns found in suede shoes. Also, diamonds are the hardest natural substance on earth, with 10 points on the Mohs Scale and comparing them to the smoothness of suede is going in the opposite direction.

“But that’s why I’m over here, with that you should beware”
“I have hesitations
There, I’ve put it all on the table, I have my reservations”
“Sometimes, I hide inside Kerouac for protection
From the Thanksgiving where bears attacking the dressing”
“Here” is the location of the kiosk, while “there” is away from the kiosk. Lupe repeats “there” in his rebuttal to stand firmly against the kiosk worker. Reservations as in having doubts or hesitations, as well as in table reservations and the very top of the diamond’s anatomy is called the table. Returning to America’s ugly history, Thanksgiving is held at the table and these lines can speak to Native American Reservations too. Native Americans were forced to give up “all” their land to European settlers in exchange for owning smaller parcels of land, called reservations. It also connects back to religion when Christianity was abused during this time as a form of control, not unlike how the kiosk can be viewed as a temple.

“This is where the finishers evolve”
“You won’t finish this here, we’ll pick up after meditation”
“Nor does become inferior because you connect ‘em to a ape”
Lupe reflecting on his complicated relationship with religion in Ms. Mural seems fit to describe “meditation”, as does the “evolution” pick back up again by mentioning our ape ancestors. The kiosk worker lures you with evolution in the sense of the hunger for more like “Proceed to the next level”. Lupe’s own evolution can be thought of as his aspiration to be like Malcolm X on Naomi or finally making it out of the ghetto on Seattle. Lupe’s dominant voice on Ms. Mural is also the opposite of the kiosk worker steering most of the conversation here. If Ms. Mural is about the suffering artist, then, Kiosk is inflicting the suffering. Or how the brilliance of diamonds is created under pressure. Feels like the most obvious duality on the album, so it makes sense that these songs are in the middle of them all.

“It seems you’ve got the spirit of the appalled”
Appalled as in horrified of poor living conditions, because that’s the type of rapper that listeners will gravitate to and the easiest to be taken advantage of by the powers that be. Also, horrified like a ghostly spirit filled with horror and the end of Ms. Mural can be interpreted as an exorcism.

“I know some people would love to hear it how you call”
Playing off the “call me” sign in Precious Things, but more importantly, martyrdom will call.

“The painter said the blues”
“A gift from the red”
“Martyrdom will call”
“A master of the palette, all sanguine and cool”
“The music mostly jazz, the jazz mostly old
Punctured by some punk and some old smoky soul”
Picasso’s Blue Period (depression) came before his Rose Period (optimism). The Matrix’s blue and red pills again, waking up to the hypocrisies within Christianity. Cardinals wear red to signify the blood of Christ and their willingness to become martyrs for their faith. “Sanguine” is a double-edged sword conveying both optimism and a blood-red color. In other words, it’s a warm color contrasting the cool blues. Warmth can mean love, as well as fire. The rebellion in “punk” music matches the other music genres turning oppression into artform, but can also refer to a smoldering stick used for lighting firework fuses. This points to the scorching ending and “smoky” plays off the saying that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Beyond soul music, “smoky soul” illustrates something ghostly and it feels like an exorcism later on. Simply put, the first verse has a cool composure to its delivery to misdirect you from the burning passion underneath. "Deceiving in the brushstrokes, how aggressively I strafe"

“Man does not become superior cause you connect him to a cape”
The base meaning of cape is the superhero’s attire (like Thor or Batman), but there’s also Cape Catholics, who only attend mass 4 times a year or less on the following days: Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Easter. Alternatively, the clergy wears short shoulder capes called mozzettas and pellegrinas.

“I just feel like I’m a Porsche
I’m Carrera, error, error, error, error…”
“You lose all of the plots for the affections of a race”
Race as in racism, but carrera can mean “race” in Spanish. When you aim to get rich or die trying asap, you’re bound to forget where you came from. You can only live the fast life for so long and Ghoti has an implied bar of "ball til you fall".

"A master of the palate"
“For the digestion of the can’t
A visual garnish”
“It’s not really a beef, but conceptually, it’s steak”
“My mouth is medically agape
One day it’s Raisin up the Bran(d), the next it’s shredding it to Flakes”
“More like severing a face”
“The upheaval of a cathedral into the edifice of Bank(sy)”
Banksy’s Girl With Balloon began as a stencil mural on Waterloo Bridge in South Bank, London. The painting version was sold at an auction where it was intentionally shredded by blades Banksy built into the frame. However, it was only shredded half-way, “severing a face” of the silhouetted girl, but leaving the red heart-shaped balloon intact. When revealing this on Instagram, Banksy attributed the following quote to Picasso: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge”

In the context of Ms. Mural, it’s at the crossroads between creation and destruction. By Lupe’s own words, it’s a song about the suffering artist, which I’m seeing represented in the shredded girl. The art that the painter loves is conveyed by the heart-shaped balloon and it comes at a dangerous cost. “Medically agape” describes the jaw-dropping reaction to the shredding, but can also relate to the food scheme and the consumer’s appetite for destruction. The partial destruction didn’t diminish the value of the painting and instead, the renamed Love is in the Bin skyrocketed from 1.4 million to 25.4 million. Then, it’s not hard to see the art world align with how tempting it is to destroy the planet for some diamonds.

“Do you consider yourself wild or conforming to a style?”
“Wow, said the patron with a smile”
“Wow” sounds close to “wild”, so the patron answers their own question. While the content is undeniably wild and rebellious, the painter is still “conforming to a style” by sticking to one rhyme scheme for the whole diatribe. It’s switched up before and after, but the restriction of the criticism evokes wildness being tamed, a necessary evil while playing the game. While Lupe doesn’t have to play by Atlantic’s rules anymore, there’s still a laundry list of things that need to be done in order to successfully share new music with the fans. That tweet doesn’t even include the video shoots or the interviews he doesn’t want to do, so the process doesn’t simply stop at creation. Despite only 3 days spent recording raps for a 41-minute runtime, a lot more time is invested into polishing the final product we have now.

“An Atlas on the trunk from the land of broken goals
Just a cover and a back that you open and you close”
“Liberty needs a better bell”
“I’ll call it ‘Gasoline Pouring on the Flames’”
“How you articulated the nature and put it all on trial (by fire)”
“The land of broken goals” could be referencing the cracked Liberty Bell, mentioned in the first Mural, as well as realistically portraying The Star-Spangled Banner’s “The land of the free and the home of brave”. An empty atlas is a book of maps that lacks direction. In Greek mythology, Atlas carries the world on his shoulders and to put that imagery on the trunk of a car is placing the world in your rear view, looking away from the problem of global warming. The title of the painting seems like a poetic version of “adding fuel to the fire”. The “nature” defines the essence of the problem, but also as in Mother Nature (the trunk of a tree) on trial by fire and the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of current climate change.

“I think it’s more a temple, not a stall
But, no, not a religion, not at all”
“Not to sound shamanistic, but there’s medicine in paint”
Following Kiosk, shamanism isn’t an organized religion, but it’s a spiritual practice. Shamans are messengers between the human world and the spirit world. The instrumental final minute or so sounds like the equivalent of the Slave Ship interlude on Drogas Wave, capturing the aftermath musically. At 3:58, the Pac-Man Ghost Siren sound from the end of The Lion’s Deen returns in a less staccato way. At 4:16, the non-piano sound during the verse portion of Precious Things is elongated to convey more of a haunting scream, like that of an exorcised spirit. The piano keys at 4:40 are played much brighter and clearer than those in Precious Things or Kiosk. As if it’s a relief from the aggression thus far, the strings at 5:00 take me back to those in The Lion’s Deen. Ms. Mural feels pivotal to the album’s transformation and deciding where the rest of it will go. It starts off jazzy with the first 2 tracks, detours into somberness for the next 3, is currently starting a jazzy trifecta with Ms. Mural and ends with 2 more somber tracks.

Naomi begins with the same piano note that ended Ms. Mural.

“Giant leaps (for mankind), beware where that (moon) landing ladder leads”
“Ain’t no screams in space”
“I get signals from the source”
“Signs of intelligent life”
“Malcolm X-Files”
“And scene”
Intelligent life of alien lifeforms from another planet like in the Transformers or The X-Files, as well as the brilliant minds of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is a play/movie which ends by subverting why Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans is art and celebrating the audience: “You really liked the play that much? Said it wasn’t the play gave ‘em goosebumps, it was the audience. I forgot to tell them to watch the play, they’ve been watching the audience.” “The play was soup. The audience, art.” Lupe’s own descriptions of the songs already made it feel like the songs complemented each other nicely, but this added an extra layer for me. If Ms. Mural is about the suffering of the artist, Naomi is the artist swallowing their pride to make the sacrifice for their art. Additionally, if Ms. Mural criticizes the patrons, Naomi sees art as a two-way street and places the audience on equal footing with the artist. The goosebumps are only there in the first place because of the artist, but the artist also has no control over how the audience will interpret the art. In the recent Q&A, Lupe talked about not wanting to give too much away in order to preserve whatever interpretations there may be, recognizing the ambiguous quality of art.

“And scene” has an origin in theatre production, signifying the end of a scene. Beginning the song with a play reference also evokes performance and how Malcolm X was assassinated on stage at the Audubon Theatre and Ballroom.

“Mosquito nets repel Anopheles bites”
Malaria is transmitted to humans by female Anopheles mosquitos. They are parasites like the kiosk worker preying on the unaware for a quick buck and both could lead to death in the worst case scenario.

“Look at the night/knight
Nice, we look alike, they want a slice of your Dreams (MLK)”
“I just come around to help like Batman (The Dark Knight) utility belt”
Night slant rhymes with nice. Night and knight sound the same, but are spelled differently. The dark complexion of black people looks like the night. At night, the waxing/waning (Bruce Wayne) phases of the moon look like slices of pie and the crescent moon’s shape looks like the curved blade of the grim reaper’s scythe, which slices in a deadlier way. So, night associates blackness with death and knight (as in The Dark Knight, Batman) represents the other side of the coin. Superheroic protection of life is the antithesis of drill music and the powers that be, which cut Malcolm X and Martin Luther King’s (I Have A) Dreams short. That dream being wanting a nicer world than the one we already live in.

“Even Christ took a knife for the team, so swing”
“Fatal Flying Guillotine”
“When Heaven loses a job, Hell Win(d)s Staff”
The martial arts movie references may be pointing to the backlash Naomi Osaka faced when she gave up her US citizenship, in favor of Japan. The use of “Guillotine” emphasizes the swing of the blade at an execution for Naomi’s figurative crucifixion and Malcolm X’s assassination.

“With an Atlas on the trunk”
“I am Atlas this, manage to balance
Massive masses ‘pon my back without tilting my glasses”
“All by myself with the world on my delts”
We can chill while it melts”
“You gotta let it go like what happened to the gas”
Following Ms. Mural, Naomi has a more direct Atlas reference. In the XXL interview, Lupe talked about what has changed between F&L and DMIZ. The Atlas reference on Just Might Be OK is definite perseverance, but on Naomi, the weight of the world is seeing the effects of global warming. There’s more uncertainty here like what are you fighting for? Is it really worth it and is it too late? Hurt Me Soul showed us that “Oil field augering (drilling)” is not a new problem, but the confidence that you might be able to actually do something about it isn’t the same.

“I ain’t rapping, what’s happened is blowing glass”
“With an Italian man saying, look at what I do for you
A nice Chicken Vesuvio
Be in North Boston (Little Italy) often
Round them Sicilians I be walking like the ambiance and talking
My favorite part is when all of the affogatos is brought in
You can put Dolce Vita Chicken Risotto in my coffin”
“I was in Roxbury on Malcolm X block”
Artie Bucco (son’s name is Art) was the chef/owner of the Vesuvio restaurant in The Sopranos, who gave Tony and friends either free food or let the tab run wild. Although Artie wasn’t a mobster itself, his closeness to the lifestyle due to being childhood friends with Tony put him in danger. “Blowing glass” means spitting fire and Tony is responsible for Vesuvio burning down. Artie bounces back with Nuovo Vesuvio and foolishly remains friends with Tony for the entirety of the show. This mix of friendliness and risk can speak to different races coming together in bi-racial people like Naomi Osaka. However, the opposite feeling of segregation existed during Malcolm X’s time and Boston still remains very segregated, even today. In Italy too, northeners had long held that southerners or Sicilians were an uncivilized and racially inferior people, too obviously African to be part of Europe. The food-related bars capture racial conflict and the challenge to combat white supremacy. Chicken Vesuvio is an Italian-American dish known for the steam rising like Mt. Vesuvius when white wine is added. Affogato has vanilla ice cream resting on top, but it’s also drowning in espresso or people of color in positions of power. Dolce Vita means “sweet life” and affogato is a dessert, implying that once someone like Malcolm X gets a taste of social change, he will soon be put in a coffin.

“Stay away from rebels worshipping the Devil like jazz”
“We are in the building”
“I was in Roxbury on Malcolm X block
Talking that talk that got Malcolm X watched
Tryna pick up where Malcolm X stopped
Only game I play is a Malcolm Xbox
Look in the sky, see the Malcolm X ring
Malcolm X-files, it's a Malcolm X thing
As you ask yourself, "What does Malcolm X mean?"
I return to the force in a Malcolm X-Wing
And/end scene”
10 different tracks over 10 different beats and this one’s called Naomi. X means 10 in roman numerals and including Roxbury, there are 10 words with X’s in them. The ending scene of the 1992 Malcolm X biopic features 10 kids saying they are Malcolm X. Returning to The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, it’s not so much about Malcolm X himself, but the audience inspired by Malcolm X. “We are in the building” is a flex, but also refers to Malcolm X’s assassination in a building called the Audubon Ballroom. The X-Wing is a starfighter for the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars, drawing a comparison with Malcolm X’s rebellious nature as a civil rights leader. When you put a pause in the middle of “X-Wing”, it sounds like swing as well, leading back into the hook.

Before finally adopting the Malcolm X name, he lived in Roxbury (the heart of black culture in Boston), where he pursued a life of crime during his mid to late teens and was known as Detroit Red for his reddish hair. The fast life caught up with him when he brought in a stolen wristwatch (I got a watch already, got Malcolm X watched) for repairs and cops found him when he went to pick it up, which forced him to spend the next 7 years in prison. During the first year of his incarceration, he earned the nickname of Satan (blowing glass=spitting fire) for his anti-religious attitude, often cursing at God and The Bible. Jazz was viewed as the Devil’s music for its improvisations and liberating rhythms in comparison to classical music, but “worshiping the Devil like jazz” can also literally refer to admiration of Malcolm X under the Satan nickname. By 1950, he is Malcolm X now and writes a letter titled “My Dearly Belove Brother Raymond”, which namedrops several jazz musicians (Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, Dinah Washington) and uplifts the artform. “Look up in the sky and see the Malcolm X ring” refers to his conversion to Islam, symbolized by the crescent moon and the star. This is similar to the Rebel Alliance logo (red like Detroit Red) and both lead back to “look at the night, nice, we look alike.” The repetition of Malcolm X in the 2nd verse encourages you to seek out the meaning of X, which is Malcolm’s unknown African name and the rejection of his slave name. All this is in the background due to the dumb it down/shut up and dance to the swing music vibe, but Lupe is walking you through Malcolm X’s spiritual transformation and aligning it with his own.

The first verse splits the phrase Drill Music in half to juggle two separate schemes at the same time, one for Drill(ing) and one for Music. You can argue it actually starts on Naomi with “Crystal’s (Torres, but also as in the mineral/gem) blowing the brass (mix of copper and zinc)”. It’s the verse where I diverge the most from Genius, but this is what I personally hear:

“The August Symphonic, power of a Blahnik
To Hill/heal/heel still/steel medical bill drill harmonics
Silver sonnets from the Bonne Nuits and bonnets
I leave a whole sleeve down in Condoleezza’s comments
Copper ebonics, competent in Gauntlet
Gautama’s economics, rock gondolas til you vomit
Bigger than a thong/tong and write signatures with a Thomas
Great Wall of China climber and Bonnie will correspond it
Opera onyx, Popular’s for convicts
Stay below the doppler, turn Robotniks into Sonics
Position Jostlers monitor hedge/hegemonics
Robots make the robots that solder the electronics
Nostradamus couldn’t bother to keep a promise
Logic’s on a rocket where profit defeats a conscience
Somebody’s Daughter is contemplating a convent
But a man with a dollar is slobbering for her haunches
Mouth is just watering for some nonsense
And this might be the moment her modeling probably launches
Gobbling collard greens through the rumpus
Swashing gasoline, watch hollering replace a congress
Golden gossiping auditing through my content
Running out of water, just pondering where the pond went
World’s hottest summer, we’re wondering if they pawned it
Desperate for the credits to come tumbling through the conflict”

DRILL
August (Birthstone=Peridot, gem of the sun, world’s hottest summer)
Symphonic Power (Metal)
(Manolo) Blahnik (shoes decorated in pearls and other jewels)
Steel
Silver
Bonne Nuit (Good Night, Amethyst promotes healthy sleep)
Copper
Gauntlet (Infinity Stones, Thanos’ motives are based on overpopulation and finite resources)
Rock
Onyx (variety of Quartz)
Jostlers (Jostens, produces class rings)
Solder(ing Iron)
Promise (Ring)
Golden gossip/Thong (Gold in thai, pronounced with silent h)
Great Wall of China/Gasoline (Sandstone, Limestone)
Collard greens/Sonics (Emerald)
Pawned it (exchanged the Earth for money like jewelery)
Conflict (Diamonds)

MUSIC
The August Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Power (Metal, uses keyboards or other instruments found in classical music)
Heal/Bonnie (Sound Therapy, such as The Bonny Method)
Steel (Music Wire for piano strings)
Drill Harmonics (Drill Music)
Sonnets (Little Song)
Bonne Nuit (Bing Crosby, Dean Martin)
(Record) Sleeve
Condoleezza (Con Dolcezza=with sweetness)
Tong (Chimta, Punjabi musical instrument)
Gondola (Venetian rowboat accompanied by a song, Barcarolle)
(Key/Time) Signature
Great Wall (Wall of Sound, layering of instruments to create orchestral aesthetic for radio)
Opera (till the fat lady sings)
Onyx (hip-hop group)
Doppler (Effect, change in frequency of a sound wave in relation to the listener’s distance from it)
Sonics (sound waves)

“The August Symphonic, power of a Blahnik
To Hill/heal/heel still/steel medical bill drill harmonics
Silver sonnets from the Bonne Nuits and bonnets
I leave a whole sleeve down in Condoleezza’s comments”
Behind every great man is a great woman, following the last 2 songs, Ms. Mural and Naomi. Manolo Blahnik heels typically emphasize femininity, but by coupling them with “power”, they turn into something more masculine or strong. On one hand, a woman can be a nurturing, healing figure and on the other, step into a position of power at Capitol Hill. It’s similar to how the bonnet has roots in oppressing African-American slaves and one of the most enduring images was Aunt Jemima disguising that history with a smile until last year. Eventually, bonnets were reclaimed as head wraps, now forms of protection, self-expression and rebellion.

Condoleezza Rice was the first black woman to serve as the U.S. National Security Adviser, as well as the first black woman to serve as the U.S. Secretary of State. Lupe probably disagrees with plenty of her comments, but the most relevant points to this song seem to be her Why We Know Iraq is Lying column fueling the oil-driven War in Iraq and her complicity with the Bush administration pressuring scientists to downplay the threat of climate change. Just because someone makes history for black leadership, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will have the people’s best interest in mind. That’s why the power of high heels is still met with high medical bills, bill drills (6 rounds of gunfire at a target) and other forms of drill music.

“Somebody’s Daughter is contemplating a convent
But a man with a dollar is slobbering for her haunches”
Daughter Zion is the personification of Jerusalem, suggesting fatherly protection for the precious children of God, hence the mention of a convent. There’s also the father’s disappointment when her walls are defiled and she’s reduced to a w****, but soon redeemed to enter God’s graces one more. This captures the first verse’s transformation from a strong woman to a weakened one and back around again with love during the third verse’s redemption.

“Rock gondolas til you vomit”
A gondola is a type of railroad car used for transporting loose bulk materials, such as coal. A gondola can also be a Venetian rowing boat, in which you may vomit from motion sickness. Put together, global warming is rocking the boat.

“Bigger than a tong and write signatures with a Thomas
Great Wall of China climber and Bonnie will correspond it”
“Watch holllering replace a congress”
A tong is a hall or gathering place for a brotherhood, often affiliated with Chinese organized crime. This explains the Great Wall of China reference as more than a climber’s bragging rights and perhaps, strives for the hope of overcoming division like a brotherhood would.

Signatures are written with pens. Thomas Penn was a hereditary proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed by Thomas Jefferson, among others. The specific place it was signed would later be known as Independence Hall, relating back to the hall definition of tong. Likening the birthplace of America with organized crime is remembering that Thomas Jefferson owned the most slaves out of any US president. And yet, he still represented freedom, so there’s also the innocence of Thomas the Train, playing off the gondola railroad car from the previous line.

“Up yours and go aways
Shoo gestures”
“Robots make the robots that solder the electronics”
“Making sure I get all of the shoes/shoos like a bot does”
Returning to Precious Things, shoo gestures encourage others to go away. There, it was more unfortunate during a betrayal and the opposite here, taking pleasure in being an annoyance. Returning to Autobot, shoe bots can automatically purchase the latest pair of sneakers, instead of completing the transaction manually. So, a computer can perform a task more efficiently than a human, but the hook doesn’t make it sound like the best thing.

“Gautama’s economics”
“Turn Robotniks into Sonics
Position Jostlers monitor hedge/hegemonics”
“Competent in Gauntlet”
Heels (foot) and bonnets (head), an essay down in the comments and throwing up, signatures at the bottom of a page and climbing, low profiles and rockets, Sonic the Hedgehog running on the ground and Dr. Robotnik’s Flying Egg hovercraft. The first verse is filled with several ups and downs to illustrate hierarchy or hegemony, which is the political, economic and military predominance of one state over other states. Sonic and Dr. Robotnik feel the most potent, since it’s another example of blue vs. red on the album. In the middle of all this is Gautama’s economics (as in Gautama Buddha), which is a chapter in E.F. Schumacher’s 1973 book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. The Buddhist approach to economics sounds oxymoronic, but it represents the Middle Way between wealth and poverty, between maximizing well-being and minimizing harm. Even the book allusion itself, Small is Beautiful combats the misconception that Bigger is Better. Schumacher’s criticisms of destruction to the environment and our dwindling resources is similar to Thanos’ motives for the Infinity Gauntlet movies.

“You either fly into the portal or pull the portal over the plane
Quarreling mortals is nothing short of insane
Let’s try and turn this quart of water to a quart of Bartles & Jaymes”
The first two verses offer two alternatives to conflict: passively resigning to your fate or actively taking vengeance into your own hands. The third verse reveals that it’s a trick question and neither is the answer. Bartles & Jaymes is a brand of wine coolers, so this is a modern version of Jesus turning water into wine. What the reality of this optimism looks like remains to be seen. Thanos’ answer for the world was to “Split it in half” like the album cover and that might not be it, but there needs to be balance. However, that’s kind of how the verses are structured. The first verse is 24 bars, the second verse is 20 bars and the third verse is 4 bars. 48 altogether, but not neatly split in two sets of 24, because there’s an imbalance we still need to solve.

I finally have a laptop again after 2 years lmfao. Had to live in car when unemployment wouldnt pay me. car broke down. Found a way. All praise the most high. Let me catch up and dissect with this nigga going in

“Nostradamus couldn’t bother to keep a promise”
“I kept my promise to The Streets
To develop myself in a fine way”
Opposing forms of promises, for death and life. Nostradamus predicted the end of the world which hasn’t come to fruition, while Lupe promised to escape the end of his own world in Chicago, alive.

“Life is a sine wave”
“Get your line straight”
“Be centered”
A sine wave is a geometric waveform that moves up and down in an S-formation. In other words, the extremes of peaks and valleys or food and liquor. To be closer to the center would be making it a straight line. Something less of a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows and more at peace with yourself. Literally, not that realistic, but mathematically, a straight line is the shortest distance between two points and motivates you to make it out safely as soon as possible.

“Even if you gotta do it in nine takes”
Ninth track on the album has nine songs.

“I’d keep a secret, but I’m honest
If I ever go and leak it”
“One life, live a hundred ways
But never break it down like gum bites”
On top of the other Assassin’s Creed references in Ghoti, maybe referencing this quote: “We change the world. Every day, in a hundred different ways”. Positive change is ironic in the game, since history is still repeating itself, despite whatever technological advances. Lupe seeks a more genuine form of change, evidenced by Seattle’s determination to make it out of Chicago alive and On Faux Nem wishing that drill rappers were actually lying. Applying “One life, live a hundred ways” to his open-ended writing style, it leaves room for several potential interpretations and brings to mind “Life is not a dictionary, it’s a thesaurus”. Or like another video game, Pac-Man allows you have up to 5 lives at a time, but the have-nots can only afford to have one. When you’re born into the disadvantages, all you can do is make the best out of a bad situation. The wordplay puzzle raps which aim for multiple narratives at once doesn’t stop at lyrical mastery for its own sake, but to show how the less fortunate overcame, doing a lot with a little. Lupe prefers to never fully break down his lyrics, only giving hints, because he welcomes said interpretations and hopes to preserve them. There’s also the attempt to remain sane, avoiding a mental breakdown while bottling up the depression. And lastly, the inability to properly break down food without teeth and only your gums.

“Einstein mind in this time-space”
“If done right, you’ll be unliked, but you’ll be unlike
When you gotta run where the snares not the drum type
Where they hung whites, psych
Where they hung blacks”
“If we’re trapped in here”
Snare drum and snare as in the trap used for catching animals with a noose attached. Making it out of the trap is the goal, escaping where you’re treated like animals. But easier said than done when the train of thought is very backwards around here as Einstein’s theory of space-time is reversed to “time-space”.

“To see my vampires in the sunlight”
“You could light a fire with a thumb swipe”
Tinder’s logo has a flame symbol and relationship matches are determined by a swiping system. Coupled with the imagery of vampires disintegrating in the sunlight, fire can have the same negative connotation here as Joan of Arc burning at the stake or the fear of global warming. Maybe not completely writing off matchmaking apps, because there’s still a positive read in keeping the flame of a relationship alive and generally creating something hot, but at least finding it questionable to turn relationships into a science. It seems like he’s felt this way since at least T&Y: “And today’s mathematics for beloved”

“If you got the motion, but none of the components
Then it’s karaoke and it don’t really matter if it’s sung nice”
A testament to the album’s process using the bare minimum of Garageband, $100 mic and a 3-day time limit for the raps. Craig Bauer is to thank for polishing the vocals into something more listenable, but Lupe can only create quality work in such a short amount of time, because he’s long since had the fundamentals down. If you don’t and try to dress it up with fancy bells and whistles, the cracks will show through sooner or later. Another example of performative actions before the harsh reality of On Faux Nem.

“Cross my heart and I hope to (die/live), cross my arm when I Osu
Add a little dollop of Dali, then sell it all out at the O2”
The first line be the heaviest on the album for me. By omitting the last word, he’s both bottling up the depression and fighting back against it, conveyed by “Osu”. O2 can refer to “all out of oxygen” in death or selling out arenas at The O2 in London. Walking the tightrope between the two, it’s very poignant.

“If I ever go and leak it, may reactors go atomic over me”
“Spirit Bomb when I show U
Molotov Cocktail Goku, bottling up what I go through”
Like a sequel to “Wow, like Pac using both hands and his head is the O”, the shape of the U visually represents Goku’s raised arms when he’s gathering energy for the Spirit Bomb. The strongest Spirit Bomb requires the assistance of everyone else lending their spirit energy by raising their hands. Finally illustrating the combined effort of a community on an album mostly marked by division and flipping “It’s like we only matter when fans is putting they hands up” into something priceless, away from the monetization of hands on Precious Things. Teasing the Atom Bomb (Lupe’s rap, Mickey Factz called Mural Jr. country music in comparison) once again, but the real Atom Bomb destroyed lives in Japan, while the Spirit Bomb represents a source of life. Molotov Cocktail Goku ends the song with one last fire reference, creating a fire at the cost of burning himself.

“Add a little dollop of Dali”
“In our martial art adventures
We sorta bring our history, our culture
You know, into our environment of the martial arts”
“We try to be the best of artists that we can be
So the arts to me is a thing of upliftment”
“I’m a warrior in spirit and I’m a fighter for my people”
“Rap name Lupe, but my daddy named me warrior”
Lupe’s uncle, Lawrence x Donaley, starts off by talking about the value of martial arts before simplifying it to artists and the art. His words then speak beyond just Gregory Jaco’s Tornado Karate School, elevating Lupe as a music artist, likened with the paintings of Salvador Dali. I never was able to find out if Wasalu actually translates to “warrior”, but this sound bite makes me think of that line from Shining Down.

Bump

The term On Foe Nem originated from the 4 Corner Hustlers, whose gang members would call each other Fours. So, it makes sense that the album technically has four verses and the first is a four-word verse.

“I just feel like I’m a Porsche
I’m Carerra, era, era, era, era…”
“Shiny metal boxes on top of goddamn tires”
“Diamonds only worth what you are willing to pay”
“A dollar’s worth what a dollar buy, go monetize”
Quite the opposite to go from identifying as the car to criticizing its superficial beauty. Another change starts off with Kiosk’s warning of the shallow worth in materialism and sadly ends up seeing the futility in trying. It is what it is, what can you do? Go monetize.

“To be so damned by God, you want your friends to goddamn liars”
Feels like what all the backwards phrasing has been building up to. Lupe is firmly in the pocket for most of the song, rapping right along to the snare. He only falls a little behind during this bar to emphasize how badly the chips are stacked against him. He picks the flow back up again shortly after, but the imperfection remains as my main takeaway. Emotion is prioritized over polish in one of his most personal songs.

“Don’t even flinch”
“All we talk about are our goddamn priors/Pryors”
“If I say I didn’t indulge, my pants be on goddamn fire”
“What’s the difference between a posthumous album
And a life insurance policy?”
“Want the Quran to be a lie, cause hell sounds like it hurts
Also want it to be real, cause heaven sounds like it’s turnt
Wear my conscience like a condom, cause I don’t wanna be burnt”
Some only brag about their prior convictions (of crime) until they die, while Lupe is more concerned about what happen’s next. Who will profit off our death and will we go to heaven or hell? However, if Lupe pretended like he didn’t feed into the negativity himself, he would only live out the children’s rhyme, “Liar, liar, pants on fire”. Maybe also referencing how Richard Pryor set himself on fire shortly after watching a video of a Buddhist monk doing the same thing. His friend, Rashon, pointed out the man’s conviction (certainty, commitment) and Pryor said, “He didn’t even flinch”. That said, Pryor definitely did more than flinch when he became a ball of flame running down the hallway, the driveway and beyond. He was the prime example of the tortured artist Lupe describes in Ms. Mural. “Real comedy wasn’t only telling jokes. It was about telling the truth.” His stand-up would blur these lines and sometimes, the humor would take the backseat for the pain bleeding through. It’s still unclear if the incident was an attempted suicide or just the result of being fried out of his mind on d****. Although, the interview with Tony Brown seemed to be on the same page as Lupe, sinking into depression, pointing the finger back at himself and looking to God for an answer.

“I’m a part of the problem, my problem is I’m peaceful
And I believe in the people”
“Cause I’m part of the problem
Sometimes the P-, sometimes the -roblem”
In Words I Never Said, Lupe sidestepped his part in the problem to view it in the best light, as a friend of the people. For On Faux Nem, there’s a more honest acknowledgement in being every part of the word. Sometimes, for the people and other times, robbing them. Great callback.

“Sometimes I hide inside Kerouac for protection
To The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception”
“Poor! I wish I was free
of that slaving meat wheel
and safe in heaven dead”
“Rain is WAVY, but wavy don’t make you a Navy SEAL”
The Jack Kerouac poem referenced says the quiet part out loud. The first half lists various animals at their worst, similar to how humans are compared to animals throughout the album as lions, bears and apes. The last few lines speak to freedom from slavery like Malcolm X’s rejection of his slave name on Naomi and the escape from nooses on Seattle. WAVY references the merch for Drogas Wave, the album where the slaves didn’t die, but lived under the sea sinking slave ships. In reality, Lupe can’t be as strong as the Long Chains or Navy SEALs. But maybe not bad dreams to look up to when you hear a commander say, “I just want to let you know that you are who we are fighting for. You are the example of why we do what we do. To go out out there and protect your right to say whatever the f*** you want to say, to speak truth to power.” More directly on the album, the Navy SEAL builds off of Lupe’s uncle taking inspiration from the army on Seattle’s closing sound bite. A seal also happens to be a more playful, peaceful type of animal than any of the other ones mentioned. When you the play the album on loop, it’s a reminder to stay strong and “reverse the weather”, the rain of drill music.

“Look like a million dollars off of signing with The Bears/De Beers”
“From the Thanksgiving where bears attacking the dressing
Like Tekken, just lean back and tear into that refreshment”
From playing bears in sports to the real thing like Kuma in Tekken, it’s one of several lines where the punch really lands on another song. Kiosk relates the Chicago Bears with De Beers, the world’s largest diamond company, but there’s also the implied negativity that Lupe usually associates with alcohol. It’s more apparent with On Faux Nem, which hides from the horror of the first Thanksgiving by sneaking in another F&L easter egg: salad dressing (food) and refreshment like beer (liquor).

“My man said he wanted something real”
“I wish that you were lying/lion
I hope none of that comes true”
“Scrolls of obituaries contain more words that dictionaries
That will define how lions in Zion became alley cats”
One of the first things you hear on Lupe’s debut album is the tangible value of realness, only echoed by his father’s last words to him, “Tell the truth”. So, ending DMIZ by thinking that the truth is too terrible to look at, carries a lot of weight for me. It shows how much has changed, from the pretense of keeping it real to really living out the declarations of murder. And how much hasn’t changed, because violence was always the name of the game. The gravity of it just sinks a little deeper now. Returning to The Lion’s Deen, there’s also the second read of “I wish that you were lion”. I wish that you were more than just an alley cat. I wish that you were kings and queens of the jungle we call Zion. I wish that we could escape The Lion’s Den together and grow toward The Lion’s Deen in God’s graces.

In addition to Seattle’s instrumental gradually evolving verse by verse, On Faux Nem has a meta-layer for the process of an album that was quickly made from scratch. The first verse starts off with a short, but loaded statement: “Rappers die too much”. The second verse attempts to elaborate and correct the first verse, but ends up revealing his hypocrisy. The third verse seems like it’s initially going somewhere else, only to return to the issue at hand through a windows of the soul scheme and unpacks his exhaustion. The fourth verse again attempts to correct the error of not giving a full first verse by sharing his own personal feelings on death, the afterlife and how to cope until then. The last few lines are filled with indecisive maybes like he doesn’t have all the answers. And that’s understandable, it’s too big of a problem for one person to solve. But you can see the amount of trial and error necessary to fully gather his thoughts on the subject and emulate song construction in real time. Similar to DMIZ’s creation as a whole, starting off with not much more than a four-word title and just filling in the blanks as he went along. Maybe mistakes were made, but they say failure is the best teacher.

The End of Ms. Mural is absolutely a Skulls prequel. Sorry Lu lol

BrianWazhere putting on a master class I am rereading a lot of it and just mind blown. May give it another listen as i review my albums of the year

Makin updates to the OP and then cleaning it up some learning a lot