EXPERIENCE: January 2009

and whens it's over it will all be worth it..
too many times are we faced with being so distanced
the fights get harder, and how we feel seems to drift
yet when you realize everything you know it's well worth the wait
it's a long distance friendship.
you can't call it a relationship since interaction is limited.
speaking to one another isn't face to face
true emotions can only strike you for so long
i would want to just spend time with you
looking into your eyes, and words wouldn't even need to be spoken
silence of two people with a bond that is real.
things get in the way and others feel as if you don't care.
i try to not let it get the best of me
but sometimes you never really understand
how much one person can really effect your life

and you make such a difference.
when real life comes back to you
there's way to much to do in so little time
working, family, and you?
i'll fit you in anyway i can but please try to understand me
i love you, even though words are just words
know that i'm here, missing you even if you don't think so.

--when we don't get in touch, when we don't talk don't think that i've forgotten
don't think that I've suddenly become someone different.
ill never forget you

She said.. that she would give me greatness,
Status
Placement above the others
my face, would grace covers
of the magazines of the hustlas
Paper the likes of which that I had never seen
Her eyes glow green wiith the logo of our dreams..."

-The Coolest

http://childrebelsoldier.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/lupe-fiasco%E2%80%99s-the-cool-cast-of-characters/

The history of Michael Young History can be depicted in many ways, but in my opinion I believe there are 10 tracks that depict this character...but as in many of Lupe's songs you cant take everything that is said literally to actually comprehend the story line of Mike Young History
that being said i believe the songs that depict his life are

The Cool
He Say She Say
And He Gets The Girl
Sunshine
Superstar
Hip Hop Saved My Life
The Coolest
Put You On Game
Gotta Eat
The Die

The Cool- I put the cool first because the song came out first and its a precursor to what happens to Mike when he is older. he explains his death and then his rebirth, he depicts the place where he was and how he was killed and how not much has changed during the time of his death.
He Say She Say- this one is obviously about his childhood and how he was on the right track but having an absent father has thrown him on the wrong track. in this song Mike is introduced to "The Cool" ... "Cool and Food for thought but for you he’s a starver" through this song we follow him into his high school age into the next song...
And He Gets The Girl- here we're introduced to the girl in hip hop saved my life or she can even be seen as The Streets" but i believe her to be his baby's mother ... he tries to woo her by saying things that he thinks are cool but it was him being himself and confident that caught her interest
Sunshine- in this song i believe this is where he pursues her again but this time they’re at a club or some kind of gathering which i think he is performing at and from there their relationship begins.
these songs I believe were created to set the stage for the rest of the story ... boy loses father grows up hustling and rapping meets a good girl and they go into a relationship.

Now in the next section is where the main story is at; his rise and fall as being “cool”

Hip Hop Saved My Life- since we last saw Mike Young History he was hustling and rapping. in this song he is working towards getting out of past lifestyle to make something of himself. he’s struggling to make it; doing open mic shows, driving to far distances to catch shows, and free styling over records just to get recognition. from here we still see the girl from “Sunshine” and “And He Gets The Girl” and she had his child (doesn’t matter if it was a boy or girl) he makes reference to “He Say She Say” on this track “Got a daddy servin’ life… got his momma workin’ like a slave” he goes through all the trouble and he finally gets recognized as a great emcee with his freestyle over “Wipe Me Down”
Superstar- now this song is more actually about Lupe Fiasco himself but it can also be put in the time line of Mike History. he’s finally recognized but now he knows that everything isn’t what it seems … that superstardom has a price but if he stays true to himself he can still make it to be even better than what he has already become… but will he do it?
The Coolest- here is the introduction of the “The Streets” in my opinion … from here I believe he didn’t stay true to himself, he saw the allure of the streets and everything it had to offer … he makes references to “He Say She Say”, “Hip Hop Saved My Life”, and “Sunshine” …“'cause he is the cleanest among the Younger, outstanding achieving up-and-comers/The ones that had deadbeat daddies/and well to do mommas/ But not well enough to keep 'em from us/The ones that were fightin' in class/Who might not pass/Rap record pressure to laugh/and a life not fast/"Can you feel it?"/That's what I got asked/"Do I love her?"/I said I don't know/Streets got my heart, Game got my soul/One time's my sunshine will never hurt your soul” Mike then challenges his girl “My new lady gave me a Mercedes
and a necklace with a solid gold key/Like the starter of a car/The opener of a door or two pounds of raw/You gave me a baby, but what about lately?/then ha-ha-ha-ha-ha'd/Right up in her face, G/There's more fish in the sea,/I'm on my mission to be, be/The Coolest niggah... what” … from here Mike loses everything that made him good and now he’s becoming the personification of “The Cool” he sold himself out for the bling, the magazine cover, the fame, the cars, and the high of being the coolest nigga out there. from that point his superstardom launches and he takes over, no one can stop his reign as king … since he’s on top he forgets about his past he believes himself to be better than what he was and he doesn’t need his woman anymore because he has the love of “The Streets” to hold him up if he were to fall
Put You On Game- “The Game” was introduced in “The Coolest” but his presence has been felt throughout the whole story … he’s the reason for the dead beat daddies, the daddy doing life, his brother on death row, not being alive because of straps, whack ass beats with screwed up hooks, producers taking down song, and homies in the grave are just few of the ways “The Game” has impacted his life… here he explains his presence and how he runs everything behind the scenes “Don't you know that I run this place/And I've begun this race/Must I rerun this pace?/I'm the reason it's become this way/And their love for it is the reason I have become this praised” he’s the one influencing the children out there to be “cool” and wear the bling, drive the fast cars, sell the dope and be glorified in the process … “The drow grows from my footsteps/I'm the one that they follow/I am the one that they march with/Through the back alleys and the black markets/The Oval Offices, Crack houses and apartments/Through the mazes of the queens/The pages of the sages/And the Chambers of The Kings/Through the veins-es of the fiends/A paper chaser's pager/Yo, I'm famous on the scene” … “The Game” is gloating on how he runs the show and everything is under his control, to him there is no escaping his presence … “I am the safe haven for the rebel runaway and the resistor/The trusted misleader/The number one defender/And from a throne of their bones I rule/These fools are my fuel/So I make them cool/Baptize them in the water out of Scarface pool/And feed 'em from the table that held Corleone's food/If you die, tell them that you played my game/I hope your bullet holes become mouths that say my name” … “The Game” is a powerful force that encompasses every day life and because of that Michael Young History fell victim to his game
Gotta Eat- now that Mike has fallen victim to “The Game” and “The Streets” he’s turned to his old ways of dealing drugs to make his way, in doing so he’s running the show and makin’ the shots “He lived the fast life, couldn’t get his path right” paranoid of the people around him “Said he had beef and people want him dead” he couldn’t even stop if he wanted to “Bacon wouldn't take him had the pigs on the payroll”…he came up so fast but everything seems to be come to a halt…
The Die- Mike is on top of the world nothing and nobody can stop him … his love and loyalty to “The Game” and “The Streets” have brought him great fortune…he has the cars, the money, the women, and the guns … but his inevitable death is near … when listening to the song you may think that is Mike and his boy discussing who wants to kill him but if you actually listen its Mikes boy in the first verse “Well I heard like group of cows/That all your enimies wanna shoot you down/They got ak 47's and a bunch of mac 11's/Semi automatic weapons that produce ka pows/Word on the street is, they all got heats/They gonna hit you up and you ain't even gonna see it” he’s warning Mike that people are looking for him so watch out and in verse two we hear the guy who kills Mike “Run up on a nigga from tha back with a mac/Or be strapped cause a nigga finna squeeze off 10/Run up on his nigga lac ratta tat tat,/Click clack where this nigga at/I need sin/Shit is goin down if I see him” in verse three Mike’s friend says to disregard the threat “they just hatin’ on you” but the killer has “Been waitin’ all day tryna spot this nigga” they trade off words; Mike’s friend telling him to calm down and the killer plotting how to catch him off guard … finally they stop so his friend can use a bathroom (now is the time to strike) Mike tells his friend to hurry up, not to take too long but he replies “Just remember my nigga there’s a heaven for a G” … now we see the lonely Michael Young History calming himself down reassuring himself that nobodies crazy enough to go after him while in the background we hear “The Cool” playing over the radio…now footsteps getting closer to the car “Ain't to cool now is you nigga?” gunshots flow into Michael Young History
The Cool- now we finish where we started. Mike wakes up in the casket and works his way out into the sunlight…“With a right hand that was all bones and no reason to stay he decided to walk home” even then he wasn’t phased by what he was or what he did he continued on the same path “Caught the reflection in the window of what he became/A long look... Wasn't shook, wasn't ashamed/Matter fact only thing on his brain was brains.. yeah/And getting back in his lane, doing his thang
First he had to find something to slang” only until he walked past the spot where he was shot did he realize what he had done to himself “Walked right past the same spot where he was shot/Shocked that some lil' niggas tried to sell him rocks/It just felt weird being on the opposite/They figured that he wasn't from there/So they pulled out and robbed him/With the same gun they shot him with/Put it to his head and said "You scared ain't ya?"/He said: "Hustler for death. No heaven for a gangsta."”

The transformation into “The Cool” is complete; Michael “Cool” Young History.

Written BY :Eliezer Santiago