[Intro: Lupe Fiasco]
Dedicate, dedicate,
This one right here goes out
To my homie with the dream, nahmean?
[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
He said: «I write what I see,
Write to make it right, don't like where I be,
I'd like to make it like the sights on TV,
Quite the great life, so nice and easy.
See, now you can still die from that,
But it's better than not bein' alive from straps”.
Agreed, a Mead notebook and a Bic
That click when it's pushed, and a wack ass beat
That's a track that's weak that he got last week,
‘Cause everybody in the stu' was like, «That's that heat!»
A bass-heavy medley with a sample from the 70's
With a screwed-up hook that went «stack that cheese»
Something, something, something, stack that cheese!
Mother, sister, cousin, stack that cheese!
He couldn't think of nothing, «stack that cheese».
He turns down the beat, writer's block impedes,
Cryin' from the next room a baby in need
Of some Pampers, and some food, and place to sleep,
That, plus a black Cadillac on D's,
Is what keep him on track to be a great MC.
[Chorus: Nikki Jean]
One you never heard of, I
Push it harder, further, the
Grind might feel like murder, but
Hip-hop, you saved me.
One you never heard of, I
Push it harder, further, the
Grind might feel like murder, but
Hip-hop, you saved my life.
[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
Reps North Side, so he rocks them braids,
1100 friends on his Myspace page,
«Stack That Cheese» got 700 plays,
Producer made him take it down, said he had to pay.
Open mic champ two weeks in a row,
Ex d-boy with a b-boy flow,
Glow like Leroy, you should see the boy go.
Got a daddy servin' life and a brother on the row,
Best homie in the grave, tatted up while in the cage,
Minute Maid got his momma workin' like a slave,
Down baby momma, who he really had to honor,
‘Cause she was his biggest fan, even let him use her Honda to
Drive up to Dallas, went to open up for amateurs.
Let him keep a debit card so he could put gas in it,
Told her when he get on he gon' take her to the Galleria,
And buy everything but the mannequins, ya dig?
[Chorus: Nikki Jean]
One you never heard of, I
Push it harder, further, the
Grind might feel like murder, but
Hip-hop, you saved me.
One you never heard of, I
Push it harder, further, the
Grind might feel like murder, but
Hip-hop, you saved my life.
[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]
His man called, said: «Your time might be now,
They played your freestyle over 'Wipe Me Down',
They played it two times, say it might be crowned
As the best thing out the H-town in a while.»
He picked up his son with a great big smile,
Rapped every single word to the newborn child,
Then he put him down and went back to the kitchen,
And put on another beat and got back to the mission of
Get his momma out the hood, put her somewhere in the woods,
Keep his lady lookin' good, have her rollin' like she should,
Show his homies there's a way other than that flippin' yay,
Bail his homie out of jail, put a lawyer on his case,
Throw a concert for the school, show the shorties that it's cool,
Throw some candy on the Caddy, chuck the deuce, and act a fool.
Man, it feels good, when it happens like that,
Two days from goin' back to sellin' crack, yessir!
[Chorus: Nikki Jean]
One you never heard of, I
Push it harder, further, the
Grind might feel like murder, but
Hip-hop, you saved me.
One you never heard of, I
Push it harder, further, the
Grind might feel like murder, but
Hip-hop, you saved my life.