State Run Radio

Album: Lasers (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Fiasco taking aim at hyper-regulated, repetitive radio and asking why it doesn't play real music anymore. Fiasco is speaking of the stations that are controlled by big corporations and tend to stick to a strict format with little variation in their playlists and hardly any local identity. This has been a common complaint among musicians of all genres ever since radio stations began consolidating in the '90s.
  • The song features multi-instrumentalist Matt Mahaffey. The Tennessee-bred, Los Angeles-based artist has produced and/or performed with a number of popular artists including Beck, Beyoncé and Pink. He also composed the bluegrass style jingle for on-line travel site Expedia.com.

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