Drill Music in Zion

It has been four years since Drogas Wave and as usual, Lupe has been busy. In the years since his seventh album, he has had a well-publicized feud with one time “friend” and collaborator, Royce Da 5’9 whom he started a podcast with, began an academy around emceeing, focused on his own research and then recently was named as part of the faculty at MIT. All the while, making appearances and collaborative projects (such as “Home” with Virgil Abloh) while steadily connecting with his fans via social media expounding on topics as far ranging as the COVID pandemic to home fitness. In late summer of 2021, Lupe began teasing through his usual medium on social media, Twitter, of a new album that would be his “Illmatic”. The record that would become to be known as “Drill Music in Zion” also was set to be written, recorded and produced in 24 hours. Fast forward to spring 2022 and “Drill” arrived in typical Lupe fashion, critically acclaimed, highly anticipated and well received from his fans, even if not moving the larger mainstream needle. Ultimately, according to Lupe, the record ended up taking 72, instead of 24 hours, largely due to “having to eat, sleep, and rest his voice”. What might end up being factual from his original assertions is this being his Illmatic. Both in terms of it being tight and concise (10 songs clocking at under 41 minutes), lyrically and musically. Lupe’s penchant for triple entendres, extended metaphors and layered meanings is still true, right down to the name of the album.

Regardless of where Lupe may be in his career or interests at any given moment, what continually shows up and remains is his concern and love of Black people and his community. He often serves his sharpest words, both in craft and rebuke for these subjects. Be it about violence self-inflicted and structurally, or about habits and behaviors, Lupe’s social critique often is around the historical social conditions of black people, so it’s no surprise that in the current political climate of defunding the police, the rise of white supremacy via the Trump years and the ongoing trauma of dealing with state violence via the police that Lupe would draw so much focus to the subject.

Yeah, it’s not meant to be a “drill music” album. In some cases, it’s not even an album about drill music. There’s songs on the album that reference drill music in a certain direct way, but the album was never meant to mislead people into thinking that it was an album of either me doing drill music or an album about drill music. I actually pulled it from The Matrix Reloaded, so it started out as referencing that scene where the robots drill down into Zion. The last place where humanity can live and survive in the Matrix world, they call it Zion. I think my sister does a better job than me [of] explaining it..

-Lupe

Lupe continues what he has done throughout his career and that is to contemplate various realities and topics and present his view. What is slightly different on “Drill” is the more mature assuredness to his stances. As has been a consistent trope, his sister, Ayesha Jaco opens the album giving us the overview of the theme on Lions Deen. As Ayesha uses various plays on the words “Drill” and “Zion” she lays out what Lupe will discuss and contemplate over the course of the album, the state of humanity (Zion) and its propensity for violence and the growing disconnection from one another. Community violence, state violence and spiritual violence hover over much of Lupe’s work and it’s no different with this record. On "Kiosk", the metaphor of a jewelry salesperson at a kiosk in the mall gives Lupe the backdrop to call out materialism and the hypocrisy of capitalism.

In the first verse and chorus, Lupe portrays the owner enticing you to purchase the shiny baubles in his kiosk.

Hey, you looking over there

I got something to show you if you got the time to spare

The quality’s the highest and the price is very fair

It’s honestly the nicest thing that I have ever shared

You look like the type that likes a diamond in his ear

To walk around the town and be so shiny and revered

Come across his boss and be so timely and prepared

Look like a million dollars off of signing with the Bears

I don’t mean to be so deeply inside of your affairs

But if I liked getting ripped off, then I’d be over there

But that’s why I’m over here, with that you should beware

I’m only saying this because I really, really care

I think it’s more a temple, not a stall

But, no, not a religion, not at all

I know it’s kind of simple and it’s small

But that’s ‘cause it’s the middle of the mall

If you wanna show off and just ball

Or your intention is the drawers

We got credentials for it all

Welcome to the middle of the mall

For the second verse and chorus, he continues the metaphor, discussing how the appearance of wealth, even if “you don’t got a budget for these nuggets,” will attract many things, people’s adulation, but also violence and ridicule,

You ain’t got a budget for these nuggets

You can keep it Plain Jane or blow out they brains when you in public

The matching ring, chain gon’ look insane when you untuck it

They’ll never know the difference, even if you let ‘em touch it

Now if you are a rapper or a trapper on the job

It don’t really matter if you get jacked or you get robbed

You can go on, let ‘em have it, it’s not a factor or a prob’

Only thing that’s gonna happen, you gon’ get attacked by all the blogs

But to regular people you gon’ be sharp

And you gon’ be so attractive on the block

Now, it might make you a magnet for the cops

But please don’t let them haters try and drag you from the top

You ain’t gotta be a criminal involved

Know how to rap or knack for dribbling the ball

Or be a prince or an emperor at all

Everybody’s equal in the middle of the mall

We are not the center of applause

Lupe breaks character in verse three to address the superficial nature of material wears, and also the hypocrisy and dangers of its distractions, before returning to the metaphor in the chorus to try and “close” the sale. Here he actually is responding to the “salesmen” in verses one and two as himself.

But secretly the center of the cause

This is where the finishers evolve

In the middle of the malls

Diamonds only worth what you are willing to pay

A deceptive game you are killing to play

Now I have diamonds, it’s odd feeling this way

But when they start to sparkle that star-glittering glaze

It sways, takes your mind off todays

Where preachers can praise AIDS as God killing the gays

What a fucking phrase, never ceases to amaze

But when he dies from cancer, that’s God’s mysterious ways

Jesus saves African sold slaves

Gabriel’s in Afghanistan passing out

AKs

It’s a rage

The diamond sometimes are suedes while putting ‘em to the blade

I have hesitations

There, I’ve put it all on the table, I have my reservations

Besides, we’ll find something else useless to put our faith in

You won’t finish this here, we’ll pick up after meditation, uh-huh

Uh-huh

It’s this type of character roleplay, storytelling and wordplay that are signatures to who Lupe is as a lyricist. His unconventional style, to clearly express his opinion and experiences on topics that could be boring or lost if simply tackled straightforwardly.

Lupe re-visits multiple concepts and topics on "Ms. Mural". Firstly, the song is the last of his trilogy of “Mural” tracks serving as the final canvas for the concepts. The song is an extended metaphor of a painter talking with the patron of his work. Lupe’s conversation details the difference in perceived value of the work by the patron and the painter, highlighted in the final third of the second verse.

The current art world is just competitively opaque

It never ceases to amaze, my mouth is medically agape

One day its raising up the brand, the next it’s shredding it to flakes

And the velocity of trends is what referees the pace

Professionally accept what ethically I hate

So in all of my work, you see this wrestling with fate

Deceiving in the brushstrokes how aggressively I strafe

Less like putting on some makeup, more like severing a face”

“Wow,” said the patron with a smile

“That’s the most interesting diatribe

I’ve heard in a while

How you articulated the nature and put it all on trial

Took it up to Heaven, then put it on the ground”

Lupe has often been at odds with his label and critics as to what is the purpose and meaning behind his work, and this song shows his creativity in how he tackles it.

The final song, On Faux Nem might be the best embodiment of Lupe not just on this record but of much of his career. The song is both a rant, a lament and a cautionary tale in one song. He weaves subtle wordplay and devices into a straight ahead message. On Faux Nem what is credited as the first verse is a mere two bars of rap, that is more just a statement.