Since taking the mix tape world by storm and dropping the critically acclaimed Lupe Fiasco’s Food and Liquor, Lupe has sounded off on everything from geo politics, the West Bank and Gaza Strip (word to Mos Def).
Recently, the Chicago rhyme sayer took a break from speaking on the ills of the world, to touch on the lighter side of Hip Hop and his upcoming projects in an interview with Pitchfork.
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Lupe remained neutral on the ongoing “competition” between fellow Chicagoan Kanye West and 50 Cent saying that the competing albums are good for Hip Hop.
“You know what, I think it’s good for hip hop,” he said before adding, “Like, I’m a fan of both of them so… you know people are always surprised to hear that I’m a fan of 50’s ’cause I was promoted as this whiteboy, suburban friendly image and everything. But I love 50’s music, and have ever since his mixtapes back before Get rich Or Die Trying came out. Also, he’s an incredibly smart person, and you can tell that in his interviews.”
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In typical Fiasco fashion, he briefly exposed the media machine, saying that some folks in Ye’s camp encouraged him to heighten the drama by going at Fif head on.
“When I was around ‘Ye, everybody, I mean his people, were trying to hype him up to go at 50, but he didn’t want to entertain it. I remember Kanye said he feels like making an incredible album is the best “diss” so to speak, that any rapper can deliver. Not that he wants to diss him.”
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Lupe also noted that his next album, The Cool will drop in November and he parallels his upcoming offering to Nas’ It Was Written.
Another project destined for critical acclaim is Child Rebel Soldiers (CRS), a group comprised of Lupe, Kanye West and Pharrell. He says the album won’t have any typical R&B or soul samples, but will sample the work of rock stars like Pink Floyd, Radiohead and similar artists.
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With the CRS project, the trio hopes to make music that stands the test of time and sells out stadiums, something Hip Hop is currently lacking according to Lupe.
“The type of music we’re making will have that longevity like the rock artists have. Which is something hip hop artists don’t have. Big Daddy Kane, and KRS-ONE can’t tour stadiums like U2 or The Rolling Stones, because they made temporary music that was well suited for those years, but people grew out of it, and moved on to whatever was seen as cool after them. With CRS, we’re lyrically and sonically making music that we won’t feel too old to perform at 60 years old, and our fans won’t be embarrassed to repeat the lyrics at 60 years old either. So, we’re on another level from everyone else with this project.”
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As of press time, there’s no release date for CRS.
