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Lupe Fiasco
In the first single off his second concept album The Cool, Lupe Fiasco delivers one of his most popular songs yet with a melancholic, lyrical meditation on the drawbacks of being in the limelight, alongside a memorable hook provided by Matthew Santos that allowed his rise to fame.
As the song’s mus...
[Chorus: Matthew Santos & Lupe Fiasco]
If you are what you say you are (Yeah, yeah)
A superstar (Gon' say now)
Then have no fear, the camera's here (Uh)
And the microphones
And they wanna know, oh, oh, oh, oh (The return)
If you are what you say you are
A superstar (Uh-huh)
Then have no fear, the crowd is here (Yeah)
And the lights are on (Ha)
And they want a show, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah (Free Chilly)
[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
Yeah, uh, a fresh, cool, young Lu'
Tryna cash his microphone check, two-one-two
Wanna believe my own hype, but it's too untrue
The world brought me to my knees; "What have you brung? You?
Did you improve on a design? Did you do something new?
Well, your name ain't on the guest list, who brung you?
You—the more famous person—you come through
And the sexy lady next to you, you come too!"
And then it hit me, standing outside of heaven
Waiting for God to come and get me: I'm too uncouth
Unschooled to the rules and too gumshoe
Too much of a newcomer and too uncool
Like Shadow and Lavelle, I battle with it well
Though I need a holiday like lady who sung blue
"Go back, whatever you did, you undo."
Heavy as heaven, the devil on me, two tons too
Ha, ha, ha, ha-ha-ha
[Chorus: Matthew Santos]
If you are what you say you are
A superstar
Then have no fear, the camera's here
And the microphones
And they wanna know, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah
[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
And you better wear your shades
The spotlights here can burn holes through the stage
Down through the basement, past the Indian graves
Where the dinosaurs laid and (Pew!)
Out through China, nearly misses airliners
Magnified times five, this was pointed at the rhymer
Ricochets off the moon and sets the forest ablaze (Woo!)
Now, that's important to say
'Cause even with all that, most of us don't want it to fade
We want it to braid
Meaning we want it to grow, meaning we want it to stay
Like the governor called, and he told him to wait
Unstrap him from the chair, and put him back in his cage
The audience ain't fazed
And they ain't gon' clap, and they ain't gon' praise (Uh)
They want everything back (Back) that they've paid
'Cause they've been waiting since ten to see the lights get dim
Ha, ha, ha, ha-ha-ha
[Chorus: Matthew Santos]
If you are what you say you are
A superstar
Then have no fear, the crowd is here
And the lights are on
And they want a show, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah
[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]
So, chauffeur, chauffeur, come and take me away
'Cause I've been standing in this line for, like, five whole days
Me and security ain't getting along, and when I got to the front
They told me all of the tickets were gone
So just take me home where the mood is mellow
And the roses are thrown, M&M's are yellow
And the light bulbs around my mirror don't flicker
Everybody gets a nice autograph picture
One for you and one for your sister
Who had to work tonight but is an avid listener
Every song's her favorite song; and mics don't feedback
All the reviewers say, "You need to go and see that!"
And everybody claps, 'cause everybody is pleased
And then, they all take the stage and start performing for me
Like, "Ha, ha, ha-ha-ha"
"Ha, ha, ha-ha-ha, ha"
[Chorus: Matthew Santos & Lupe Fiasco]
If you are what you say you are
A superstar
Then have no fear, the camera's here
And the microphones
And they wanna know, oh, oh, oh, oh
If you are what you say you are
A superstar (Superstar)
Then have no fear, the crowd is here
And the lights are on
And they want a show, oh, oh, oh, oh (Yeah)
[Outro: Matthew Santos]
If you are
What you say you are
Then have no fear
Superstar was written by Soundtrakk & Lupe Fiasco.
Superstar was produced by Soundtrakk.
Lupe Fiasco released Superstar on Tue Sep 25 2007.
For the 15-year anniversary of The Cool, Lupe tells Billboard in a 2022 interview :
The game itself is the music business and all the evils that come from that. Even something with “Superstar,” which still feels like this big pop record — which it was — it’s still tied into the dark side of what th...