Just Might Be OK

## Song by Lupe Fiasco featuring Gemini

"**Just Might Be OK**" is the third track from Lupe Fiasco's debut studio album, *Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor* (2006). It features guest vocals from GemStones.

## Background

GemStones shared in an interview that the song was inspired when Jay-Z took a hiatus from hip hop and Charles Patton was sentenced to 44 years in prison. He continued, "Gangster rap was popping heavily. It was like yo, we coming. We just might be OK. The sun is gon' to shine on this day. Keep hope alive. Just listen to the hook. It just might be OK. You know why? Because there's hope. Yeah Chilly is going to jail but our company is still moving. Yeah Jay Z is retiring but fret not, you got these kids Lupe and Gemstones here. We just might be OK Hip Hop. Kanye wasn't popping like that yet the way he is now but we just might be OK. Black people stand up. We may be going through things but we just might be ok. That title is deeper than you think. You really have to listen and meditate on that." He added about Chilly, "A lot of things going on today within the industry, Chilly is behind it. He's making moves from behind bars. Chilly is the one who released "Just Might Be OK." Lupe is the face of 1st & 15th but in any company, there's a machine behind it that makes things happen."

## Music video

A music video was released on April 30, 2015, directed by Chris & Blaq. It depicts montages of downtown Chicago, interspersed with scenes of peaceful and solidarity #BlackLivesMatter protests. It acknowledges Eric Gardner, who died at the hands of police officer Daniel Pantaleo in a chokehold. This was also in recent time to the Baltimore death of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody. The video concludes with the quote, "Revolution is hope for the hopeless."

About the video, GemStones said, "I was just about to reach out to him after them releasing the "Just Might Be OK" video featuring me. [...] That record was made over ten years ago. The Baltimore thing is just happening. Is that kind-of like prophecy? How can you release a video ten years later on a record that was slept on. We was speaking on that type of stuff back then. We were making music for today. [...] It only helps as positivity only came from the record. That record can be a help. Half the stuff that's playing on the radio plays a reason as to why we're going through what we're going through in Baltimore and why police is shooting us and treating us the way they're treating us. The stuff that's playing on the radio is a big part. We know it and we're conditioned to accept this."

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]

Affirmative no further furnishing is needed

I believe we are completed, dig

We all in agreement on the wallpaper

Happy with the color scheme, welcome to the crib

A two family Habitat For Humanity

With a view of where the insanity live

My vida loca was built like Bob Vila via God

He architected, I arted what I harbored, Jimmy Carter

From Chicago's west side, finish my construction now

We hold the coming like contracepts

I'm conscious, 'cept the cons I kept

With conversations held with the Satan on my shoulder

Which lead to steps that kept me looking over the shoulder

Like chauffeurs, where my angels at

Painful yet Mary I ain't Jerry Garcia, ma

Here but I'm grateful, chuuch!

[Hook: Gemini]

We just might be OK, after all

Sun gone shine, on this day

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]

It's finna get heavy as heaven

I am Atlas at this manage to balance

Massive masses pull my back with out tilting my glasses

This was not pilfered from passages of OG's, this is so me

Ask us many mention little homie, little bony

But the rhymes is fat, in fact

Just like a Rochester customer

God bless the mothers and younger brothers of hustlers

'Cause she don't wan' sob at his wake

But he want to follow in his steps

Bang his hat, learn his shakes

Master his swagger in the bathroom mirror

Cop a Chevy, steady mob in his place

Chyeah! it's just the problems we face

Look his moms in her face and promise he's straight

[Hook: Gemini]

We just might be OK, after all

Sun gone shine, on this day

[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]

Then he leaves the house that love built that

HUD renovated that section 8 pays for

Well let's pray for 'em, let the beat play for 'em

Put his struggles on display for 'em

'Cause he gotta go and face the drama

With a different face from the one that he use

To face his momma, if you look close you'll see

It consist of a smile that hurts, an ice grill, and a trace of trauma

Little bit of his father, another criterion

That's no different from a young Liberian

Who let the delirium weary him, living in the inner city

Out of his mind, liria reconcilia

I'm cool, I don't foretell best

I ain't nicest MC, I ain't Cornel West

I am Cornel Westside, Chi-town Guevara

Malcolm exorcise the demons, gangsta leaning

He traded in his kufi for a New Era

Chose a 44 over a mortarboard

I ain't a credited institute graduate, I ain't from Nazareth

My conception wasn't immaculate, I ain't master no calculus

A good addition to the rap audience

I back flipped on the mattress they slept on me on

Whaddown Joe, knowing is half the battle

Fighting temptation, have an apple

Shakes the snakes, pimp the system

Let's get into it, tabernacle

[Hook: Gemini]

We just might be OK, after all

Sun gone shine, on this day

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Garrett, Ural (May 8, 2015). "GemStones Explains How Jay Z & Chilly Inspired Lupe Fiasco's "Just Might Be OK"". *HipHopDX*.
2. ↑ Fleischer, Adam (May 1, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Offers Hope to Protesters in His 'Just Might Be OK' Video". *MTV*.
3. ↑ Elliott, James (April 30, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Releases "It Just Might Be Okay" Video". *Complex*.