SentRock

"SentRock"Single by Sentrock and Lupe Fiasco
Released	April 28, 2023
Genre	Hip hop
Length	2:50
Label	1st & 15th Too Thirty Tigers
Songwriter(s)	Wasalu Jaco
Producer(s)	Lupe Fiasco
Media

"SentRock" is a song by Lupe Fiasco, released as a non-album single on April 28, 2023; his first music drop for that year. It was in collaboration with fellow Chicagoan Sentrock, where the audio served as inspiration for the painter's artwork. The accompanying music video was directed by Enstrumental and edited by Matt Goetz, which is of shorter duration than the track, cutting off near the end of the second verse.

Sentrock took to Instagram on April 7, 2023, to summarize:

This project has been in the works for awhile, shout out to my brother Drew @enstrumental for bringing us together. It started off with a conversation of a collaborative project which turned into an audio art piece of my art created by Lupe, which led to a tour of the Westside of Chicago where Lupe grew up, thx to @seerjaco 🙏🏽 which then brought me back to the studio to create. Overall this is a special moment for me bc I remember running into Lupe at Soho house and being excited to have my art be noticed to now having a project together that will be a highlight in my career."

Background

It began as a project in January 2022 by Joseph "Sentrock" Perez, Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco, and Dwamina "Enstrumental" Drew, where they spoke "on what two artists could collaborate on and produce that could result in a culturally significant, artistically stimulating, and dually representative expression of creative skill and imagination in visual form [art]." Enstrumental continued, "All while adhering to the phrase and shared objective of 'Artists Honoring Artists.'" This followed by Fiasco creating audio, which Sentrock's art piece was inspired by and "would serve as the theme and inspiration for the print collaboration project." This included Sentrock and Enstrumental traveling to the West Side neighborhood where Fiasco and Ayesha Jaco grew up, Jaco also giving them "insightful and descriptive narrative on the people, places, and experiences" to aid them in the creative process. They had visited the food and liquor store which influenced the 2006 album's name, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor.

Sentrock created a detailed limited edition print entitled "WestSide Bird's Eye View," which included a Certificate of Authenticity. They were hand signed and numbered by the artist, then officially launched to Enstrumental's website on April 15, 2023. Enstrumental added about the Certificate of Authenticity (COA): "a document guaranteeing the authenticity of an artwork. It confirms that the artwork was created by the artist associated with it, as well as offers vital information regarding the work. [...] I wanted to produce and present something distinctive with the COA. In a sense, another collector's item. This COA comes in the form of a standard size piece of vinyl in 12-inch cardstock paper, with a 12-inch inner record sleeve, and customized vinyl record jacket (album cover). Each individual that purchases this limited edition print will also receive this COA, signed and numbered by the artist – Sentrock. Please Note: THIS IS NOT AN ACTUAL PIECE OF VINYL WITH AUDIO."

Merchandise was also released, with t-shirts available in colors black and butter that depict on its front the "bird's eye view." A boy wearing a red robin mask lays underneath, with "Daydreamin'" lyrics hovering far above with a bird nearby: 'I fell asleep beneath the flowers / For a couple of hours / On a beautiful day.' On the back, it states at the top, "A Westside Bird's Eye View," followed by the three collaborators' names: "Sentrock. Inspired by the music of Lupe Fiasco. In collaboration with Enstrumental." At the bottom, it reads, "The Art is Alive + Well in the City."

Gallery

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

Photo by Joshua Taylor

• Limited Edition Print
• $400.00

• Black T-Shirt
• $50.00

• Black T-Shirt
• $50.00

• Butter T-Shirt
• $50.00

• Butter T-Shirt
• $50.00

Lyrics

"SentRock"

[Intro: Sentrock, Lupe Fiasco]
My name is Joseph Perez (Uh-huh)
Uhm, I go by Sentrock
I do visual art
I said, "Yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah"
Now I'm communicating to society through my work
Of like this voice of empowerment (Woah-woah, woah-woah)
But at first and very at the beginning of everything
It's about me using art as a communicating tool for myself
Yeah (Uh), yeah (Uh, uh)

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
Sentrock make a hella-cop drop, off top
Pass the akhs to the lost flock fops, air fools
On the opps, and flew, also look around
Because down ain't the only bird's-eye view
Westside too, sky blue, Chi you Bible
Put bands in our hands like a "I do" bridal
Flip the same old gold, so I'm colder than Thai food
Soul on the old like Erykah Badu
Non-decepticons in a foreign way
Put a swan in a John cage then open up the Bombay
Doors, when it rains, it pours
Get pawn like where a prawn stay when you can't afford, sha

[Interlude]
King, what are your favorite birds?
My favorite birds are the woodpecker and red robin
I like the red robin 'cause of its color (Yeah)
I like the woodpecker because of the sound that it's making
When it's chipping at wood, it's satisfying
Yeah, uh

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
Feathers on our predator drones
Weather got 'em, never at home
But not forever south (South)
Red face, yellow mouth, propellers out
They'll hunt you down like Cabela's for the clouts (Uh)
With somethin fissile, on top of a surface to air missile
Tryna knock you right up out the clizouds
Whist-iles and chirps to tell the next nest to disperse
Air raids west of the turf
Or stand and swing hands like wingspans, Karate Kid crane claw
Flirt with hurt like juggled chainsaw (Yeah)
Lovebirds out here lookin' for soulmates
I have somethin' for you, look at these low rates
Peking ducks get cooked tryna locate
Black hawk puck how I'm cool in my flow state (Yeah)
But you can angrily slang me into the war
I just want my story told like the two-ninety-four

[Outro: Lupe Fiasco]
Uh-huh, sha
My favorite bird is a eagle
And one fact that I like about it
I like how it swoops down with its claws and grabs its prey
And then they go back and feed its children