Lupe Fiasco has shared two new singles from his archives, "The Pen and the Needlz" and "Ohh Oh" from his 2005 mixtape Fahrenheit 1/15. The tracks can be found on the new EP Chill's Spotlight 3.
"The Pen and the Needlz" is produced by Needlz (Bruno Mars, Drake, and Cardi B), and finds Lupe spitting a twisty rhyme: "Pivot my fitted, then begin to rivet, with a change of lyric/In other words, I reposition how I sit it/Then make you feel it like I mispronounced 'filet'/On second thought, I can't make you fill it/Like you digging your own grave, unless you can Kill Bill it."
On "Ohh Oh" he raps, "What's in your pockets my profits/Foxes pick me up like chopsticks, this hotness/They wanna put me in boxes like chocolates/That's nonsense."
The two singles follow Lupe's most recent effort, the lyrically dense DRILL MUSIC IN ZION, which dropped earlier this summer. Inspired by a folder of beats sent to him by producer Soundtrakk, the Chicago rapper created the 10-track album over a short period of time — just three days to be exact. As expected, Lupe is in top lyrical form throughout the project, despite the length of time it took to make it.
“Your whole life you’re physically growing, and as an artist, I feel like I’m taller now,” Lupe said in a release. “Not that I’m at a higher place of morality, it’s that my vantage point and perspective is higher. I can see further.”
Lupe is currently on a mini tour commemorating 15 years of his sophomore album, 2007'sThe Cool, which wraps early next month. His two latest singles are available to stream now.