Jonylah Forever

## Song by Lupe Fiasco

"**Jonylah Forever**" is a song by Lupe Fiasco, released as the 15th track from his seventh studio album, *Drogas Wave* (2018). It samples Apparat's "Goodbye" and is in tribute to Jonylah Watkins, an infant at six months who was shot five times during open fire at her and her father [Jonathan] on March 11, 2013, in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Watkins died the next day on March 12; this brought to attention in the media about Chicago's gun violence.

Fiasco creates another reality for Watkins on the track, where she grows up to become a doctor and meets Hadiya Pendleton, who has become an artist. Pendleton was a 15-year-old Black girl from Chicago, Illinois, who was fatally shot in the back on January 29, 2013, after taking her final exams at the King College Prep High School.

Fiasco told *Vulture*, "Every time that I'm making a “Forever” [tribute song], I cry like a baby. It's like a strange affirmation that it's complete. When I finished “Jonylah Forever,” I was a mess. “Alan Forever,” I was a mess."

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro: Lupe Fiasco]

You live, forever

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]

How 'bout them bullets ain't slow you up?

You ain't really died and we watched you grow up

At 12 months you took your first steps

Awkwardly across the kitchen floor to your best

Your first breaths that we can call words

Were in your father's lap on November 23rd

And they were, "Live for me", and he did for you

Flipped to Neutron and stayed inside the crib for you

And this commitment from your father

Imparted a deep sense of value you forever harbor

We were all so proud as we seen you getting smarter

And the bond grow deeper between a mother and a daughter

'Cause you were not a martyr

(You live)

[Hook 1: Apparat]

Find out, I was just a bad dream

Goodbye

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]

At six, you started reading whole books

At seven, you knew how a brain looked

And could roughly describe, all the different regions

Could tell when we was sick and even knew the reason

The world wasn't at peace, gunfire every weekend

But you were hardly there, cause you was always leaving

Field museum, planetarium, aquarium

You saw something special in that tank you were starin' in

And in those moments, as a little girl

You realized there was a bigger world

Bigger than the South Side, bigger than Chicago

You were bigger, still wanted rims on your car though

And big ass woofers in your car door

So you could wang like your daddy at the park eating sharks

Went to King where you were teased for being smart

Where you bumped into Hadiya teaching art

You live forever

[Hook 2: Apparat]

Find out, I was just a bad dream

Neither ever, nor never, goodbye

Neither ever, nor never, goodbye

Neither

[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]

At sixteen is when you got your scholarship

At twenty-two is when you got your doctorate

Even now it's kind of hard to believe

But your father taught you work hard, and achieve

And you complied

Accepted by every medical school you applied

But the coolest thing is when they offered you that high paying slot, you replied

"They need me in the hood," and that's where you reside

Free clinic, nobody denied

And that's where you heard the shots and quickly ran outside

And saw a man and a van and a bleeding baby in his hands

Fading fast, but you knew she could survive

Did everything you could to keep this girl alive

Stabilized until the ambulance arrived

And in that moment, where you gave your help

I bet you didn't know that you saved yourself

[Outro: Apparat, *Lupe Fiasco*]

Fold down your hands, give me a sign

Hooked on your lies

*You live, forever*

Lay down next to me, don't listen when I scream

Bury your doubts and fall asleep

*Lord have mercy*

## References

1. ↑ "Jonylah Watkins Dies: 6-Month-Old Dead After Being Shot 5 Times In Chicago". *Huffpost*. March 12, 2013.
2. ↑ Rindner, Grant (September 22, 2018). "Lupe Fiasco Invents Alternate Realities On "Alan Forever" & "Jonylah Forever"". *Genius*.
3. ↑ Ortiz, Erik (July 20, 2021). "Man convicted in fatal shooting of teen Hadiya Pendleton sentenced to 42 years in prison". *NBC News*.
4. ↑ Ketchum III, William (August 4, 2020). "Lupe Fiasco vs. Everybody (Even Himself) "People don't really know the basics of any f - - - - - - thing, let alone Lupe Fiasco rap."". *Vulture*.