Lupe Fiasco's Daydreamin' Analysis

This is MY analysis for Lupe Fiasco's Daydreamin'. It's of his debut album Food & Liquor. I will first begin by showing the lyrics.

Lyrics:

"Daydreamin'" (feat. Jill Scott)

Daydream
I fell asleep beneath the flowers
For a couple of hours
On a beautiful day
Daydream
I dream of you amid the flowers
For a couple of hours
Such a beautiful day


As I spy from behind my giant robot's eyes
I keep him happy 'cause I might fall out if he cries
Scared of heights so I might pass out if he flies
Keep him on autopilot 'cause I can't drive
Room enough for one I tell my homies they can't ride
Unless they sittin on the shoulders but that's way too high
Let's try not to step on the children
The news cameras filmin
This walkin project buildin
Now there's hoes sellin hoes like right around the toes
And the crackheads beg at about the lower leg
There's crooked police that's stationed at the knees
And they do drive-bys like up and down the thighs
And there's a car chase goin on at the waist
Keep a vest on my chest
I'm sittin in my room as I'm lookin out the face
Somethin to write about
I still got some damage from fightin the whitehouse, just a

Daydream
I fell asleep beneath the flowers
For a couple of hours
On a beautiful day
Daydream
I dream of you amid the flowers
For a couple of hours
Such a beautiful day


Now come on everybody, let's make cocaine cool
We need a few more half naked women up in the pool
And hold this MAC-10 that's all covered in jewels
And can you please put your titties closer to the 22s?
And where's the champagne? We need champagne
Now look as hard as you can with this blunt in your hand
And now hold up your chain slow motion through the flames
Now cue the smoke machines and the simulated rain
But not too loud 'cause the baby's sleepin
I wonder if it knows what the world is keepin
Up both sleeves while he lay there dreamin
Me and my robot tip-toe 'round creepin
I had to turn my back on what got you paid
I couldn't see half the hood on me like Abu Ghraib
But I'd like to thank the streets that drove me crazy
And all the televisions out there that raised me, I was

Daydream
I fell asleep beneath the flowers
For a couple of hours
On a beautiful day
Daydream
I dream of you amid the flowers
For a couple of hours
Such a beautiful day

Daydream
I fell asleep beneath the flowers
For a couple of hours
On a beautiful day
Daydream
I dream of you amid the flowers
For a couple of hours
Such a beautiful day

Analysis:

Lupe has a lot of songs in which not many people understand the full meaning of it, Daydreamin' is one of the. I say that because in late 2009, I started to notice that some of my favorite Lupe songs had a deeper meaning to them, the first being "American Terrorist." With this song, Lupe talks about two things, where he grew up or ghetto's in general and how rap/hiphop is potrayed in the videos.

He starts with the chorus, simply stating that he fell asleep and started to daydream or have visions on a beautiful day.

"As I spy from behind my giant robot's eyes"

To understand the bigger picture of this line, one has to know what the robot stands for. The robot is pretty much a project building. The hint comes from the single's album art.



So when he's looking out the eyes, he's watching his neighborhood through the windows of his building. He goes on and says he wants to keep the robot happy from crying because he might fall out. This could mean tyding up his room, or paying for his rent(keep him happy or get kicked out). The scared of heights part seems to be about having a room on the top floor so he sticks to the lower level.

"Room enough for one so I tell my homies they can't ride"

This is saying that the room he has is only big enough for him and so no one else is able to come in, unless they want to stay outside by the door.

The next 3 lines are also a hint to let us know what the Robot actually stands for.

"Let's try not to step on the children
The news cameras filmin
This walkin project buildin"

Stepping on the children is saying harming the innocent by standers and not literally kids. He's saying that since this building is recieving attention (news cameras filming this WALKING PROJECT BUILDING, lets keep what were doing low so that negative attention isn't drawn. This then leads to the rest of the verse.

He starts to describe what he is seeing in his neighbourhood. From prostitution, crack heads, crooked cops, and violence (drive-bys). He is seeing all this from the face of the robot, through the eyes or the windows.

That very last line, I had a hard time interpreting it, but thanks to Wikipedia, I was able to understand it. Apparently, Lupe had a different idea for the songs video. A quick rundown of it is that he was going to have an actual robot go and fight other robots(hoods fighting against each other) and the one that Lupe was in, would come to a realization that they shouldn't be fighting amongst each other. So that robot would go for the white house. During that battle, the robot would get injured and have to retreat, thus "I still got some damage from fighting the white house"

The second verse then changes topics, and changes the meaning of the chorus. The is this "Daydream" or un-real world created in rap videos that seems to be popular. When I first heard this song back in 2006, I thought that first line, "Come on everybody lets make cocaine cool" meant that he wanted everybody to join him and become as cool as cocaine is. But it is quite the opposite.

To help me interpret this verse, I pictured that I was on the set of a rap video and Lupe was the director and he was talking to me.

"Come one, let take cocaine and make it cool. Now get some of those sexy models and put them by the pool. Next grab these guns(MAC-10) that are covered in jewels." He then turns to a model and tells her to put her titties closer to the big shinny rims. He turns back to me and asks, "where's the champagne? Don't you know we need the champagne?!" When the champagne is brought, he tells me to look 'hard' and hold a blunt, and at the same time hold up my shinny chain and walk through the flames, in the same style as you would see in a movie. To add some final touches, we need some fake rain and a smoke machine to add to the whole scene.

When he speaks of the sleeping baby, he is referencing to someone who is unaware of what's going on. He doesn't want it to be done too loud because the sleeping baby might wake up and realize whats going on. He then brings the robot back into the mix and saying that the project building can be involved in the whole thing.

"I had to turn my back on what got you paid"

With this line, Lupe is personally speaking of himself. He turned his back on all the drug dealing etc, (which is what got you paid). But he goes on to that the streets and the TVs that raised him because they are what educated him and made him who he is.


Closing:

This is what I got from the song. I have come to find that with Lupe Fiasco's songs, you have to keep listening to it over and over to discover what he is talking about and that you have never always understood ALL and EXACTLY what he is trying to convey, and that there is a lot more to his music. If there is anything that you feel I missed or you think I misinterpreted incorrectly, go ahead and let me know, I will take a look at it and see if I agree or not, and if I don't I'll give you a reason why.

Thanks for reading!