Mindstate & SP the Swine

[Evil_Genious]

What you guys think Lupe Fiasco is talking about on 'The Coolest'? (the song)

[Spider Pig]

about hip hop and what it gives him and what he gives it?

wasn't he quitting or something?

[mindstate]

its a bit difficult for me, because you need to be a little poetic or deep thinking to understand what he's really talking about...

but this is what i got...

might not be true though...

first verse he seems to be talking how much success being an hip hop artist can get him...people like lupe and pharrell belong to a sub-genre in hip hop called Nerd rap or backpack rap...hence why the name of the album is given an ironic name...traditionally hip hop is what all the cool kids listen to..and here comes a nerdy rapper talking about his life and shit....

so here he comes talking about how a fan of hip hop, who is different from the others, can also gain fame from this music business..."paper, the likes of which
That I had never seen, her eyes glow green (dollars)
With the logo of our dreams, the purpose of our scene (chasing the american dream)
A obscene obsession for the bling"

then he goes on to talk about his love for hip hop. Even if hip hop died, he would've gained a lot of fame and money off of it...Also he mentions "she would commission monuments on her bosom" i think that means hip hop has helped a lot of people start their own business ventures such as record labels and radio stations, basically helping the economy...

verse 1 is mostly about the status of hip hop and how much love he has for it..and explains how we all try to conform to societies rules by chasing this image of 'cool'...in the process we forget who we really are...

i dont know what verse 2 is about...but i think its about him entering into hip hop with a big bang...but usually whenever verse 2 starts i just drift away and nod my head to the beat...

[Evil_Genious]

Yehhh, nice one Mindstate.... Food for thought....

+Repped for both fam.

[mindstate]

well what do you think it means?

[Evil_Genious]

Hmm, I dunno.. I been listenin to it hard over the past few days.... I just been thinkin about the lyrics, I love the vaugeness, coz it can mean lots of shit and mean nothing all the same....

I think he talking about the rise of a rapper. From the humble roots, chasing the dream and the promise, the becomming of a rapper and staying at the top and then how it changes you and de-sensitises you and you sorta lose yourself in it. So the future you chase is not really a future at all coz you lose your faith in it.

He constantly talks about the Lord and forgiveness like he sinning; And we all know that money is the root of all evil so, maybe he saying in the chase of the money (and fame) there's many sins that are commited. Chasing the money as your life's sole purpose is a sin it itself as it is synonymous with greed and gluttony.

The first verse for me is about what money promises or what money seems to promise to people who are broke. It promises 'greatness, status, placement above the others my face would grace covers, of the magazines of the hustlers, paper, the likes of which that I had never seen her eyes glow green with the logo of our dreams"... And that even if the fame leaves him the money would 'cushion my fall'. But when he starts talking about 'comission an image on her bosom' is where I got confused, I thought he was talking about Hip Hop then, so I dunno.

Then in the second verse he talks about how 'we began our regin' the money and Lup and how he starts losing his faith there onwards and how God is becomming displeased with what he does from there. "And pray to God that the flood subside, 'cause you gonna need a sub till he does reply" coz they say when 'you forget God, God forgets you', know what I mean? So when you need him, he won't listen. When you're drowning he won't throw you a lifeline and you gna need a Sub (submarine). But you don't see it when you're at the top living it up do you? Coz who thinks about falling when you at the top and can't be challenged? So he goes through the summers in the same way as the last.

Not sure what he talking about towards the end of the verse, I think he's talking about how you age and how another younger, hungrier rapper will come and challenge you for your spot. "cause he is the cleanest among the younger, outstanding achieving up-and-comers" and how his own life is fucked up now how he becomming shallow and he can't see that his woman gave him a daughter, but he wanted material things his new lady gave him a Mercedes.. And he doesn't give a shit...

The short verse at the end gives a lot of it away "Come. These are the tales of The Cool. Guaranteed to make you go and fail from your school, and seek unholy grails like a fool".

So yeah like you said there's a lot of irony as in being 'Cool' really isn't being that cool, coz you're fucked up, but it seems like they cool when you're broke....

I love this song, best song by Lupe.

[mindstate]

interesting...i asked a friend..what he thought the song meant...he told me..

"The whole song is about him being 'the cool' and falling in love with 'the streets' and how they compliment each other, and how when he makes it he can throw away 'the streets' that got him to the top."

he also said that lupe used to have a blogspot during the time this album released where he summarised the meaning of each song in the album...that answer is similar to what lupe said...

[Evil_Genious]

Seen... I hate Googling to find meanings of songs, but I might do it in this case....

[Spider Pig]

Originally Posted by Spider Pig about hip hop and what it gives him and what he gives it? wasn't he quitting or something?

what you mean "eh?" lol

basically meant its about what hip hop has provided him, his life, what it could do for him, what it has done for him and vice versa


and by quitting I meant I heard he was bored of rap and wanted to quit