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Grow a head full of dreads, start listening to Bob Marley and bam, you start drawing inspiration from Rastafarian culture.
Seemingly, that’s the route Lupe Fiasco has taken on his new song ‘Haile Selassie,’ named after the famed emperor of Ethiopia, who the Rastafarian culture is built around. Singer and pianist Nikki Jean is featured on the hook.
Right off the bat, the Chicago MC uses clever wordplay to convey social and political struggle.
“Man’s limitation, transfiguration, I can dance, welcome to the demo / Modern man comes to the wedding in the limo / Mixing doves with the rice rain / Uncle Ben’s off the rails on the night train / And that storm took us to the platform, push us / Back to the bachelor’s backdoor, unhook us,” he spits.
As usual, Lupe encases his lyrics in heavy symbolism, which makes them tedious to comprehend. Many rappers choose to intersperse their metaphors with straight talk, but not Mr. Fiasco, he uses hidden meanings and symbolism for an entire song, often times leaving people confused on what his overall message is.
But if you’re a Lupe fan, you’ll probably like ‘Haile Selassie’ as it’s chock-full of heady lyrics, deep messages and a pretty nice beat constructed by Soundtrackk, who produced ‘Kick Push.’
It’s likely this new cut will be on the rapper’s upcoming mixtape, ‘Lost in the Atlantic,’ which will precede his next full-length album ‘Tetsuo & Youth.’
Listen to Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Haile Selassie’ Feat. Nikki Jean
