Hip Hop Saved My Life (feat. Nikki Jean)

[Lupe Fiasco]
Dedicate, Dedicate
This one right here, goes out
To my homie with the drink, nah mean


[Verse #1: Lupe Fiasco]
He said, I write what I see
Write to make it right, don't like where I be
I'd like to make it like, the sights on TV
Quite the great life, so nice and easy
See, now you can still die from that
But it's better than not being alive from straps
Agree, a Mead notebook and a Bic
That click when it's pushed and a wack ass beat
That's a track that's weak, that he got last week
Cause everybody in the store's like "that's that heat"
A bass heavy medley, with a sample from the 70's
With a screwed up hook that went, "stack that cheese"
Somethin' somethin' somethin' "stack that cheese"
Mother, sister, cousin, "stack that cheese"
He couldn't think of nothin' "stack that cheese"
He turns down the beat, writer's block impedes
Cryin' from the next room, a baby in need
Of some Pampers and some food and place to sleep
That, plus a black Cadillac on Ds
Is what keep 'em on track to be a great emcee
Yeah [echoes]


[Chorus: Nikki Jean]
One you never heard of, I
Push it hard to further the,
Grind I feel like murder but,
Hip-Hop, you saved me
One you never heard of, I
Push it hard to further the,
Grind I feel like murder but (it's what it is)
Hip-Hop, you saved my life


[Verse #2: Lupe Fiasco]
Reps north side so he rocks them braids
Eleven-hundred friends on his Myspace page
Stack That Cheese got seven hundred plays
Producer made him take it down, said he had to pay
Open mic champ 2 weeks in a row
Ex-D Boy with a B-Boy flow
Glow like Leroy, you should see boy go
Got a daddy servin' life and a brother on the Row
Best homie in the grave, tatted up while in the cage
Minute maid, got his momma workin' like a slave
Down baby momma, who he really had to honor
Cause she was his biggest fan, even let him use her Honda to
Drive up to Dallas went, to open up for amateurs
Let him keep a debit card, so he could put gas in it
Told her when he get on, he gon' take her to the galleria
Buy everything, but the mannequins, ya digg [echoes]


[Chorus: Nikki Jean]
One you never heard of, I
Push it hard to further the,
Grind I feel like murder but,
Hip-Hop, you saved me
One you never heard of, I
Push it hard to further the,
Grind I feel like murder but (but, but)
Hip-Hop, you saved my life


[Verse #3: Lupe Fiasco]
His man called, said ya time might be now
They played your freestyle over Wipe Me Down
They played it 2 times, said it might be crowned
As the best thing out the H-town in a while
He picked up his son with a great big smile
Rapped every single word to the new born child
Then he put him down and went back to the kitchen
And put on another beat, and got back to the mission of
Get his momma out the hood, put her somewhere in the woods
Keep his lady lookin' good, have her rollin' like she should
Show his homies there's a way, other than that flippin' yay
Bail his homie outta jail, put a lawyer on his case
Throw a concert for the school, show the shoulders that it's cool
Throw some candy on the Caddy, chuck the deuce and act a fool
Man it feels good when it happens like that
Two days from going back to sellin' crack
Yessir [echoes]


[Chorus 2x: Nikki Jean]
One you never heard of, I
Push it hard to further the,
Grind I feel like murder but,
Hip-Hop, you saved me
One you never heard of, I
Push it hard to further the,
Grind I feel like murder but (but, but)
Hip-Hop, you saved my life


[Nikki Jean]
Hip-Hop, you saved my life (3x)