Rodney, Lehman Bros Profited from Slavery & Other Tales

"**Rodney, Lehman Bros Profited from Slavery & Other Tales**" is a song by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, uploaded in lofi to social media in four parts on November 28, 2017. He quickly removed the posts, though a fan managed to save them and uploaded it to SoundCloud. Fiasco spoke over the instrumental of "Distant Land" by Madlib. The track details various historical events, notably the fourth verse deriving from his "Black Power L-Word". He also mentions two songs through lyric: "KJazz" and "All While Doing a Rubik's Cube One-Handed".

## Cultural references

* Rodney King (April 2, 1965 – June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by LAPD police officers, which started the 1992 Los Angeles riots upon the jury that acquitted four officers.
* The Lehman Brothers, a financial institution, have been linked to slavery.
* *Karate Kid* is a 1984 film that follows teenager Daniel LaRusso, who learns martial arts to defend himself against bullies.
* Fiasco produces a DC and Marvel-riddled verse where he mentions Oswald Cobblepot (The DC villain Penguin, a common adversary of Batman), to Gwyneth Paltrow who plays Pepper Potts (the love interest of Iron Man).
* Hugh Hefner is best known for being the founder of *Playboy* magazine.
* L'Oréal is a cosmetics company.
* *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure* is a manage series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki.
* Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were found guilty and sentenced to death at their trial. The former, Romania's communist leader, was responsible for genocide.

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro]

*Now, the story that might never have surfaced if someone hadn't picked up his home video camera. We've all seen the pictures of Los Angeles police officers beating a man that had just pulled over. The city's police chief said today that he would support criminal charges against some of the men*

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]

Yo, yo

Childhood hostile, ostrich, top down

Rodney, cop, kick, chopstick, wok, cow

Beef fried rice like, seaside sight night

Speak rhyme, peak, prime, three times white knights

They gon' beat him in the streets

Light wrist, nightstick, demon's in the deets

Swingin' at the King with every piece of their police

Seethin' at the seam, bleedin' on the scene

Leave him like Lehman brothers, need an intervene

Rodney dropped an [?] quickly, trading slave-laid cotton

Alabama manners, then moved up to New York

To move the hot commodities even better than before

Civil war saw change, envies of crackers

To reinvent the death in the railroad with wackness

Capitalizing off blackness like nocturnal hunters

Creeping in the jungles, numbers

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

Beat him in the head

Kick him in the neck, beat him on the leg

Beat him on the head

Kick him in the neck, beat him on the leg

Is he alright?

These two Hebrew Israelites

We came from the end

We ain't start the revolution just to make friends

Came from the end

We ain't start the revolution just to make friends

[Sample]

*Now, the story that might never have surfaced if someone hadn't picked up his home video camera. We've all seen the pictures of Los Angeles police officers beating a man that had just pulled over. The city's police chief said today that he would support criminal charges against some of the men*

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Ayy, ayy

What he say?

He say, he say, he say

Last club, left the bathtub like a flash flood, baptismal

Cats sizzle packs in the van, that's thizzle as Mac Dizzle

Deal is half-pickled, jammed as bad pistols, the poorly dressed

The correlated, the laureats

No relation 'less he coronated the coronets as well

Oswald Cobblepot, out-cold household

Pepper pot lover, heartless man in a letter

That's penned to Gwyneth Paltrow, ends justify the outro

Black hue, Hugh Hefner to the heifers

A boy cow, give out your L'Oréal story tales

Brush blush on the rough cuts of the Maury fails

You are not the cannon fodder, relax

Catch me outside, how 'bout that?

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

Beat him on the head

Kick him in the neck, beat him on the leg

Kick him in the head

Beat him in the neck, kick him on the leg

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]

He said, make it art

Resurrect souls like Jason [?]

Life is never sacred but it's snipers out in Vegas

Vincent wiping out the stages

Background check for a chopper

Watch as I pull out the pages, hope I don't hit watchlist

CCW, subterfuge cops, oh no I got this

Isabella's looking out the optics

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

Like "shoot him in the head

Shoot him in the neck, shoot him in the leg"

[Sample]

*Now, the story that might never have surfaced if someone hadn't picked up his home video camera. We've all seen the pictures of Los Angeles police officers beating a man that had just pulled over. The city's police chief said today that he would support criminal charges against some of the men*

[Verse 4: Lupe Fiasco]

Said, said zombie, I need brains

Right on time like high-speed trains

Pull up real slow like tai chi cranes

That's an excellent *Karate Kid* reference

But I'ma leave it there like negligence

Focus on the dead that I said in my very first testament

Re-animate it, roll-out minds, Frankenstein times Optimus Prime

Zorro bombing on cars how I write these names

Rail spike, snail life, I need change

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

What they say, what they say

Beat him in the head

Beat him in the head

Kick him in the neck, beat him on the leg

Beat him 'til he dead

Kick him in the neck, beat him on the leg

Is he alright?

These two Hebrew Israelites said

Coming from the end

We ain't start the revolution just to make friends

Nah, nah

Nah, nah

[Verse 5: Lupe Fiasco]

Sunset, Los Angeles

Undressed like the sky put on a skirt to hurt the slum sets

Then hit Hollywood Boulevard like spars

Light taps that fight back, high heels covered in stars

Lounge gowns standing downtown up in W. Dubois'

Rolls Royce, Choice, the Hoist, and other comfortable cars

Shooting club doormans, speaking love of the warfare

What we're doing is ordering Ubers to Soho

JoJo, everything is bizarre

Malibu Member's Only sitting lonely in the Rolex, [?] Denny's mirage

In-N-Out bagels, katsu your crab rolls

East LA food truck, bossa nova maestros

Half-glued eyes on the night time wide search

Chanel purse gone down on the I-5 side

Mulholland hilltop, house party chill spot

Valley versus hills when there's a South Central wheel shop

Saudis versus Persians, Hasidic temples [?]

Santa Monica helicopters and Compton KJazz

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

Kick him in the head

Beat him on the back, beat him on the leg

Is he alright?

These two Hebrew Israelites were like

Take him to the end

We ain't start the revolution just to make friends

Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah

[Interlude: Lupe Fiasco]

He said, rarify Earth

Clarify the terrified turf, climate change, climate change

Climate change, crying shames, client claims science names

For phenomenon, the common looks like Comic-Con

The narrative is your momma's mom, grand

Planned it out in Stanford, all while doing a Rubik's cube one-handed

Even with a [?] in the ear, you wouldn't understand it

Do it all, leave the tuba tomes and tuna homes and future bombs

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

What he said?

Kick him in the head

Beat him on the back, beat him on the leg

Is he alright?

I asked these two Hebrew Israelites

They said, maybe if he wins, but we ain't, we ain't, we ain't

We ain't start the revolution just to make friends

[Interlude: Lupe Fiasco]

He said, rarify Earth

Clarify the terrified turf, climate change, climate change

Climate change, crying shames, client claims science names

For phenomenon, the common looks like Comic-Con

The narrative is your momma's mom, grand

Planned it out in Stanford, all while doing a Rubik's cube one-handed

Even with a [?] in the ear, you wouldn't understand it

Do it all, leave the tuba tomes and tuna homes and future bombs

What he said?

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

Kick him in the head

Beat him on the back, beat him on the leg

Is he alright?

I asked these two Hebrew Israelites

They said, maybe if he wins, but we ain't, we ain't, we ain't

We ain't start the revolution just to make friends

Just to make friends? No

We ain't start the revolution just to make friends

[Verse 6: Lupe Fiasco]

Turkish, surface of the [?]

On top like well known [?] spray

On sight like L-O-O-K

Lupe is the future, also look like Future if I put the dreads in a pony

And wear the hat on, you wouldn't even know me

Little question: What type of boat do vampires like? Blood vessels

Couple pots and kettles, orchestral world record

"Rickety rickety, rah rah" to the rescue

Like the Ceaușescu death crew

Dreams of more or less playing chess with his nephew

No time for [?] making checks with his next move

Might break a deck like WWF rules

[Refrain: Lupe Fiasco]

Beat him in the head

Beat him on the neck, beat him on the legs

Is he alright?

These two Hebrew Israelites were like

Maybe if he wins

We won't start freedom fighting just to make friends

We won't start freedom fighting just to make friends

## References

1. ↑ "New Music: Lupe Fiasco – 'Rodney, Lehman Bros Profited from Slavery & Other Tales'". *Hip Hop N More*. November 28, 2017.