Lupe fiasco - Words I never said analysis

The video responds to the music in a very illustrative way. The title 'words I never said' is about things that are wrong and people should speak up about but don't, this is shown through the image on the bus with the people on the bus being gagged as if they cant speak.

This video isn't a generic rap video as its not all about the money and the lifestyle rappers live. It has more of a meaning, but the video still responds to the music like other rap video's. He talks about the Gaza strip
and then it shows the fighting that is going on in the Gaza strip.


 The video follows quite a clear narrative, people dont speak up when they should about things that are wrong. We see Lupe on the bus talking about the wars thats are wrong which is breaking the norm so is arrested by the police. This follows the narrative that people dont speak up for things that are wrong as he is arrested for breaking the norm which everyone should be expressing their opinions on. He uses irony to show that people dont speak the truth and are afraid to, by being arrested he shows that its so unusual it's almost a crime. Even the police are wearing gas mask's as they're silent about what is happening and not fighting for whats

right and are almost like robots and just follow orders.

The star is presenting a pretty grim picture of what the worlds actually like and is very powerful, he does this through the images that respond to the lyrics of all the fighting and that nobody will speak up about all that is wrong. Lupe prides himself of not being like other rappers from gangs, taking drugs using guns and gettin involved with crime. I grew up in the hood around prostitutes, drug dealers, killers, and gangbangers but I also grew up juxtaposed: On the doorknob outside of our apartment, there was blood from some guy who got shot; but inside, there was National Geographic magazines and encyclopedias and a little library bookshelf situation. And we didn't have cable, so we didn't have the luxury of having our brains washed by MTV. We watched public television – cooking shows and stuff like that." This fits in with the video as it shows he was from an unstable upbringing but managed to get through and believes people should say what they believe and be better people which is whats conveyed from the music video so i believe it fits in with his star image.

The background is dark and uncolourful which fits in with the image of the world being silent and nobody stands out to say what is right. The mise en scene also conveys this message as they're all in dark colours, Lupe is wearing dark colours as he wants to blend in because what he is doing is 'wrong'. This is shown with the way he walks on the bus with his head down and hood up.

The editing is fast with over 60 shots per minute which fits in with the music and most rap videos. The editor uses lots of p.o.v shots to show how Lupe see's the world and how he views people and the things that are going on.

The video is amplifying as it responds to the music and makes the song complete, the lyrics are powerful as they're about real issues but the video adds another layer to the song.