Words I Never Said
Words I Never Said is a song by Lupe Fiasco featuring Skylar Grey. It was released on February 8, 2011, as the second single from Lupe’s third album, Lasers. The track, produced by Alex da Kid, dives into political and social issues, including references to the September 11 attacks, government spending, and the Gaza War. Its message of speaking up for the people and questioning the government helped it become associated with the online group Anonymous, and XXL named it the 41st best song of 2011.
A teaser video appeared on January 18, 2011, with snippets of the lyrics, and the full song premiered on Lupe Fiasco’s website on February 1, 2011, with its single cover. When the full audio arrived, the hashtag #wordsineversaid trended on Twitter. In February 2011, Lupe explained that the record came from Atlantic Records, but he had cut a bridge sung by Skylar Grey that was about relationships. This marked the second collaboration between Fiasco and Grey, who had previously worked together on “Be Somebody” for Fort Minor.
Some listeners view the song as one of the last tracks written for Lasers and possibly a quiet message to Atlantic Records about the material chosen for the album. The official music video premiered on April 29, 2011, directed by Sanaa Hamri.
British rapper Lowkey later sampled a lyric from the song for his track “Obama Nation (Pt. 2).” Skylar Grey released her own version titled “Words” in 2012 on The Buried Sessions of Skylar Grey EP. The song also appeared on the Step Up Revolution soundtrack. Skylar Grey released the track on iTunes again on March 10, 2015, dedicating it to her late grandfather.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 01:12 (CET).