Lupe Fiasco

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Lupe Fiasco

Rap musician, songwriter

Lupe Fiasco is a rapper who doesn't like to refer to himself as a rapper. This African-American skateboarding kid who grew up to be an MC had his debut album executively produced by Jay-Z. Raised in Chicago's housing projects, Fiasco could have gone the way of many of his peers—into drugs, theft, or gangs. Instead, he started skateboarding, reading comic books, and listening to jazz music. East Coast hip-hop did nothing for the young Fiasco. But eventually he found hip-hop he admired, such as Kanye West and Jay-Z. Fiasco's first album, Food & Liquor, earned four Grammy Award nominations. An MC with a fresh outlook and sound, Fiasco still claims he prefers jazz to hip-hop.

Born Wasulu Muhammad Jaco, the young MC took on the moniker of Lupe Fiasco at the age of 18. But before he entered the world of Jay-Z, Fiasco's first love in music was classical and jazz. "From 5 or 6 years old, I was listening to Beethoven and Tchaikovsky," Fiasco told Dimitri Ehrlich of Interview. "My father is a musician, an African drummer. He also plays the bagpipes and sitar, so I grew up around stuff like Ravi Shankar. … Just growing up around all these different types of music-that's what I turn around and put into my music." As a child, Fiasco had earned four black belts in karate by the age of ten (thanks to his father) and had nine siblings (some are half sisters and brothers). He lived in the housing projects and saw the effects of violence every day. "I grew up in the hood around prostitutes, drug dealers, killers, and gangbangers," Fiasco told Entertainment Weekly writer Margeaux Watson, "but I also grew up juxtaposed: On the doorknob outside of our apartment, there was blood from some guy who got shot; but inside, there was National Geographic magazines and encyclopedias and a little library bookshelf situation."

That African-American street culture mixed with the suburban skateboarding became an integral part of Fiasco's personality. In 2000 Fiasco was part of a rap group, Da Pak, which signed a deal with Epic Records, but after the release of one single, the group broke up. Around 2001, Fiasco started his own record label, 1st & 15th Entertainment, but little happened in his career until he landed a feature guest vocal on Kanye West's second album, Late Registration. Fiasco also co-wrote rhymes in "Touch the Sky," a top-charting single for West. Fiasco appeared (with his name, to make no mistake) alongside West and actress Pamela Anderson in the video for "Touch the Sky." It was that appearance that caught Jay-Z's eye.

Although Jay-Z didn't sign Fiasco to Def Jam (of which he was president), he pointed the Chicago MC to Atlantic Records, where Fiasco signed a deal in 2004. Before a record was made, Fiasco began making himself into a brand. In 2005 he founded Righteous Kung-Fu, a company that made custom sneakers and clothes. In June, Atlantic released Fiasco's debut album, Food & Liquor. Its first single was "Kick, Push," a playful tune about skateboarding. "The album straddles hip-hop and rock, with songs that segue from funky blaxploitation grooves into grunge, cabaret, and swirling cinematic string arrangements," declared Ehrlich. Unlike productions from many of the most popular MCs, Fiasco's songs were a refreshing sidestep, unable to be pigeonholed easily into the hip-hop genre. "Without dipping his toes into violent imagery, wanton obscenity or other hip-hop clichés, Fiasco reflects on the personal and the political, and reminds fans of everything hip-hop can be," wrote Evan Serpick in Rolling Stone. Although it only sold 325,000 copies, Food & Liquor was often referred to as one of the best hip-hop records of 2006.

Citing the scholar-like sway of his lyrics as well as the beats he chose, critics often compared Fiasco to some of the finest MCs, such as Jay-Z, Kanye, Nas, OutKast, Mos Def, and others. "Fiasco transforms standard ghetto references (he's got plenty of those) with material from far more unlikely sources-in his case, everything from Noam Chomsky and George Orwell to anime and videogames," stated Watson. His wide appeal rang true when Fiasco appeared as himself to perform on the CW TV show One Tree Hill. With his second record awaiting its official release date at the start of 2007, Fiasco was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Solo Performance, Best Rap Song for "Kick, Push," and Best Rap Album. The nominations came at almost the same time as Atlantic's release of Fiasco's sophomore disc The Cool. A semi-concept album, The Cool was partly about a couple of metaphorical gangsters, while the remainder of the album reached into politics, jazz, love, and society. "I always put myself as a storyteller first. I talk about the same concepts as Young Jeezy, but I deglamorize it and put it on a cinematic level that leaves it open to interpretation. … So in essence, the story is of all of us. The Cool, the Streets, and the Game—those characters represent all of us," he explained to Watson.

When the 2008 Grammy Awards nominations came around, Food & Liquor was up for another nomination. This time, Fiasco won a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, for his track "Daydreamin'," featuring the vocals of Jill Scott. Fiasco then focused on The Cool, and what it could represent. The album was almost entirely produced by Soundtrakk, and included appearances by Snoop Dogg, British trip-hop/electronic outfit UNKLE, and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, an eclectic group to say the least. "There are genuinely thrilling moments to be had here," wrote Mart Pytlik of Pitchfork Media, of The Cool, "some of it from Fiasco's storytelling abilities, some of it from his lyrical dexterity, and some of it from his willingness to submerge himself in the theatre of it all." At 25, with so much on his plate and already so accomplished, Fiasco is already thinking of hanging up the microphone.

For the Record …

Born Wasalu Jaco, in Chicago, IL; son of Gregory Jaco (karate master) and Shirley Jaco (a professional chef).

For Atlantic Records, released Food & Liquor, 2006; released The Cool, 2007.

Awards: Grammy Award, Best Urban/Alternative Performance for "Daydreamin'," 2008.

Addresses: Record company—Atlantic Records, 1290 Ave. of the Americas, 28th Fl., New York, NY 10104. Web site—Lupe Fiasco Official Web site: http://www.lupefiasco.com.