# What inspired Lupe Fiasco's song Words I Never Said? *The inspiration for 'Words I Never Said'* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/oyiipehuiha/s/20/ - Date: 2021-04-26 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Lupe Fiasco | Stardom, Semiotics & Soul-searching | MindTrap#56 | Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki MALM (1:48:51–1:51:28) - Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYiiPEhuiHA&t=6531s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/oyiipehuiha/ **Topics:** Music; Middle East and the wider world **Question as asked:** What was your inspiration for 'Words I Never Said'? **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The guest says 'Words I Never Said' was his attempt, at the height of his fame, to speak truth to power about wealth disparity and militarism. ## Longer summary A viewer asks what inspired his song 'Words I Never Said'. The guest says he has always had a dose of disestablishmentarianism, recalling playing his militant song 'American Terrorist' for his father, who told him to listen to Tupac instead. He says the song continues a tradition of speaking truth to power and critiquing the narratives of the states we live in, written when he was famous enough to start political thought around the time of Occupy Wall Street, on wealth disparity and militarism. He names other conscious rappers who do the same. ## Sources and names cited - Lupe Fiasco (guest) - Occupy Wall Street (2011) ## Transcript (machine tier, 1:48:51–1:51:28) [1:48:13] and a sacrifice behind that that you don't see in other folks who are you know legitimate geniuses you know but they're working at subway you know or they're working down at the burger stand because they don't have the work ethic you know or the execution to execute on their ideas so i always give kanye that p's jay-z's just like a sage kind of hermit type dude you know um but he's absolutely he's an absolute genius in words like he's he's one of my mentors directly and then kind of indirectly creatively i pattern myself the way he uses words the way he raps the way he makes music and i have disagreements you know with with with him and some of his content and stuff like [1:48:51] that but at the same time too uh again work you know these dudes work you know i think that's what separates them from other folks is the work ethic that's that's that's inside of it there you go folks a question uh lupe what was your inspiration for words i never said oh man [Music] um we were i mean i've always had a dose of of disestablishmentarianism in my life um i i don't know if that [1:49:29] came from me trying to like impress my dad but i remember i got a song called american terrorist and i remember playing american terrorists for my dad right and i was like yo listen to that listen to this song i made it's all militant and in your face and it was like he's like right i'm like what this song is for you i mean you're the military man in the hood with the consciousness and the raps and the no not the raps but you know the karate you know and uh it's just kind of like drip and he's like put on a tupac with a tupac head you got some tupac man this is this is solid gold right here and uh so where's my words i never said [1:50:09] is an extension of that kind of tradition of me kind of um speaking truth to power you know even if i agree with it still kind of critiquing the status quo of certain things and standing up for folks um who don't have a a certain voice you know in the space and also being kind of vulnerable to to certain events and certain things that that happen and how they kind of craft um the narrative in the states this literally the states that we uh that we live in you know whether you're in this part of the world or that part of the world um there's some narratives and some story lines um which need to be critiqued which need to be addressed that need to be put into kind of the public purview and that when i had that moment [1:50:48] i'm not as famous as i was but when i had that moment you know i took the opportunity like i'm going to use this space you know to kick some political thought off yeah you know and challenge some folks so yeah i think it was around the time like occupy wall street and kind of other stuff like that so there was this sense of like you know there the the one percent is a thing it's real wealth disparities thing militarism is a thing all these things are things that are real um and rap needs to have a uh needs to speak on it just a little bit and not and i'm not the only one that that does it shout to immortal technique you know shout out to tyler quality most deaf all these different conscious rappers killer mike uh different folks who speak ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment oYiiPEhuiHA/s/20. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/oyiipehuiha/s/20/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.