Lupe Fiasco - Manilla lyrics

We are a people who have historically
Been on the verge of 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 and submission for it
MILF lover under silk covers
Who kiss her horses
Pilates central to preservin’ the body temple
(oh yea)
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


Lessons from jet snacks
My momma wisdom, my competition is setbacks
Jetlaggin’, very swaggered, my Jordans dirty
AMG performance
My foreign don't show no mercy
Mere products, objects
Meaningless to the over-standers
Contemplatin' with industrialists and
Social planners manillas!

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 florists forge orchids
To go with me
Construct the future with thirty bars
Long tenures
I'm returning home to dirty cars
Jasmine necklace from a poor
Woman on Hindu streets
I gave her Rupees, she gave me beauty
I temple creep manillas

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

Roman logic, Greek prophets, and add tutors
B-more young'ns, they 12 o'clock
And then jump the scooters
Through entertainment
I end the training to run the future
Anton Chekhov my checkouts
Too much for your computers
Chakra waves, singin' bowls, stirring
I'm Dalai Lama creation, step in my mental
Selection Bobby Konders
Nightmare women, dream girls
And body monsters
Don't confuse my temptation battles
For batty mantras
Sole pilot 'til my reputation is bodhisattva
Word to Botticelli 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 watch this vodka
Punk band merchandise patches
On leather coats tell you tales of illegal
Sales by fetid boats
Swallowed by waves, the hollow graves
They'll never float
Sunken ships carried slaves
Tokens to western coasts manillas

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

Copper alloy bracelet forms were recognized
And used for currency
As transactions from the end of 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 trades with Africa
The local chiefs on the slave coast of
West Africa traded their human cargo
For many different commodities and the
Manilla was one of them
This Manilla was manufactured in Birmingham
Between 1830 and 1850
Was 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 profit's if they
Did not die from the journey
The Duoro was one of the slave ships
With trade goods on her way to Africa
To pick up her human cargo
When she hit a rock and sank in 1843