Hurt Me Soul

this is definitely one of my favorite lupe songs, i can't believe i am the first comment. this is real. my favorite part is about the jay-z boycott because i can definitely relate to it. i love hip hop so much even though most of it goes against the teachings of my faith which makes me feel so uncomfortable. but i keep listening.

Yea I agree with tia 2008 but on a broader note it seems like its about liking anything that you might fundamentally disagree with. This song is so real. Lupe is the illest. I like how he is just a story teller more than a rapper.

yo this by far is one of lupe's best, and def my fav on the album. everything he says can be understood by anyone with a brain. u dont have to be from the hood, u dont have to be black, asian, white, hispanic to know wut he's talking about, u just have to be real and i love that. and there is hope for the common man, b/c of artists out there like lupe, who dont care about the glamorization and say it how it is. and thats the kinda stuff that people really listen to and respect

i wrote the wikipedia article for this song see if you like it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurt_MeSoul(song)

"Hurt Me Soul" is a satirical song by rapper Lupe Fiasco. The Needlz-produced track was released in September 2006 on his debut album Food & Liquor. "Hurt Me Soul" is considered by many hip-hop enthusiasts as one of the greatest hip-hop tracks of 2006.[1] [2] Lupe first of all criticizes his own hypocrisy during his younger years in the opening verse, and even more so the ongoing hypocrisy of most rappers in the modern rap scene. He refers to the fact that rap is currently being flooded with the glorification or subliminal promotion of misogyny, drug-dealing, materialism and violence. Moreover, this kind of rap music can be metaphorically viewed as the world in general, for these vices still continue to exist universally, even in societies where rap is absent. However, Lupe questions whether or not hip-hop should be criticized for such things, since in his own vision, rap legends such as 2Pac, Nas, and Jay-Z (who are frequent sources of these glorifications), rap about subjects that are in reality "coming true", despite the vulgarity of it all. Moving on, as the track arrives at the last verse, Lupe lists a catalog of things he thinks corrupts the world. Consequently, in three uniquely different hooks, Lupe represents numerous people suffering from this corruption, still bearing the general theme that virtually everyone in the world is susceptible to misfortune. He mourns for the world as a result, hence the title "Hurt Me Soul".

The sheer ignorance of the listeners makes me feel incredibly hopeless. Lupe has such a strong message and I'm afraid that, from what I can see here, his message is being missed. Lupe was raised by a black panther in a structured home. He sees the world for what it is. He's sort of taken a step back and understands the intricacies of societies and the effects of what people do. It all intertwines with the popular saying "jedi mind tricks".

For example, he says "My master beats me" He's basically saying that the mentality of our people is the mentality of a slave. It's something that has transcended through black history, and although we're no longer slaves, we continue to have that mentality and therefore it still is and we still pretty much are. So when a whore gets beat by a pimp, she's being beaten by her master. I don't know, maybe he doesn't mean it so metaphorically, but he commonly talks about how our past experiences directly affects us today.

My interpretation (short version)

Lupe Fiasco grew up in Chi-town under a Muslim black panther household, originally a Jazz enthusiast, Lupe disliked hip hop for its general extensive use of vulgar language [I used to hate hip-hop....yup, cause the women degraded] In Lupe's earlier music vulgar language was scarcely used if at all [omittin the word bitch, cursin I wouldn't say it]. Lupe, who's parents were divorced by age 5, moved to Harvey, Illonois to live with his father, who also happened to live next to a crack house, and its safe to assume that the community or a person in his community protected Lupe from the crackhouse (or more symbolically, drug dealin) [Yeah, for the icin, glamorized drug dealin was appealin But the block club kept it from in front of our buildin]. Lupe turned to music, noble of him to mention "ignorant wisdom" [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, it drop]

An anti-swearing Fiasco didn't condone Jay-Z lyrics at first, to the extent of a boycott of the artist, however, this boycott was later repealed after realizing how talented Hova was. [I had a ghetto boy bop, a Jay-Z boycott, 'Cause he said that he never prayed to God, he prayed to Gotti, I'm thinkin godly, God guard me from the ungodly, But by my 30th watchin of "Streets is Watchin", I was back to givin props again and that was botherin, By this uncomfortable as a untouchable touchin you, The theme songs that niggas hustle to seem wrong but these songs was comin true, And it was all becoming cool]

[I found a condom on the ground that Johns would cum into and thought What constitutes a prostitute is the pursuit of profit then they drop it The homie in a suit pat her on the butt, then rock it It seems I was seein the same scene adopted Prevalent in different things with the witnesses indifferent to stop it They said don't knock it, mind ya business His business isn't mine and that nigga pimpin got it]

There's some symbolism here so bare with me... the "homie in the suit" is the label/producer, the John is the rapper/spitter (who picked up on the dual meanings there?), and the condom is the music. Condom is the regurgitated garbage that gets spit out everyday by half ass rappers that cant spit/create their own ish, but somehow gets accepted by society - Just think of that artist you don't like at all, and everyone else does. Lupe realizes that the difference between a slutty woman and a prostitute is the pursuit of money, which is what these rappers are doing, if you're gonna rap, why not get paid doing it, even if you're just, in the end, just a rap trick, but still, those tricks are successful, and who is Lupe to stop it, so Lupe does nothing, it's none of his business, he'll be who he is, and rap how he raps.

The next bunch of lines is all the things Lupe thinks are wrong in the world...

"All the world ills, sittin on chrome 24- inch wheels"

It's partially about him hating what was popular in hip-hop (gangsta, drugs, violence, and being told to shut up and sit down whenever he'd voice why and what he hated about Hip-hop), then feeling like a hypocrite, because he'd listen to Jay-z and give props to things that he knew he didn't like just to fit in.

i love this song. i don't even know how to explain. but i feel like him in this song cuz i was/am like that.

This song really speaks to me. We've come so far as humans and yet we forget how corrupt we can be. People always talk about the world ending, well folks, this may as well be the death of us. The common man is hopeless.

That third verse is the shit...it's like some Andre 3000 shit! Flawless!