In the final lines, the Painter outfoxes the Patron. The Patron stands on the aforementioned pile of discarded artwork, thinking he’s going to be a model. However, the Painter douses it all in gasoline and sets the Patron on fire. This is foreshadowed in the first verse, when the Painter tells the Patron the title of the work will be: “Gasoline Pouring on the Flames”.

Lupe is essentially saying that the only solution to the ethical dilemma of making genuine, true art in a capitalist society is to destroy the consumerist attitude people have towards — and perhaps the entire commodity market of — art altogether. This is ultimately represented by The Painter burning The Patron to death.

Throughout history, many artists have destroyed their own artwork including Michelangelo, Banksy, Claude Monet and Francis Bacon.

These lines also preface the Joan of Arc reference in the “Outro,” who was burned at the stake in 1431.

Lupe sets the scene that the rest of the song will take place in: the Patron visiting the Painter in their studio.

Coming from “the gutter” (mud, bottom etc.) is a common trope. By asking this question, the implication is that the Patron is from the top (elite) and has no direct experience of life at the bottom. Instead, he seeks a vicarious experience from the painter. By answering, “the blues,” the artist begins the song-long misdirection that highlights the tension between artist inspiration and the Patron, who embodies commodity culture’s desire to own and clearly define that art. Not only is blue a color (think Picasso’s Blue Period, a clear allusion here), but it is a musical form particulary important to African Americans. Ralph Ellison famously defined the blues in “Richard Wright’s Blues,” stating

The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal experience alive in one’s aching consciousness, to finger its jagged grain, and to transcend it, not by the consolation of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near-comic lyricism. As a form, the blues is an autobiographical chronicle of personal catastrophe expressed lyrically.

The Patron lacks the insight and comprehesion into what the Painter is trying to convey to him, instead focusing on the aesthetics–both location and color–rather than the material conditions of poverty presented in the painting. In this, there is a clear parallel to hip hop, and white consumers fascination with the form, along with a reciprocal inability to understand the material conditions being presented to them.

Following a shamanistic perspective, individuals seek to be in relationship with the spirit in all things.

Lupe uses this mentality to create a juxtaposition with the previous line: Painting can be healing and soothing, while simultaneously portraying heinous acts, such as the aforemetnioned crucifixion of Jesus.

Moreover, art can even move you (get kinetic). In an interview with Ebro on Hot97, Lupe discussed the concepts of a meta narrative (a narrative of narratives) and fetishization. In it, he gives the example of a sculpture depicting a slave and discusses how others can gain pleasure and gratification from developing fetishes for others' pain.

Why Born a Slave by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

The Patron presents another question, asking how the art is created. The Painter, while politely answering the Patron’s question, is internally full of suppressed rage “strangling a tube [of paint]”. His answer to the question directly relates to the “strangling” of the paint, as he states his mood affects his painting.

This hidden anger is expanded on in the second verse.

Hidden in the Patron’s question is another layer which is a fan asking Lupe whether he freestyles “off intuition” or writes each line slowly and deliberately.

Lupe is referencing how popularity in art is increasingly determined by following trends. Within music, where plays of a whole song in audio or video form would once help drive popularity, an ever more granular form with trends is now being formed by the viral short snippets and loops on platforms such as TikTok.

We have gone from LP (long play) albums, with five minute songs down to songs closer to two minutes in duration, to music loops on TikTok of around 15 seconds. It appears as attention spans shorten, the velocity of trends increase.

Lupe is suggesting his relatively calm demeanour and delivery conceals inner anger.

The next line delivers an incredibly potent and violent image of hiding oneself; not by merely putting on makeup, but literally tearing the face away from the head.

Lupe, as a financially successful artist, accepts the commercial realities of creating music. However, that doesn’t mean he is happy with the situation and points out that this conflict is a theme that throughout his work. This idea would likely be related to by any commercially successful artist, such as the painter detailed throughout the song.

In an interview with Ebro on Hot97, Lupe reveals that Apple Music commissioned him to produce a song for Juneteenth. However, in an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, they edited out his comments about how culture/art is subordinated to capitalism, with huge corporations such as Apple commodifying and monetizing the deep trauma marked by Juneteenth.

The fact that this was edited out of the interview posted on YouTube shows the power of Patrons such as Apple; and how platforms and corporations can control the narrative if they choose.