“With L-U-P-Emperor

Is the foundation's, I-beams and the antennas

It's so serious every time I write my John Hancock like
Could damn near see Detroit, I see you
Niggas is scared of heights”

Foundation and I beams are structural elements in buildings.

This turns the word “serious” in the following line to “sears”, which references the “Sears
Tower”, the tallest building in the country located in Chicago, Lupe’s hometown.
From the top of the Sears Tower, Detroit is visible > “Could damn near see Detroit”
The John Hancock center is a skyscraper located near the Sears Tower.

The line also sounds like “it’s Soze’s every time I write my John Hancock”, as in Keyser Soze
from the movie “The Usual Suspects”, a reoccurring theme of this verse.

Also, he said “cirrus” as in clouds, the really thin wispy ones. They are the highest occurring
clouds in the atmosphere.

The antennas in this line connect to the serious used in the next as in Sirius Satellite Radio
because he is that high above the game.

So, the line is basically a quadruple layered homophone/entendre:

“It's so serious (Sears/Soze’s/cirrus/Sirius) every time I write my John Hancock”

“John Hancock” also means signature, since Founding Father John Hancock was the first one
to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Nowadays, record producers take it seriously when Lupe signs a contract (“It's so serious
every time I write my John Hancock”)

Also, the line “It's so serious every time I write my John Hancock” hints to the fact that Lupe
hid/spelled his full name (Lupe Fiasco) in this set of lines:

With L-U-P-Emperor
Is the Foundation's, I-beams and the Antennas
It's so Serious every time I write my John HanCOck

This also links back to the structural elements of the buildings since Lupe’s name is the main
structural element of these lines (lines=buildings, Lupe’s full name = foundation, I-beams)