Deliver

"Deliver" is a song by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released as the lead single from his fifth studio album, Tetsuo & Youth. It premiered on November 10, 2014, during his Tetsuo & Youth Preview Tour. It features guest vocals from Ty Dolla $ign and additional vocals by PJ.
== Personnel ==
;Song
* Bob Horn – mixer
* Chris Gehringer – masterer
* Maurice "MoeZ'art" Thomas – writer, producer
* Paris "PJ" Jones – additional vocals, writer
* Tyrone "Ty Dolla $ign" Griffin, Jr. – featured artist, vocals, writer
* Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco – lead artist, vocals, writer
;Video
* Alex Nazari – director
* Ryan Hahn – producer, editor
* HPLA – production company
* Isiah Donté Lee – cinematographer
* Evan Langley – VFX
* Adolfo Martinelli – colorist
== Background ==
On December 15, 2014, the music video premiered on WorldStarHipHop. Fiasco performed the song on the Late Night with Seth Meyers, the episode airing on January 21, 2015.Thompson, Paul (January 22, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Performs "Deliver" on 'Late Night with Seth Meyers'". XXL.
In an interview with Billboard, he explained, "[It's] the autobiography of a myth in the hood. You don't really recognize it until you are there. The hood doesn't really have the basic amenities that things that aren't the hood has. The pizza man might have two or three thoughts before he comes to your neighborhood. The pizza man might pull up, see your building and then keep driving. It's almost like a myth. Does that really happen? Does the pizza man really not come to the hood? In some cases it's true. In some places it's probably more of a story. One of the interesting things when we put the record out was that people were posting news stories about pizza men getting killed. There are some very serious reasons as to why. But it also speaks to the nature of those places like the places I grew up in, West Side of Chicago, South Side of Chicago. It's things like that, that are those odd aspects of the hood that don't really get a lot of attention like all drug dealers. But they have effects too."
Concerning the symbolism of the pizza man, he said, "It's kind of also saying 'peace of man' like 'peace of man don't come here no more.' Once you look at it from that perspective, it changes the dynamic of the song. We kind of did something like that on 'He Said, She Said,' which was about the single mother and single parent talking to this father and they used the exact same verse but kind of switched the pronouns around, but it was the exact same thing but it came from two different sources. It's almost like the inverse of four, five albums later, you learn that switching out one word changes the dynamic of the entire song, and pizza becomes a metaphor for something else and the words become double entendre and even triple entendre." He called the song "the simplest song" from Tetsuo & Youth, where it was a "straight narrative" as other tracks on the record have "five narratives at the same time."Gollanopoulos, Thomas (January 15, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Talks New Album, Defending Iggy Azalea & Quitting Twitter: 'I Don't Want to Be Relevant'". Billboard.
== Critical reception ==
Writing for Complex, Ian Servantes said, "This is Lupe at his best, using his sharp mind and lyricism to focus on social issues. And Ty Dolla $ign [...] If the rest Tetsuo and Youth follows suit, we anticipate a damn good album."Servantes, Ian (November 9, 2014). "Listen to Lupe Fiasco's "Deliver" f/ Ty Dolla $ign". Complex. Okayplayer wrote, "It holds true to the new trap-tastic vibe-heavy productions the Chi-town MC has been coming with as of late with a slow-burning haze laid thick under a harrowing hook from LA crooner Ty Dolla $ign and some verbal gymnastics from Fiasco. It's another formidable cut from and album that's beginning to seem more promising with every passing week.""Lupe Fiasco Lets Loose the Vibe-Heavy Single "Deliver"". Okayplayer. November 11, 2014. HotNewHipHops Trevor Smith praised, "a song that should satisfy Lupe's core fanbase. The uncompromising record is built off of a surging synth line, which the Chicago rapper weaves in and out of, before a soulful refrain (with some possible help from Ty Dolla $ign) ties it all together. The political record looks at the conditions of Fiasco's city, using the clever and potent concept of a pizzaman who dares not enter the area."Smith, Trevor (November 9, 2014). "Deliver". HotNewHipHop. Slates culture blog, Brow Beat, noted of Fiasco delivering "sharp criticism of 'ghetto' stereotypes,"Lockett, Dee (November 10, 2014). "Lupe Fiasco Delivers Sharp Criticism of "Ghetto" Stereotypes in His New Song". Brow Beat. while Paste described it as "straightforward, evocative and dense."Kearse, Stephen (February 3, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco: Tetsuo and Youth Review". Paste.
== Cultural references ==
* Little Caesars is an American multinational chain of pizza restaurants.
* Papa John's is an American pizza restaurant chain.
* Breaking Bad is an American crime drama television series. It follows Walter White, a high-school chemistry teacher who becomes a drug lord. 
* Giordano's is an American pizzeria chain.
* DiGiorno is a brand of frozen pizza and subsidiary of Nestlé.
* Bull City is a nickname for the city of Durham, North Carolina, but Fiasco actually refers to bullshit (nonsense) of homemade pizza, tying it in with toro. 
* "Toro" translates to "bull" in Spanish.
* Donatello is one of the four main characters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) franchise. He is the smartest of his brothers, and dons the purple mask. The main antagonist of the TMNT is Shredder, the ruthless leader of a criminal ninja organization. Pizza also happens to be the favorite food of the turtles.
== Lyrics ==
== References ==
Category:2014 songs
Category:Collaboration songs
Category:Explicit songs
Category:Lupe Fiasco songs
Category:Singles
Category:Songs
Category:Songs with music videos
Category:Tetsuo & Youth