"The Champ Is Here (Freestyle)" is the fourth track from American rapper Lupe Fiasco's mixtape, Fahrenheit 1/15 Part I: The Truth Is Among Us (2004). He boasts about his flow and skillset, throwing in some cultural references and scientific equations.
Critical reception[]
The Fader retrospectively wrote, "The high water mark for that careening style is "Champ Is Here," which finds every crevice in the Jadakiss beat. […] By the third verse, he's extending lines past the ends of bars to squeeze in punches—see the way he strings you through and they itchin' to come up out the magazine like the posters that unfold."[1]
Cultural references[]
- Chevrolets are an American automobile division of General Motors.
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force is an American adult animated television series. It focuses on three anthropomorphic fast food items: Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad.
- Cartiers are designer sunglasses.
- Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was a American federal assistance program for healthcare and nutrition of low-income families that had to meet certain criteria to become eligible.
- The Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC) is one of the largest single site county pre-detention facilities in the United States.
- Labatt Blue is Canadian beer by Labatt Brewing Company, founded in 1847.
- Tiger Beat was an American teen fan magazine marketed towards girls.
- MC-squared is the mass-energy equivalence, where the mass and speed of light squared equals energy (E = mc²).
- André 3000 is an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He is ½ of the hip hop duo, Outkast.
Lyrics[]
[Hook: Lupe Fiasco]
This is Chicago
(The champ is here)
Uh, yeah
(The champ is here)
Champ is here
Chilly mane!
(The champ is here)
(The champ is here)
[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
Uh, flow can't be seen
Uh, like it took one in the face
I'm heavy n***a, tow can't be seen
Like I'm repossessing a Chevy, n***a
Don't hang with those n***as those can't be safe
Even in they panic rooms
I will soon be forest to the floor of this
Stethoscope to the door of it
Listenin for the break
And I don't care how long gettin' the combination takes
I be concentrating on the crack, get it straight
I was so high up the food chain that which I mentioned before
I ain't know how to make
I master shake like Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Already number one in the hood, G
It's like my third deal off Could Be
Get it focused, one of the coldest you gonna run across
Like it was stolen from a under boss
Spent for stack and sold to another boy
He might never get it back
So whoever got it getting whacked if they ever get caught
Now that's what I call reaction to a chain snatchin'
Game got 'bout as much compassion as The Passion
So it gotta make a comeback, just like a champion
[Hook: Lupe Fiasco]
Yeah, Lupe Fiasco
(The champ is here)
For y'all n***as that don't really understand or
(The champ is here)
Was present unaware
(The champ is here)
Westside, Chit-town, Madison, n***ga
(The champ is here)
[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
I run it back to that last piece of action
My necklace was took-en by detective
I don't stress it I just gather up my essence
As real as the view through my Cartier correctives, yeah
But now back to the punchin'
Back to flo' like crunchin'
Got a 6 pack on the low now I'm sunk in
Look like I'm driving from the back seat
With a bird shotgun like I'm hunting
You see what happened?
I made a call, and she got fly
I was pumping, hit her up
Then I sent my dog to go and pick her up
Camouflaged fitted cut to the left velours, how I did it up
And to the whole Westside, I tip it up
And over to the single baby mama with no job that gotta WIC it up
To all my n***as in the CCDOC waiting on they quick collect to come
So they can live it up
And to my n***as that liquor they livers up and distribute cut in the belly
Sit it up
[Hook: Lupe Fiasco]
(The champ is here)
Lean up, n***ga
(The champ is here)
Bitch lean up into the speaker (Up)
(The champ is here)
So you can really get it clear and understand
So I don't have to say this again
(The champ is here)
[Verse 3: Lupe Fiasco]
In the abdomen is Madison from which I came
But this my gang
FNF crew, first and fifteen
Bear arms like Labatt Blue
Oh yes its bullets in the toasters as many as the clips that the gun hold
And they itchin' to come up out the magazine like the posters that unfold
So my heat like Tiger Beat
I got the shotgun and the driver's seat
So if Lupe's a coupe, my man is a sedan
If there's more than two of us, then you up against a van
If I'm leavin, then you leavin'
If your n***as wanna come, y'all can ride with me
It's just gonna be a lot of squeezin'
Ya understand?
That I don't need Caroline calculator to divide defeat
Just lean a little closer
The flows are his as roses is
So override your pride and decide retreat
It's suicide to meet
Like a broke stock broker and a sidewalk
Y'all n***as ain't fly as me
That's why I defy physics and y'all n***as collidin', peace
I'm up here with the Leers
Y'all down down there with the airs
Emperors in the mirror, you're playing with a pair
N***a I is we
Twice the MC like MC-squared
Trust, I make it relate
I got the poker-face and I'm hiding a flush
Still riding the beat
With a air that still smells like roses from André 3000
My housing surroundings is what made me, me
And that's two times the G
You see how I doubled that the third time, n***a please
A little science
Drop a little science on these n***as
[Hook: Lupe Fiasco]
(The champ is here)
(The champ is here)
(FNF up)
Ya know, Lupe
(The champ is here)
(FNF)
Is just starting, n***a
(The champ is here)
(The champ is here)
Madison, Huggy Bear
(The champ is here)
Gemini, yo!
References[]
- ↑ Thompson, Paul (2018). "The Brilliant Ambiguity of Lupe Fiasco's 'The Truth Is Among Us'". The Fader.