The Instrumental

## Song by Lupe Fiasco featuring Jonah Matranga

"**The Instrumental**" is a song by Lupe Fiasco, released as the 10th track from his debut studio album *Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor* (2006). It features Jonah Matranga with the sample of Far's "Nestle," and was produced by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. Fiasco performed "The Instrumental" live in the AOL Sessions in 2006.

## Background

The song was created under the working title "Never Lies," which was leaked in April 2006 along with the rest of its album. The newer version is shorter and has a longer intro. Regarding the feature, Fiasco explained that it was producer Shinoda's idea. He continued, "I liked the sample, and Mike was like, 'Yo, he's my friend, I'm gonna get him to come in and re-sing it.' We had trouble clearing it, though, even after he re-sung it. But we got everything cleared, and that was Mike. Once I got done my verses, Mike took that record and just went into a dungeon with it."

In an interview, Matranga mentioned, "Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park had literally called me on tour the first time he met me and he had heard a song I had written called "Pollyana". I don't know how he heard it, but I think he liked Far actually. So we got to be friends and I was producing Fort Minor while he was producing the Lupe track. So I came down in one session and did both of those things. [...] I wish I could say "Yeah, me and Lupe were hanging out..." But no. I never met Lupe Fiasco. I would love to. I think that record is great. I don't like his new shit, but I like the first shit and I want more man."

When a fan asked what the song meant, Fiasco responded:

> "The Instrumental" is a take on two individuals in similar objective circumstances but with very dissimilar subjective frames of mind, one of immense admiration and the other intense abhorrence but the end result being both individuals rationally addicted to the irrational circumstances they find themselves in.
>
> The television and the radio have been deconstructed to simple boxes each sending endless streams of information both useful and useless.
>
> The first individual constantly observes the box under the faint pretext he will observe information that will instruct him on how to discontinue his obsession with the box. He is caught in a feedback loop (also a principle of marketing) which has an inherent mechanism that infinitely justifies its own existence to the observer by playing on his or her ignorance (which speaks on the nature of the observers limited pre-existing circumstances & conditions before their encounters with the box) as well as the observers gullibility, natured or nurtured. The incessant need for this information that will somehow bring about the observers liberation reactively makes him a slave. A self fulfilling and self similar element that reflects the paradoxes of life i.e. A Slave To The Idea & Act Of Being Liberated From One's Own Slavery. The chains & lock represent the strong connectivity & attachment to the box but can also be interpreted from a couple perspectives. My favorite is that they are bonds of love even though the tethering was a product of hatred. 'Love' because of the prerequisite of strong connectivity that is in the definition and description of the act and idea of being in love. The paradox being in that it was all done out of hatred. This is a very " what-is-on-the-surface" based interpretation.
>
> The Doctors are us. In the sense that they are observers but also within their observation they are distorting and effecting what they are observing with just their very presence (see Theory Of Relativity, Quantum Mechanics etc.)
>
> The removal of the voice is a very deliberate act and speaks to the act & idea of interpretation itself. The voice of what is being observed has been silenced and replaced with the voice of the interpreter who goes on to redefine the motive and intentions of the observed piece based own their own knowledge and experiences. The world is merely an instrumental where the vocals are provide by the observers who critique and associate value thus completing the score.
>
> The second individual is less theory and more realistic in origination.
>
> The rest i leave to your dare i say 'interpretation'...\*
>
>

## Music video

A music video was issued, directed by Chris & Blaq of Impakt Studio in 2006. The project became shelved by Atlantic Records and was eventually made public on October 31, 2014, over Impakt's official YouTube channel.

The director explained:

> Back in 2006 Impakt studio was tasked with producing several projects for 1st & 15th artist Lupe Fiasco which included music videos for Kick Push, He Say She Say, Emperor's Soundtrack, as well as support for album cover shoots, EPK's and commercials. It was a great relationship for us. 1st & 15th C.E.O. Chilly really gave us total creative control over the projects and Lupe really liked what we were doing. I remember Lupe looking around our studio office and seeing anime dvd's, action figures, skateboards, posters of Che Guevara and smiling saying "I know i'm in the right place". So we did Kick Push and I remember Lupe was at the Grammy's while we were finishing it up and we sent him a private link to a snippet of the video hosted on our server.
>
> When all of a sudden our phone started blowing up it was Atlantic records, the snippet had leaked on the internet. A hacker who was a Lupe fan got into our server and posted the snippet online and also locked us out of our server! It was chaos we had to call the host company to shut down our site! Soon after, Kick Push was released. It was doing very well so Lupe put a poll on his myspace page, which at the time he would personally manage and respond to his fans to the tune of about 2 hours a day, the poll was for the fans to decide what video he would do next and overwhelmingly it was for the song American Terrorist, a volatile song to say the least but one of my favorites. So we came up with a Crazy Idea for the video which im not going to tell because id like to use the concept one day, and sent it to Atlantic records…they were not happy with it. It was an idea that would definitely be controversial and Lupe loved it.
>
> They said they would think about it and suggested we do a video for "The Instrumental" instead which I think they thought was a "safe" song. Boy were they wrong. There was a lot going on in the world and "The Instrumental" was a perfect soundtrack for what was going on. There was the Abu ghraib scandal, Saddam Hussein was convicted of crimes against humanity, then President Bush signs a law renewing the Patriot Act, including a signing statement stating that he does not consider himself bound by its requirement to tell Congress how the law is being used, the fiasco of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, Google bought Youtube to name a few.
>
> So we decided to make "The Instrumental" a visual nightmare of the media's ever growing grasp over its consumers, a message that I feel Atlantic wasn't ready for. So the video was shelved never to see light of day. Until today.
>
> footnote the final video was going to end with a shot of some kids opening Christmas presents and one of the presents is the glowing cube seen in the video. That part was never filmed.
>
>

In 2017, the lead actor posted to the publishing platform, Medium, his experience. He wrote, "I played a media addict. Addicted to the BOX aka TV. If you watch it now (below) it's basically about how we all look while staring at our smart phones. The song was ahead of its time." He was told that the project was shelved due to Atlantic not wanting to pay to promote for another single. Months later, he ran into Fiasco at the cinema and introduced himself as the actor in the music video.

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro: Lupe Fiasco, *Jonah Matranga*]

Uh!

*And he never lies*

*And he never lies*

Uh, yeah!

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]

He just sits, and watches the people in the boxes

Everything he sees, he absorbs and adopts it

Mmm, he mimics and he mocks it

Really hates the box, but he can't remember how to stop it

Uh, so he continues to watch it

Hoping that it'll give him something that he can box with

Or how to locksmith, see, the box is locked in a box

Ain't got the combination to unlock it

That's why he watches, scared to look away

'Cause at that moment, it might show him

What to take off the locks with

So he chained himself to the box, took a lock and then he locked it

Swallowed the combination and then forgot it

As the doctors jot it all down with they pens and pencils

The same ones that took away his voice

And just left this instrumental like that

[Chorus: Jonah Matranga, *Lupe Fiasco*]

And he never lies (*He never lies, he never lies, uh*)

And he never lies (*Uh, he never lies, he never lies, no*)

And he never lies (*He never lies*)

'Cause he never said anything at all

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]

He just sits, and listens to the people in the boxes

Everything he hears, he absorbs and adopts it

Anything not coming out the box, he blocks it

See, he loves the box and hope they never stop it

Anything the box tell him to do, he does it

Anything it tell him to get, he shops and he cops it

He protects the box, locks it in a box

When he goes to sleep, but he never sleeps

'Cause he stays up to watch it, scared to look away

'Cause at that moment, it might get stolen

And that's the last of the boxes

So he chained himself to the box, took a lock and then he locked it

Swallowed the combination and then forgot it

As the doctors jot it all down with they pens and pencils

The same ones that took away his voice

And just left this instrumental, like that

[Chorus: Jonah Matranga, *Lupe Fiasco*]

And he never lies (*He never lies, he never lies, uh*)

And he never lies (*Uh, he never lies, he never lies, no*)

And he never lies (*He never lies*)

'Cause he never said anything at all

[Bridge: Lupe Fiasco, *Jonah Matranga*]

(*Anything at all*) He never lies

Uh, and you can't tell me just who you are

You buyin' them clothes just to hide those scars

You built that roof just to hide those stars

Now you can't take it back to the start

And you can't tell me just who you are

You buyin' them clothes just to hide those scars

You built that roof just to hide those stars

Now you can't take it back to the start

[Chorus: Jonah Matranga, *Lupe Fiasco*]

And he never lies (*He never lies, he never lies, uh*)

And he never lies (*Uh, he never lies, he never lies, no*)

And he never lies (*He never lies*)

'Cause he never said anything at all

[Outro: Lupe Fiasco, *Jonah Matranga*]

(*Anything at all, anything at all*)

Uhh, and you can't tell me just who you are

You buy new clothes just to hide those scars

You built that roof just to hide those stars

Now you can't take it back to the start

And you can't tell me just who you are

You buy new clothes just to hide those scars

You built that roof just to hide those stars

Now you can't take it back to the start

(*Anything at all, anything at all*)

Uh, and you can't tell me just who you are

You buy new clothes just to hide those scars

You built that roof just to hide those stars

Now you can't take it back to the start

And you can't tell me just who you are

You buy new clothes just to hide those scars

You built that roof just to hide those stars

Now you can't take it back to the start

## References

1. ↑ Breihan, Tom (October 4, 2006). "Status Ain't Hood Interviews Lupe Fiasco". *Village Voice*.
2. ↑ "An interview w/ Jonah Matranga of Far (who are back with more tour dates & a new album on Vagrant Records)". *Brooklyn Vegan*. April 6, 2009.
3. ↑ Lamb, Karas (October 31, 2014). "Lupe Fiasco – "The Instrumental Unreleased" [Official Video] + New Track "Mazinger"". *OkayPlayer*.
4. ↑ Jaffe, Lloyd (October 31, 2014). "Lupe Fiasco "The Instrumental" Unreleased Video". *HotNewHipHop*.
5. ↑ Russell, Kip (February 25, 2017). "4 Things I Learned from Starring in a Lupe Fiasco Video That Was Never Released". *Medium*.