Lupe Fiasco on His New Album, Romney vs. Obama, ‘Muslim Rage’ & More
He’s called Obama a “terrorist” and was a fixture at Occupy Wall Street. Now platinum-selling Lupe Fiasco is out with a new album, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. He tells Marlow Stern what he thinks of Romney, Newsweek’s “Muslim Rage” cover, his own embrace of Islam, and more. Plus, watch an exclusive video interview with the rapper.
Lupe Fiasco has no filter. It’s pretty damn refreshing in an industry bursting at the seams with image-conscious rappers and manufactured pop divas. A practicing Muslim, he’s called President Obama “a terrorist,” does not vote in U.S. elections, was a regular fixture at Occupy Wall Street, and had an infamous on-air tussle with the irascible Bill O’Reilly.
The artist formerly known as Wasalu Muhammad Jaco sat down with The Daily Beast for an in-depth interview to promote his new album, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. Released on Sept. 25, it’s his fourth studio LP and an anticipated follow-up to last year’s Lasers, which made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. Pt. II, meanwhile, will see the light of day in early 2013.
Food & Liquor II is equal parts searing indictment of American politics, urban history lesson, and demystification of hip-hop culture. On the standout track “Lamborghini Angels,” the rapper riffs on everything from MK-Ultra programming and pedophilia in the Catholic Church to human-rights abuses during the war in Afghanistan.
Lupe Fiasco talks to The Daily Beast about his career.
“This is Lupe’s history,” he says with a grin. “It came from America. Howard Zinn is definitely the inspiration for it. Zinn was the person who gave you an alternative view of American history, and people beat the shit out of him for it. It took decades for people to grasp it.”
As for current U.S. affairs, when given the chance to play political analyst and break down the presidential election stateside, Lupe remains critical of both Oval Office candidates.
“I think Romney’s talking himself out of the election, to be honest,” he says. “I was wondering what was gonna happen when the Republican power structure turned the money on, and then they turned on the money and nothing happened.” He pauses, adding, “But I do think the press are giving themselves too much liberty when it comes to what’s in Romney’s mind, ’cause I understand sound-bites,” referring to the infamous “47 percent” video.
He continues: “I have yet to see someone attack Obama over his report card. A lot of people I talk to from both sides of the fence are like, ‘Well, what about this economy? What about these incidents?’ There are still no answers except time, but time is the answer for everything. I’m more concerned with the midterm elections after whoever wins and how they’re going to shake up Congress. If Romney gets in, he is going to bomb Iran. He’s going to do it. It would be a disasterpiece.”
Born in Chicago in 1982, Lupe was one of nine children and describes his early family life as “very transient” and “in pieces,” including a myriad of half- and stepsiblings, as well as adopted brothers and sisters. He says he got his rebel streak from his father, who was a member of the Black Panthers.
“Before my father would open up a karate school in a particular neighborhood, he’d clean up the block—kick all the drug dealers and gang bangers off the block,” he says. “My father was very clear: ‘I’ve got guns too, and I’ll kill you just as much as a rival gang would.’ And he meant it. He was a man of many facets and complexities.”
His father used to play an eclectic array of music around the house—Queen, N.W.A, and Tchaikovsky, mostly—but Lupe says he was turned off by rap as a youngster “because of hip-hop’s vulgarity, violence, and all of that.”
When his close pal Bishop G. began publishing his poems in their school’s monthly calendar, the two began rapping the poems, forming an N.W.A-like crew with Lupe playing the part of MC Ren. At this point, Lupe says he embraced the genre, crafting “elementary poems” that were “super-duper vulgar.”
“One of my first raps was, ‘It all started when I was young / Coming up hard / Pimpin’ eighth-grade hoes in the motherfuckin’ schoolyard,” he says with a laugh.
At 19, he joined a gangster-rap group called Da Pak that signed to Epic Records and released just one single before splitting up.
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