Daydreamin’ ft. Jill Scott

“Daydreamin’” from Lupe Fiasco’s (real name Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) 2006 album “Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor”. The track also features vocals from soul sing Jill Scott.

The song is based on a sample from I Monster’s “Daydream in Blue”, which also samples “Daydream: by Gunter Kallmann Choir (which in turn is a cover, with the original written by The Wallace Collection). In an interview with A.V. Club, Lupe Fiasco spoke about his excitement to have Jill Scott on the track: “When I went to do ‘Daydreamin’‘ with Jill Scott, I was like, hyped. ‘Jill Scott is in the studio!’ She was like, ‘Whoa, calm down and tell me what you want me to do.’ [Laughs.] It was ‘Stop. This is business.’“ [She said] ‘You have to stop and tell me what you want me to do.’ Every other note or run or style I wanted her to do on the record, I had to stop and tell her to do it. “Daydreamin’” is about critiquing pop culture as well as the state of hip-hop at the time.

The music video features Lupe Fiasco at a record store where he befriends a robot, while Jill Scott is shown in a video projected on the wall, singing with a flower in her hair. The video was uploaded to YouTube on the 8th November 2006 by a user named “atlstreet”. As of September 2019, the video has over 8.1 million views.

Release Date: 11th September 2006

Songwriter/s: Lupe Fiasco / Sylveer Vanholme, Dave Mackay, Raymond Vincent & Kallman Craig

Producer/s: Craig Kallman

Label/s: 1st & 15th / Atlantic Records

Chart Rankings & Awards: “Daydreamin’” charted at #1 in Denmark in its year of release, as well as ranking #40 in Australia, #25 in the UK and #63 in the US. The track won a Grammy Award in 2008 for “Best Urban/Alternative Performance” (that Lupe Fiasco only received 9 years later due to being ill with pneumonia on the day of the awards).