Lupe Fiasco - "Shining Down" (Track Review)

En god grund til at anskaffe sig bonusversionen af Lupe Fiasco's seneste album Lasers, er nummeret "Shining Down". Nummeret så dagens lys tilbage i 2009 og er derfor en smule halvgammelt, men i og med, at det er lavet i kølvandet på Lupe Fiasco's The Cool skiller det sig markant ud fra den mainstream-tankegang, der har gennemsyret arbejdsprocessen på Lasers.

Beatsmeden Soundtrakk, der står bag nogle af de mest fantastiske produktioner i Lupe's katalog, har produceret nummeret. Beatet er lavet af det samme stof der udgjorde de sublime beats på The Cool (den minder på mange måder om "Superstar"); Organiske trommer blandet med soniske guitarriffs, atmosfæriske keys og strygere, der falder ind i tredje vers, og så synger Matthew Santos omkvædet. Altså en sikker vinder af en cocktail.

Men det stopper ikke her! - Lupe rapper som en drøm! Flowet er forholdsvist simpelt, men teksterne er næsten sygeligt geniale. Han boltrer sig i metaforer, sammenligninger, snedig ordleg og ubetalelig opfindsomhed. Han disser endda hans eget pladeselskab Atlantic Records, men på så snedig vis at de sikkert aldrig har fattet det. Spil sangen og læs teksten, så ses vi længere nede.

Look up in the sky
Look up in the sky

Look up in the sky

You thought I was down

You thought I was gone

Thought I wasn't around

That I left you alone

But look up in the sky

Just look up in the sky

See that I'm everywhere

Everywhere

Shining down on you

"Well, well /

Is it out little author? /

Coming back, hummin his hymns a little altered /

Your attention put back on the flow like the department of water /

Taking off with the dough like Little Walter /

Chess? Yes, baby I'm Jerry Lawler /

Rebel with a cause, outlaw with a lawyer /

Judge, jury, like a loo /

Rap name Lupe but my daddy named me Warrior /

This is his memorial"

You thought I was down

You thought I was gone

Thought I wasn't around

That I left you alone

But look up in the sky

Just look up in the sky

See that I'm everywhere

Everywhere

Shining down on you

"No, I ain't that nigga tryin to get a liquor line /

When I be scripting lines, want this petition signed /

It says I'm sick of dying , sick of this prison time /

I really love my people, I'm sick of pimping mine /

Now if we autotune that shit /

We can hear the songs from that opera groomed fat bitch /

Telling us not to pursue it, just to shoe it like a blacksmith /
We're trapped, and movin' round in circles like it's chapstick /

And that's the same encircled way of thinking that we chat with /

We'll wrap this /

Around your head, like the bandanas Fabolous used to wrap his hats with /

Rather be in F.E.D.S. than in National Geographics / Well I'm not havin' it"

You thought I was down

You thought I was gone

Though I wasn't around That I left you alone

But look up in the sky

Just look up in the sky

See that I'm everywhere

Everywhere Shining down on you

"So, I say hello and this is for the third time /

To everybody out there who ain't never heard mine /

And if you have, then you know you ain't never heard lying /

(1) Lu don't move no cowards, you only heard lines

(2) Lu don't moo no cow words, you only heard lions /

Not a facade charisher, I'd rather have the scars /
I don't idolize America, I'm dancing with the stars /

Uh huh, all of them? Yeah, they are too /

You look up and you see us shining down on you"

You thought I was down
You thought I was gone

Thought I wasn't around

That I left you alone

But look up in the sky

Just look up in the sky

See that I'm everywhere

Everywhere

Shining down on you

Shining down on you

Shining down on you

Shining down on you

Jeg er simpelthen vild med den måde, han i næsten hver linje har underlæggende budskaber. Fra bekendelse ved kirkealteret (hummin' his hymns a little altered), sammenligningerne med blues legenden Little Walter og bokseren Jerry "the King" Lawler, til autotune delen, som paradoxalt nok bruges til at understrege hvor nederen autotune er (syndt at der så er så meget autotune på Lasers) og et par hug til American Idol og Dancing with the Stars. Og tusinde andre ting, som ikke engang jeg har opdaget. Især linjen med 'Cowards/cow words' er fantastisk, og der er endnu flere versioner af den ene linje at finde på nettet.

Optimalt set burde "Shining Down" nok have afsluttet The Cool istedet for "Go Baby" (der faktisk havde fundet sig bedre til rette på Lasers), for nummeret er mildest talt malplaceret på Lasers, som ikke indeholder et eneste nummer, der kan hamle op med "Shining Down", både hvad angår lyrik og produktion.

Lad os håbe på, at Lupe bruger de mange penge han tjener på Lasers på at fokusere 100% på hans eget First and Fifteenth selskab, så han kan lave noget ordenlig musik.

- Jeppe Barslund