Pick Up the Phone

"Pick Up the Phone"Single by Lupe Fiasco
from the album Drogas Light
Released	July 20, 2016 (2016-07-20)
Genre	Hip hop trap
Length	4:39
Label	1st & 15th Thirty Tigers
Songwriter(s)	Eshraque Mughal Sebastian Lundberg Wasalu Jaco
Producer(s)	iSHi
Drogas Light chronology
‹ Previous	"Law"
	"Pick Up the Phone"
Next ›	"It's Not Design"
Media

"Pick Up the Phone" is a song by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released exclusively to his website on July 20, 2016. Fans could access it by entering their email address and zip code. Being the lead single and eleventh track from his album, Drogas Light (2017), it was intended to be on his previous album, Tetsuo & Youth. It features uncredited guest vocals from Sebastian Lundberg of Trinity Music on the pre-chorus and hook.

Music video

The official music video premiered to Fiasco's YouTube channel on August 29, 2016. It depicts communication troubles between a couple, Tony and Sonya, resulting in a tragic end.

The visual begins with Tony, who starts off his morning by scrolling through messages he sent to Sonya. The texts reveal he wrote a song for her, called "You," and Sonya replies that she's hanging out with her girlfriends and for him to call later. He now asks what she's doing, though there's no immediate response. He goes on to play a video game to pass time, then checks his phone. After four missed calls, he goes outside to shoot hoops with his friends. When he browses her Snapchat, he sees her being recorded by another person, where she holds a baseball cap. The clip moves to the side to display a pill bottle. Next, Tony calls Sonya whilst driving but gets pulled to the side by a traffic cop. A guy happens to drive by, wearing the very same hat Sonya was holding in the Snapchat video. This leads to him believing Sonya lied about her whereabouts, and gets upset. Upon entering Sonya's house, there's no response. He notices her phone with missed notifications. His girlfriend is found on the bathroom floor, frothing at the mouth from a drug overdose, with pills scattered around her. He goes to her side on the phone, presumably to call the ambulance, then holds her in his arms.

As the lyrics observe, communication with a loved one can be a game of Russian Roulette, where he compares one's emotions are tied to a life or death outcome: they would or would not answer. Tony is concerned with his girlfriend not replying, thinking she's ignoring him. Despite discovering she may have lied about where she was from the Snapchat video, the state he finds Sonya in makes him worried about her wellbeing over anything else. It suggests how even with technology (smartphones, social media) made to make communication efficient and quicker, it still has drawbacks as one relies on the other to respond, and we still don't know what is really happening in their life. From one side, we form our own assumptions from contextual cues, which can result in misunderstandings.

Personnel

• Bob Horn – mixer
• David Kutch – masterer
• Eshraque "iSHi" Mughal – writer, producer
• Sebastian Lundberg – writer
• Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco – lead artist, vocals, writer

Lyrics

"Pick Up the Phone"

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
Uhh, I just need a minute to replenish who I am
And who I am is so dependent on exactly where we stand
I stand in any pose, anythin' but tippy-toes
Don't want you to feel smaller, always taller
Now I'm a cheerleader, she a baller
The difference in height isn't aight, I left my ego at the altar
Now every ring's a sting and everythin' I taught ya
Is comin' back around to me, just like revolvers
And every single click is just hammerin' it home
Who knew Russian Roulette involved answerin' the phone?
Until my signal dwindles or my channel is in roam
Or my cellphone dies or it's cancer in my dome
And dear nix the tone, as I pour my fuckin’ pain out
One of your short nodes, might blow my fuckin' brains out
But you ain't even pick up
Talkin' to myself, exactly what you sick of

[Pre-Chorus: Sebastian Lundberg, Lupe Fiasco]
Feeling kinda restless
Did you get my message?
It's swirling around and so (Yeah, c'mon!)
No, don't tell me that you care (Uh huh)
When I know you're standing there (Yeah)
I left the story of my life on your answering machine (What's up? Yeah)

[Chorus: Sebastian Lundberg, Lupe Fiasco]
Hello, can you hear me?
Hello, are you there?
Hello, would you pick up the phone?
Hello, can you hear me?
Hello, are you there? (Yeah, are you there? Are you there? Are you there?)
Hello, would you pick up the fuckin' phone?

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
We were like, "If a tree falls in the forest and
No one is around, does it really make a sound?"
That's romantic and profound, but now
We're like lumberjacks holdin' the axes that brung it down
So I'm now on your message, talkin' 'bout "Remember?"
Silence in return, that sound like "Timber!"
There's some that can't see the forest because they're liars
But I can't see the forest 'cause of the fire
And in our prehistorics, the flowers was rootin' for us
Brontosaurus ate the flowers, T-Rex ate the Brontosaurus
And then the T-Rex turned around and ate the florist
That's why I lost my FTD endorsements
But that's really not important
My sadness' a snitch, my melancholy informant
Despair wears a wire, my longin' rappin' a song
My worry is a rat, my lonely tappin' the phone

[Pre-Chorus: Sebastian Lundberg, Lupe Fiasco]
Feeling kinda restless
Did you get my message?
It's swirling around and so (Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh)
I wanna give you reasons (Yeah)
Tell you what I'm feeling
But none of these lines are secure (Nah)
No, don't tell me that you care (Uh huh)
When I know you're standing there (Yeah)
I left the story of my life on your answering machine (What else? Uh huh)
My tears run off your shoes (Yeah)
Like waters from a goose (Uh)
You try to wash off all the dirt
But your hands aren't getting clean

[Chorus: Sebastian Lundberg, Lupe Fiasco]
Hello, can you hear me?
Hello, are you there?
Hello, would you pick up the phone?
Hello, can you hear me?
Hello, are you there? (Are you there? Are you there? Are you there?)
Hello, would you pick up the fuckin' phone?

[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]
The make-believers on receivers as you sit back and observe
As the rubber curly cord just absorbs all my words
Will you collect us then connect us or neglect us on the whole?
Into the wall, then cross the wires on the telephone poles
Then bounces off the towers, then up into the satellites
Then falls down back to Earth to bring a broken heart back to life
Happens all the time, lost an appetite and lack of sleep
If it's dead and flatten line, I'll leave a message at the beep

[Chorus: Sebastian Lundberg, Lupe Fiasco]
Hello, can you hear me?
Hello, are you there? (Hello, are you there? Yeah)
Hello, would you pick up the phone? (Come on)
Hello, can you hear me? (Come on)
Hello, are you there? (Come on)
Hello, would you pick up the phone?
Would you pick up the phone?
Would you pick up the phone?
Hello, would you pick up the fuckin' phone?