"In the Event of Typhoon" is a song by Lupe Fiasco, released as the introduction to his seventh studio album, Drogas Wave (2018). It is narrated by Leila Z. Braimah-Mahamah.
The words derive from a poem by British painter J.M.W. Turner, who had accompanied it with his oil painting, The Slave Ship, during an exhibition at Royal Academy of Arts in 1840. Originally titled Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhon coming, he was inspired after reading Thomas Clarkson's The History and Abolition of the Slave Trade (1808).
Fiasco posted to Instagram, in reference towards the song, "The protocol was to throw the sick and dying slaves overboard. The protocol was also the same if anti-slavery West Africa Squadron vessels such as the HMS Black Joke spotted and pursued a suspected slave ship that had human cargo aboard on its way to the Americas or West Indies from Africa."[1]
Lyrics[]
[Intro: Leila Z. Braimah-Mahamah]
Aloft all hands, strike the top-masts and belay
Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds
Declare the typhoon's coming
Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard
The dead and dying—ne'er heed their chains
Hope, hope, fallacious hope!
Where is thy market now?
References[]
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@lupefiasco)". Instagram. September 17, 2018.