Deliver

*Tetsuo & Youth*This article is part of the Tetsuo & Youth era.Released: January 20, 2015
Label: 1st & 15th Entertainment / Atlantic RecordsCategory

## **from the album *Tetsuo & Youth***

### **Label**

* 1st & 15th
* Atlantic

### **Songwriter(s)**

* Maurice Thomas
* Paris Jones
* Tyrone Griffin Jr.
* Wasalu Jaco

### **Producer(s)**

MoeZ'art

"**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.

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."

## 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." *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." *HotNewHipHop*'s 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." *Slate*'s culture blog, *Brow Beat*, noted of Fiasco delivering "sharp criticism of 'ghetto' stereotypes," while *Paste* described it as "straightforward, evocative and dense."

## 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

**Lyrics**
[Intro: Ty Dolla $ign]

Hey

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Hey (Pow)

Hey (Pow)

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]

Hey

30-something shots from the ghetto gun

All in the ears of the ghetto young

Some ghetto girls, some ghetto sons

Throwing rocks at the bus and other ghetto fun

I always wondered where the ghetto from

'Cause I'm from the ghetto, the never ghetto come

Buzz you in if the bell of my ghetto rung

And if the ghetto lose, that mean a ghetto won

That's how they do the ghetto, that's how the ghetto done

They keep it, they never bring the ghetto none

What make the ghetto tick, make the ghetto run

What make the ghetto sick, make the ghetto dumb

These n\*\*\*as off that ghetto beer and that ghetto rum

And that ghetto bass with my ghetto drums

And my ghetto words and these ghetto problems get ghetto sums

That's why the...

[Chorus: Lupe Fiasco, *Ty Dolla $ign*, **with PJ**]

Pizza man don't come here no more

Too much dope, too many n\*\*\*as on the porch

So the pizza man don't approach (No, no, no)

Pizza man don't come here no more

Too many n\*\*\*as on the block, too many n\*\*\*as getting shot

So the pizza man don't stop (*Oh, yeah*) (Pow, pow, pow)

Pizza man don't come here **no more**

Too many n\*\*\*as getting robbed, n\*\*\*as don't wanna starve

But "N\*\*\*as ain't got no jobs, blah blah blah"

Pizza man don't come here no more

Deliver, deliver, deliver

(*Oh, yeah*)

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]

Is it cause they're selling nicks out there all day

'Cause a prostitute sucking dick in the hallway

Little Caesars' never sending pizza out y'all way

Papa John's never get delivered where y'all stayed

The ghetto was a physical manifestation

Of hate in a place where ethnicity determines your placement

A place that defines your station

Remind you n\*\*\*as your place is the basement

White people in the attic

N\*\*\*as selling dope, White people is the addicts

White folks act like they ain't show us how to traffic

All that dope to China, you don't call that trappin'?

*Breaking Bad*, learned that from a TV

So don't say it's politics when you see me

When you gon' apologize for your CD

N\*\*\*a, that don't match red and black to a GD

[Chorus: Lupe Fiasco, *Ty Dolla $ign*, **with PJ**]

Pizza man don't come here no more (*Oh*)

Too much dope, too many n\*\*\*as on the porch

So the pizza man don't approach (*Oh, yeah*) (No, no, no)

Pizza man don't come here no more

Too many n\*\*\*as on the block, too many n\*\*\*as getting shot

So the pizza man don't stop (Pow, pow, pow)

Pizza man don't come here **no more**

Too many n\*\*\*as getting robbed, n\*\*\*as don't wanna starve

But "N\*\*\*as ain't got no jobs, blah blah blah"

Pizza man don't come here no more

(*Here no more*)

Deliver, deliver, deliver

(*Oh*)

[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]

Yeah, uh, can I get delivered from the sin?

Get a little slice of Heaven, I can enter in again

Or maybe just imagine that I'm living in a mansion

Or a palace and my pizza gets delivered in a Benz

Make a savior out of savage like they made it out of magic

So it take a n\*\*\*a havoc and then make it into friends

You don't even need a salad, that don't make a n\*\*\*a fatter

Actually take a n\*\*\*a backwards and make a n\*\*\*a thin

That's a deep dish, Chicago town, get the peace stick

Home run hitter, I be drilling on the weak pitch

Pay into the plate then I put it in your face

I'm a man, never biting on the hands that I eat with, yeah

No Giordano or DiGiorno

Homemade Bull City bring it to him like a toro

Throwing dough up in the air-bottom to the top and shredder

Full of cheese smarter than a purple ninja turtle, n\*\*\*a

[Chorus: Lupe Fiasco, *Ty Dolla $ign*, **with PJ**]

Pizza man don't come here no more (*Here no more*)

Too much dope, too many n\*\*\*as on the porch (*Oh, yeah*)

So the pizza man don't approach (No, no, no)

Pizza man don't come here no more

Too many n\*\*\*as on the block, too many n\*\*\*as getting shot

So the pizza man don't stop (Pow, pow, pow)

**Pizza man don't come here no more**

Too many n\*\*\*as getting robbed, n\*\*\*as don't wanna starve

But "N\*\*\*as ain't got no jobs, blah blah blah"

Pizza man don't come here no more (*Here no more*)

Deliver, deliver, deliver

(*No, no, no, no, no, no*)

[Outro: Ty Dolla $ign]

So sad cause the pizza man don't fuck wit us no more

No, no, no, no, no, no

Yeah, yeah

## References

1. ↑ Thompson, Paul (January 22, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Performs "Deliver" on 'Late Night with Seth Meyers'". *XXL*.
2. ↑ Gollanopoulos, Thomas (January 15, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Talks New Album, Defending Iggy Azalea & Quitting Twitter: 'I Don't Want to Be Relevant'". *Billboard*.
3. ↑ Servantes, Ian (November 9, 2014). "Listen to Lupe Fiasco's "Deliver" f/ Ty Dolla $ign". *Complex*.
4. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Lets Loose the Vibe-Heavy Single "Deliver"". *Okayplayer*. November 11, 2014.
5. ↑ Smith, Trevor (November 9, 2014). "Deliver". *HotNewHipHop*.
6. ↑ Lockett, Dee (November 10, 2014). "Lupe Fiasco Delivers Sharp Criticism of "Ghetto" Stereotypes in His New Song". *Brow Beat*.
7. ↑ Kearse, Stephen (February 3, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco: *Tetsuo and Youth* Review". *Paste*.