"Manilla" lyrics - LUPE FIASCO

LUPE FIASCO

"Manilla"

[Intro:]
We are a people who have historically been on the verge on extinction
Freeway
We have been at many times, under much stress
Since being brought into this country
On many, many slave ships

Preparations, reparations from segregation
Genius at Genesis, master system SEGAs
Punjabi mommy, dissecting Vedas on Sepulveda
Anointed players who coin phrases, that's metal paper
Level layers, several shades of grey, submission for it
MILF lover under silk covers who kiss her horses
Pilates central to preservin' the body temple
Jazz classics combatin' the fattest ass, status
Quotient; my potions soakin' like boats in oceans
Motion sickness, I overdid all my finesse pack
Multidecker, new refreshment, lesson from jet snacks
My momma wisdom, my competition is setbacks
Jetlaggin', very swaggered and my Jordans dirty
AMG performance, my foreign don't show no mercy
Mere products, objects, meaningless to the over-standards
Contemplatin' with industralists and social planners
Manillas!

[Chorus:]
Don't ruin us, don't ruin us, don't ruin us, don't ruin us
Don't ruin us, don't ruin us, don't ruin us, don't ruin us
Don't ruin us, don't ruin us, don't ruin us, don't ruin us
Don't ruin us, don't ruin us, don't ruin us God said

Life's work, overseeing the Five Classics
You can accomplish anything if you survive blackness
Sober living, Kosher kitchen, and co-defendants
Soda sippin', the soca rhythms, and global vision
Fear no verdict, but I feel allergic to local prisons
My new resurgence, a due return into socialism
Youth moves pay dividends as an old man
Snake-headed Mayan goddess body with gold hands
Father sins, send his twins into the underworld
Though legendary, I weapon carry for same goals
My February's is necessary to save souls
Epilepsy diamonds flicker foolish on the cuff wrist
Do my duty to be useless to the fuck shit
Manufacture finished goods to service local needs
Dashboards lack the means to show my total speeds
Fast forward floors forge orchids to golden me
Construct the future with thirty bars
Long tenures, I'm returning home to thirty cars
Jasmine necklace from a poor woman on Hindu streets
I gave her Rupees, she gave me beauty, I temple creep
Manillas

Roman logic, Greek prophets, and add tutors
Be more young'ns, they 12 o'clock, and then jump the scooters
Through entertainment, I end the training to run the future
In time check off my checkouts, too much for your computers
Chakra waves, singin' boats, stirring up Dalai Lama
Creation, step in my mental selection Bobby Konders
Nightmare women, dream girls, and body monsters
Don't confuse my tempation battles for batty mantras
Sole pilot til' my reputation is bodhisattva
Worked the Boticelli saw Venus in this topless opera
Lost the combination need security to come and pop-a-lock'a
Still no drinkin', just bought this champagne here to wash this vodka
Punk band merchandise patches on leather coats
Tell you tales of illegal sales by fedded boats
Swallowed by waves, the hollow graves, they'll never float
Sunken ships carried slaves, tokens to western coasts
Manillas

[Outro:]
Copper alloy bracelet forms were recognized and used as currency
For transactions in the 15th century to the mid 20th century
Their metal content varied from copper to brass
Most manilla were manufactured in England or France
And like trade beads, were used for trade with Africa
The local chiefs on the slave coast of West Africa traded their human cargo
For many different commodities and manilla was one of them
This manilla was manufactured in Birmingham between 1830 and 1850
Being shipped to Africa to be bartered for one slave, each manilla
These slaves were then packed into hulls of ships
And taken to the West Indies and the Americas
To be sold for vast profits if they did not die from the journey
The Duoro was one of the slave ships
Would trade goods on their way to Africa to pick up their human cargo
When she hit a rock and sank in 1843