Lupe Fiasco

“Kick, Push, Kick, Push, Coast. ”
“If you are what you say you are…..”

Do either of those hooks sound familiar? Perhaps you have listened to critically acclaimed artist Lupe Fiasco’s singles “Kick,Push” and “Superstar.”

Lupe Fiasco began rapping in the eighth grade. He started a group when he was nineteen called Da Pack, but they split after their first single. Lupe was offered a career at Hip Hop legend’s Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella, but he turned it down to accomplish his goal to own his own record company. Lupe and his manager/business partner Chill created their very own company 1st and 15th.
Fiasco’s debut album is titled “Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor.”

His first single form the album was “Kick,Push.” The song was a story about a young man whose passion is skateboarding. The song started his image as the “skateboard” rapper.

Born Wasula Jaco, Lupe Fiasco is 27-year old rapper from the Westside of Chicago. Fiasco was raised Muslim and grew up in a very diverse home being born of African descent. His mother was a gourmet chef, and before his father passed away, he was an engineer who owned an army surplus store, was a karate teacher, an owner of a martial art school and an African drummer. At the age of the three Lupe began to take karate lessons at his father’s karate school. Diverse influences from his life definitely show in his music.

In 2007, Lupe released his second album called, “Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool”, named after a song on his first album. The album had much more success than “Food & Liquor.” His first single form the album is still being impatiently waited for by hardcore Lupe Fiasco fans.

Will Gibbens says “Lupe Fiasco and Kid Cudi are my favorite rap artists because they make music for the people that I can really relate to.”

Lupe Fiasco is my favorite rapper because he makes fun and up-beat music but still has concepts with his songs. He is a brilliant writer the way he tells a story through rap lyrics, but also stays true to his roots and never disrespects women and lies about his real life. Even with all of that, Lupe is very positive, he doesn’t make this “lame” or “corny.” He just makes positive lyrics by being real. Lupe is a very intelligent lyricist whose songs have to be analyzed a number of times to understand everything that is said. This is probably why Lupe is not as popular of an artist such a Lil Wayne or Gucci Mane.

Lupe Fiasco is an underrated success story in the mainstream music industry, but is still representing Chicago with his positive lyrics and intelligent wordplay. Thank you, Lupe, for a breath of fresh air in the world of Hip Hop.