Be Somebody

"Be Somebody"
Song by Fort Minor
from the album The Rising Tied - Special Edition
Recorded:	2005
Released:	November 28, 2005
Format:	Digital, CD
Length:	3:15
Writer:	Wasalu Jaco, Mike Shinoda
Producer:	Mike Shinoda
Label:	Machine Shop Recordings, Warner Bros. Records
The Rising Tied - Special Edition tracklist
Introduction Remember The Name (Feat. Styles Of Beyond) Right Now (Feat. Black Thought and Styles Of Beyond) Petrified Feel Like Home (Feat. Styles Of Beyond) Where'd You Go (Feat. Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga) In Stereo Back Home (Feat. Common and Styles Of Beyond) Cigarettes Believe Me (Feat. Styles Of Beyond and Eric Bobo) Get Me Gone High Road (Feat. John Legend) Kenji Red To Black (Feat. Jonah Matranga, Kenna and Styles Of Beyond) The Battle (Feat. Celph Titled) Slip Out The Back (Feat. Mr. Hahn) - - Be Somebody (Feat. Holly Brook, Lupe Fiasco and Tak) There They Go (Feat. Sixx John) The Hard Way (Feat. Kenna)

"Be Somebody" is the eleventh track on Fort Minor's We Major mixtape. It was also released on the special edition and tour edition of The Rising Tied.

Background

"Be Somebody" features Lupe Fiasco and Holly Brook. It is one of two Fort Minor songs to feature Lupe Fiasco, the other one being "Spraypaint & Inkpens".

In late 2006, Clear Channel Music posted the entire The Rising Tied album complete with commentaries from Mike Shinoda before each song. On "Be Somebody", he said, "The bonus tracks... These are the tracks that didn’t make the cut, uhm, because… simply because I didn’t wanna have, you know, like 21 songs or whatever on the record, but I hope everybody gets a chance to hear these, especially this song ‘Be Somebody’. Uhm, Lupe Fiasco is,.. he’s just the greatest guy. Uhm, I can’t say enough about this guy. He’s technically so talented, his heart is in the right place, he’s entertaining, and he killed it on this song. He writes in the same way that Jay writes, in a sense that he doesn’t put anything down, he just goes in a booth and kinda thinks about things and lays them down. He’ll get to let’s say, a verse is 16 bars. He’ll just sit there and vibe out to the music and he’ll tell you to record and he’ll put down the first four bars, and then he’ll stop and then he’ll vibe out on those 4 and add another 2, 4, 5, 6 bars, so he just kinda pieces it together and by the end he was probably finished with the verse from beginning to the end in I’d say less than 30 minutes. And he never puts a word down on paper. "

In a rare move for Mike Shinoda, the lyrics of "Be Somebody" contain reused lines from Mike's collaboration with DJ Vice, "Freestyle" from 2001. On "Freestyle", Mike rapped, "I don't sleep to dream / I sleep to build stamina, energy to plan in advance / get your camera" while in "Be Somebody" he slightly alters them to "we don't sleep to dream / we sleep to build stamina, energy to do our thing / get your camera."

On the Making of The Rising Tied DVD, Brad Delson, who was the A&R for this album and helped Mike pick songs on the album with Jay-Z, said that he thought "Be Somebody" was "...like... cool, but Lupe's verse was dope."

On March 28, 2005, Lupe Fiasco posted on his website referring to the collaborations with Mike, "what up homeys and homettes? Lupe Fiasco is here!!! This Lupe checkin in. Yo Godwillin' I'll be in Cali next week in the studio with Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park working on some joints for my forthcoming album "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor". I plan on filming the whole thing so the footage should be on the site soon. peace out FNF UP! ..." and again with, "LUPE & LINKIN.... What up homeys and homettes...In Cali...that's right young westide is on the young westide!...just did some joints with Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda...the album is coming together nicely...keep ya posted...ROTN mixtape is almost done too!...I figure like middle March...respect to everybody who post…"

On April 13, 2005, Lupe posted again, saying in response to Linkin Park fans who had joined his forum, "Welcome fellow LP fans!!!...I'm a huge Linkin Park fan...really so when we were in the studio I had to contain myself and not geek out...but the whole time Im thinkin like "damn I'm in the studio with Linkin Park!"and "Mike Shinoda is doin a record for my album"...insane...almost to good to be real...I kept my composure through the recording process but when we finished I most certainly did geek out and had to get pictures and the whole nine yards...dont worry about the music it's crazy...and thats from the fan side first...hip-hop artist second..." When asked about the recording process, he also added, "he (mike) basicallly had a cd with beats he produced...I think like 5...I picked two...flew back to Chicago...wrote and recorded to one of them and it came out sick!...so it was like he supplied the music and I supplied the words...the track has more of an original feel to it than the collision course had to me...LP heads should love it..."

The fan site fortminor.co.uk (Fort Minor Unofficial) interviewed Lupe in May 2005. He said, "Well...I originally met Mike at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party...we were introduced through a mutual friend...I told him I was a huge LP fan and I just so happened to have a bag of my mixtapes with me...which now that I think about it may have seemed a little odd...but I gave him one, we exchanged contact info and we kept in sparse contact after that. I found out from Jay-Z, another mutual friend, sometime after that Mike was putting together a solo project and that he was Co-Executive producing on it as he is doing on my album. Jay was like it would be hot if I was apart of the project and set it up and that was that..."

In a stream on June 18, 2020, Mike talked a bit about how he made some of the samples for Linkin Park and Fort Minor songs. About the "Be Somebody" kick, he said "I actually made that using a Korg drum machine."

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Be Somebody	The Rising Tied	3:15	2005	November 28, 2005	Features vocals by Lupe Fiasco, Holly Brook and Tak. Contains reused lines of DJ Vice's "Freestyle (feat. Mike Shinoda)". Lacks the transitions and overdubs.
Be Somebody	The Rising Tied (Non-PA Version)	3:15	2005	November 28, 2005	Censored.
Be Somebody	We Major	3:12	2005	October 30, 2005	Tak was left uncredited.
Be Somebody	Instrumental Album: The Rising Tied	3:11	2005		Official instrumental version.

Lyrics

Album Version

Uh! M.S., Lupe,
You know...I'm a fan man, I'm a real fan, (Gonna be somebody)
I feel real honored to be up in here, you know what I'm sayin'? (Gonna be someone)
They had to bring out the expensive mics for this one,
You know what I'm sayin? The $7000 headphones for this one here, (Gonna be somebody, gonna be someone)
You know what I'm sayin?
Come on..talk to em'!

This is the story of them against us, win or lose,
Forcing your feet into someone else's shoes,
Everybody's got somethin' to say,
That we aughta live their way,
What we're doing's not "okay",
In this world everybody's got a chip on,
Both sides of their neck,
Got no respect, wait up a sec!
You ever feel like the pressure is too much to take,
Too much weight?
Ladies and gentleman,
If anybody can hear me right now please shout back,
We're not the only one's feeling so trapped,
In a dream of somebody else...infact,
They got their heads full of some overblown scheme,
Opportunity they missed back when they were sixteen,
And all they wanna do is push you to be that,
And all you wanna do is scream back...

Gonna be somebody...
For anybody telling me I can't,
Gonna be someone...
For anyone who told me I had no chance,
Gonna be somebody...
I'm telling you the time has come, (like that)
Gonna be someone...
And maybe you'll get it when I'm finally done.

We don't sleep to dream,
We sleep to build stamina,
Energy to do our thing,
Get your camera,
Cause this ride is about to begin,
Sit down and buckle it in,
Let me say it again,
In this world everybody's got a chip on,
Both sides of their neck,
Got no respect, wait up a sec!
When I was young,
They said the odds of making it were slim to none,
Ladies and...fuck it,
I'm tired of them saying the dream you have doesn't exist,
Telling you you're worthless, telling you should quit,
Basically telling you that you'll never be shit!
Really, they're pissed 'cause they'll never acheive,
Some opportunity they missed back when they sixteen,
And all they wanna do is push you to be that,
And all you wanna do is scream back...

Uh!
They're gonna think you're crazy mumblin to yourself,
In the basement all day 'uh-uh-uh'in to yourself,
My pop's didn't dig it, was shovelin' to myself,
My boy's used to get it, they dug it because they felt,
My undertaking took me I was makin in my stealth,
A wealth of rhymes, of crazy I would chuckle to myself, (ha)
Then they went into the mental rolodex,
See I knew em' by heart like a brain in my chest,
Then I, took em' to school where subjects was getting felt,
Books under my seat, notebook laying on my desk,
My teacher's like, "Mr. Jaco?"
"Yes?"
"With all that knowledge, you aint tryin' to college,
Be a lawyer or a doctor, get a whole lotta dollars,
Rather degrade woman and glorify violence?"
Well the work that works for me, might not work for you,
No homework, I got work to do!

Gonna be somebody...
For anybody telling me I can't,
Gonna be someone...
For anyone who told me I had no chance,
Gonna be somebody...
I'm telling you the time has come, (like that)
Gonna be someone...
And maybe you'll get it when I'm finally done.
(Finally done)

Yeah this one goes out to those fantastic human beings,
That keep us down and hold us back,
And give us fuel for what we do...thanks!

We Major Version

Green Lantern!

Uh! M.S., Lupe,
You know...I'm a fan man, I'm a real fan, (Gonna be somebody)
I feel real honored to be up in here, you know what I'm sayin'? (Gonna be somebody)
They had to bring out the expensive mics for this one, (Gonna be somebody)
You know what I'm sayin? The $7000 headphones for this one here, (Gonna be somebody)
You know what I'm sayin?
Come on..talk to em'!

This is the story of them against us, win or lose,
Forcing your feet into someone else's shoes,
Everybody's got somethin' to say,
That we aughta live their way,
What we're doing's not "okay",
In this world everybody's got a chip on,
Both sides of their neck,
Got no respect, wait up a sec!
You ever feel like the pressure is too much to take,
Too much weight?
Ladies and gentleman,
If anybody can hear me right now please shout back,
We're not the only one's feeling so trapped,
In a dream of somebody else... in fact,
They got their heads full of some overblown scheme,
Opportunity they missed back when they were sixteen,
And all they wanna do is push you to be that,
And all you wanna do is scream back...

Gonna be somebody...
For anybody telling me I cant,
Gonna be someone...
For anyone who told me I had no chance,
Gonna be somebody...
I'm telling you the time has come, (like that)
Gonna be someone...
And maybe you'll get it when I'm finally done.

We don't sleep to dream,
We sleep to build stamina,
Energy to do our thing,
Get your camera,
Cause this ride is about to begin,
Sit down and buckle it in,
Let me say it again,
In this world everybody's got a chip on,
Both sides of their neck,
Got no respect, wait up a sec!
When I was young,
They said the odds of making it were slim to none,
Ladies and...fuck it,
I'm tired of them saying the dream you have doesn't exist,
Telling you you're worthless, saying you should quit,
Basically telling you that you'll never be shit!
Really, they're pissed 'cause they'll never acheive,
Some opportunity they missed back when they sixteen,
And all they wanna do is push you to be that,
And all you wanna do is scream back...

Uh!
They're gonna think you're crazy mumblin' to yourself,
In the basement all day 'uh-uh-uh'in to yourself,
My pop's didn't dig it, was shovelin' to myself,
My boy's used to get it, they dug it cause they felt,
My undertaking took me I was makin' in my stealth,
A wealth of rhymes, of crazy I would chuckle to myself, (ha)
Then they went into the mental rolodex,
See I knew em' by heart like a brain in my chest,
Then I, took em' to school where subjects was getting felt,
Books under my seat, notebook laying on my desk,
My teacher's like, "Mr. Jaco?"
"Yes?"
"With all that knowledge, you aint tryin' to college,
Be a lawyer or a doctor, get a whole lotta' dollars,
Rather degrade woman and glorify violence?"
Well the work that works for me, might not work for you,
No homework, I got work to do!

Gonna be somebody...
For anybody telling me I cant,
Gonna be someone...
For anyone who told me I had no chance,
Gonna be somebody...
I'm telling you the time has come, (like that)
Gonna be someone...
(Uh) And maybe you'll get it when I'm finally done.

This is an invasion! Fort Minor - The Rising Tied,
In stores November, Twenty Two.

Gallery

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  Mike and Lupe in the studio