Lupe Fiasco citations

“Try not to measure your success by the success of others. Success should be defined by one person…Yourself.”

“Your child's future was the first to go with budget cuts,
if you think that hurts then wait here comes the upper-cut,
the school was garbage in the first place that's on the up and up.”

“Made me a ripper, deliver like a river, content a little more thicker, slicker…and they said
oil and water don't mix, now they all down at the beach washing off the fish.”

“Before I start, like to make sure I'm smart. Gather my composure, rather my swagger
and my couture. Pivot my fitted, then begin to rivet, with a change of lyric. In other
words, I reposition how I sit it. Then make you feel it, like I mispronounced “filet.””

“The truth.. is limitless in its range, If you drop a 'T' and look at it in reverse it could hurt”

“I used to hate hip-hop, because the women degraded. But Too Short made me laugh,
like a hypocrite I played it; a hypocrite I stated, though I only recited half
omitting the word b*tch, cursing I wouldn't say it. Me and dog couldn't relate, until a b*tch I dated.”

“My teacher's like, "Mr. Jaco?" "Yes?" "With all that knowledge, You aint trying to go to college? Be a lawyer or a doctor, Get a whole lotta dollars? Rather degrade women and glorify violence?" "Well the work that works for me might not work for you No homework, I got work to do."”

“Gangsta rap-based filmings became the buildin blocks
For children with leakin ceilings catchin drippins with pots
Coupled with compositions from Pac, Nas's "It Was Written"
In the mix with my realities and feelings
Living conditions, religion, ignorant wisdom and artistic vision
I began to jot, tap the world and listen,”

“Consider power as NOT getting people to obey you, but getting people to work in harmony with you with the goal being mutual benefit.”

“I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence, Fear is such a weak emotion that's why I despise it.”

“My most coveted thing is a high self-esteem, and a low tolerance for them telling me how to lean,
see the most important parts are the ones that are unseen, cause the wings don't make you fly
and the crown don't make you king”

“And so it seems that I'm, sewing jeans. And, 1st and 15 is just a sewing machine. So I,
cut the pattern and I, sew in seams. And, button in this hustling then publically, I'm
Buddy Lee. There's no bustin' them and cuffin' them is like. Ushering in the regime, they want
me to make Prince pants. But I withstand, I ain't gotten into that. A little big (B. I. G.) in the
waist, two-pocket (Tupac-it) on the back. Call them Lu-vi's, O. G.'s covered in blue dye”

“We all KNOW better, but do we actually DO better?”

“In darkness is where we truly find ourselves, in light we only find others and in others you cannot find yourself.”

“Choose respect over fame every time. Fame is just attention. Respect is an attribute of love.”

“We all trying to get to where the suffering ends. In front of the Most High, being judged for our sins. Can't front for the Most High.”

“To gain a better understanding, I'm just trying to make it real/reel. Like a fisherman,
Pon De River fam. I Pon My Bank, deposit my thoughts. Till my mind draws a blank
and I withdraw from checking. I'll leave that with ya'll for a second…”

“The fear that rules us comes NOT from the outside but from within. Mastering self-control also means stripping the rulers of a prized weapon.”

“Life ain't meant to come around twice, that's why I gotta get it right. They said I gotta
get it honest, now I gotta give them light, but sleep on it, that's why God gave you night”

“Jay gave me a co-sign like I was RocaWear, but be clear I'm not the air/heir
I'm the water, fire and the earth
That means I'm doing dirt, spitting flames and quenching thirst”

“Flowers she would pick like guitar strings, for a real good whiff of how how life behind par seems.”

“Rap records pressured to laugh, at a life not fast.”

“Separate wealth from value. All living things have value. We impart this value upon lifeless things to give them worth not vice versa.”

“Heavy problems genocide desensitized environments
Sometimes make it hard to sympathize, pardon”

“A match made in Heaven, set the fires in Hell”

“Never apologize for being real…ever. Reality is the enemy of fakes, frauds, liars and protectors of ignorance. It scares them.”

“Come across as very calm, mental state is Zen like. Always had a lot of heart, never been the tin type”

“Some will love you. Some will hate you. Most won't care about you either way. This world is all Good vs. Evil. And I fight evil.”

“Fear and Sex are the two most effective weapons that are used against the people. Tempering desire motivates liberation.”