Friday, November 30, 2007

PitchForkMedia

Also Check out CRS, (New Song from "The Cool" TONIGHT)


Lupe Fiasco talk "The Cool," Cheeseburgers and Retirement

Lupe Fiasco's got a mind that runs a mile a minute, and a mouth that can keep up with it. The sharp-tongued Chicago MC will follow-up last year's well-received Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor with Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, due December 18 from 1st & 15th/Atlantic. We phoned Lupe and did our best to keep up as he talked about the character-based concept behind The Cool, the album's darker hues, the infamous cheeseburger track, radio and comic book spin-offs, Child Rebel Soldiers, Cornel West, and his plans to "retire" after his third album.

There's a lot going on on The Cool, but the basic idea revolves around three previously mentioned characters-- what Lupe calls his "three evil angels"-- depicted in symbol form on the record's cryptogram cover. The first character, the Cool, is a zombie hustler of sorts based on the Food & Liquor song of the same name.

"I expand on the story," Lupe explained. "I introduce two other characters, the Game and the Streets. The Streets is a female. She's like the action personification of the streets, the street life, the call of the streets. The Game is the same way. The Game is the personification of the game. The pimp's game, the hustler's game, the con man's game, whatever."

He continued: "Then they've got supernatural characteristics. Like the Cool, his right hand is rotted away. The only thing that rotted away was his right hand. It represents the rotting away of his righteousness, of his good. And the Streets and the Cool kind of have a love affair going on. So she's represented by this locket. And the locket has a key and it's on fire. And as a gift to the Cool on his rise to fame, she gave him the key. And the key represents the key to the Streets. So she wears a locket around her neck at all times.

"And the way the story goes, she has given that key to tons of people throughout time. Al Capone, Alexander the Great, whatever. She's giving them the key to the Streets. Fame and fortune-- but also the prices.

"The Game, he's represented by a stripped-down skull, a skull with dice in his eyes and smoke coming out of his mouth. The billowing smoke is actually crack smoke."

"It's not a full concept album; it's more spread over like five [tracks], really abstractly."

It's also apparently going to spawn a franchise. According to Fiasco, there are plans afoot to spin The Cool into a horror-themed radio program, complete with Vincent Price-inspired voice-overs. "To really tell it," says Lupe. "Because I think it would be corny to try to be spooky on a hip-hop record. We're actually going to tell it as it is, like a horror psycho-thriller kind of situation."

Indeed, folks will notice a less-than-sunny vibe to the new disc on the whole. "This album was influenced more from the dark side. It's more because of the loss I experienced at the beginning of the year," Lupe explains, referring to the deaths of several loved ones. "I'm in a dark, melancholy mood. I'm not a happy camper right now."

After the radio show, according to Lupe, "we're going to do a comic book."

To bring his characters to life, Lupe linked up with California-based artist Nathan Cabrera. "He did the album cover, and when you actually see these characters, you're going to flip. Like the Streets has dollar signs in the eyes; they glow when she gets angry. [And the Game is] so vivid and so fucking terrifying, yo. It's crazy."

Then there's the track "Gotta Eat", on which Lupe, yes, personifies a cheeseburger. Turns out the man is not kidding.

"On this album, I wanted to talk about five or six things directly," Lupe explained. "I wanted to talk about the environment-- which I didn't really get a chance to do-- immigration, rape, drug abuse, and health. And it's like, damn, how do you talk about health dope, though? How do you make it cool?"

"[Part of] the inspiration for The Cool actually was Cornel West. The guy was like, 'If you really want to effect social change in the world, you have to make those things which are uncool, cool. You have to, in essence, make it hip to be square.' And it's more about how you deliver those things, how you package those things for people to digest them.

"Dead Prez did it on one of their albums, but they did it directly. It was like 'Yo, you should eat tofu.' It was dope! But it was like, 'Damn, niggas aren't gonna listen to that.'"

So Lupe had a revelation: "I'm gonna make this cheeseburger a fuckin' Tony Soprano mafia boss. His whole goal is to kill the entire world. He's fast food, trying to kill the entire world. It's really Tony Soprano shit.

"But it's basically about how you gotta watch what you eat 'cause this shit will kill you. If you go through the hood, drug abuse is one thing, fathers not being there is another thing, but then there's also the situation about health. We eat a lot of bullshit. There's no Whole Foods, none of this, none of that. There's like fuckin' hot dog stands and Italian beef places and cheeseburgers and pizza puffs and fried food and shit like that. We're destroying it on all angles."

Fiasco doesn't just talk health, however, he lives it. Articles on the MC often note his refusal to drink or smoke, and that stance still holds true for Lupe. "I don't have a genuine interest in it," he explained. "I don't have a genuine curiosity for it. I don't want it."

You'd think a guy would take a lot of flak for sticking to principles like that, but Fiasco's associates have come to respect his views. "They actually look at it like, 'Damn, I wish I could do that.'"

Yet the music profession has weighed on Lupe, and his plan at the moment is to throw in the towel very soon, at least in part. "Retirement", of course, is a word too often bandied about among rappers, but Fiasco seems to have thought his through. On The Cool he alludes to his next and final album, titled L.U.P.End-- derived from the initials Fiasco would habitually enter into arcade game high score lists.

"I'm at a creative end," he explained. "I really don't think I have that much to say. And I don't want to get to the point where I'm putting out music just to put out music. Especially recording music. I'll still perform as long as a venue will have me and a promoter will have me. Always. Until I'm 100 years old.

"But actual recorded music is another thing in itself. The interview process, the radio process, the video process, the budget process-- that shit wears at you, tears at you. And I've been doing the music business for like eight years. And prior to that, on the underground level trying to get to a professional level, about 10-15 years. It's a heavy process and you just get to the point where you're just like, 'I don't know.' It's just like three is enough."

So where will Lupe turn his efforts once he's sworn off recorded music? "I'm going to step back and run my label [1st & 15th]. I've got Matthew Santos, who's my artist. Gemini, Sarah Green, Soundtrakk, just on a more production side. So I've got a full-fledged credible label with credible musicians on it. So I'll sit back and do that. And then I'll talk to different people and get inspired."

And like most hip-hop "retirements," this one seems provisional. According to Lupe, we can still look forward to "a couple concept records" and, "god-willing," an album from the previously mentioned hip-hop supergroup Child Rebel Soldiers, which brings Fiasco together with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

What's the word on CRS? "Waiting. Everyone's focused on something else at the moment. [We're trying to find] two or three weeks to sit down and hammer it out. We're all kindred spirits; let's get together and unify that and see what happens."

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Public Service Announcement

Get MixMasterMegan Back on FNF RADIO!!!

We All Know and Love Her
(If you don't her, Get to know her. Im sure You'd Love Her)


And Whats More Great than FNF RADIO??...

"FNF Radio does not care about White People"
-George W. Bush

Prove him Wrong FNF Radio and everybody else show your support for MixMasterMegan...

We're not asking for Money, or the clothes off your back...Just A Comment on this Blog in hopes that the good folks at FNF Radio will take a simple dream and turn it into reality.


(And for those of you who don't know, there is a section under each post to make a comment, and this is where we want you all to express how joyous an occassion it would be to get MixMasterMegan back on FNF Radio)

Thank You.

In Lupe's Room


In My Room: Lupe Fiasco
By: Josh Modell
November 28, 2007
The globe-trotting MC takes us inside his suburban Chicago house



1. JEANS "These are special Levi's from Japan called Flu, with all types of reflective doodads. I'm a big denim guy. Jeans are probably the only thing I'll wear more than once or twice. The most expensive pair of jeans I ever had were $1,100."

2. REEBOK JACKET "This is from my deal with Reebok -- in the end, they only made one pair of Lupe shoes. I wore the jacket to a Nike party. Some of the Nike execs were there -- they weren't feeling it."

3. KANYE WEST'S 30th BIRTHDAY INVITE "The party was at the Louis Vuitton store in New York. I doubt they'll let us back, though -- there was mad theft. They left everything out on the shelves!"

4. GOYARD BAG "It's a very expensive bag [about $1,500]. There's probably underwear, socks, deodorant in there. This is for day trips, but it's odd because my day trips are like, 'I'm going to London for two days, I'll be back. I'm just gonna take the Goyard.' "

5. CAMOUFLAGE BOOK "This is the most comprehensive study of camouflage ever; it's called Disruptive Pattern Material. It was written by a friend of mine, designer Hardy Blechman, who has a clothing line called Maharishi. I probably have about $10,000 worth of his clothes in a box somewhere."

6. WEE NINJA DOLL "That's made by my homies who have a company called Shawnimals. Now they're doing a video game called Ninjatown for the Nintendo DS. I wear a miniature one on my belt."

7. SKATEBOARD DECK "This is the deck that inspired the cover of my debut, Food & Liquor. [The basement of this house] is the only place I skate around here. I made holes in the walls."

8. LYRIC BOOKS "These are all my rhymes from high school; this is one of my earliest ones. This is gold right here, gold! I used to collect words and phrases, like 'butter knife,' 'subterranean,' 'psychedelic.' "

9. SWORD "My father taught me that you have to treat a sword like a person. It has a soul. That's the [Japanese] way. Some kids were playing with my sword and disgraced it, so I bent it. It's dead. I was gonna bury it, but I didn't want to just put it in the Dumpster!"

10. KEEPSAKES "This is my box of memories. Here's an old BlackBerry, my high school ID, my first checking-account card. When I got my first record deal, there was $3,000 in it. Now there's $20 in it. I still keep it, just in case I need that $20."

"Even with the release date of his second album, Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool," approaching, the Chicago rapper is still tinkering in the studio, which happens to be in the basement of this house- one of two he owns in the Windy City. "I still need to write, record, mix about eight songs in the next eight days," he says laughing. As soon as he's done, however, Lupe is likely moving out, "I'm probably going to Paris," he says casually. We'll expect an invite.

Men's Health 2008 Tech Guide: Lupe Fiasco


I'll never know definitively who leaked Food and Liquor. That hurt, man. The music is the most important thing—not the videos, not the interviews, not the sponsorships. So when it leaked, that woke me up. It let me know that people really wanted the album. But it also made me wonder how good the album could have been if I'd had a chance to finish it.

With my next album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, I have a system to protect myself. It's like a safe-deposit box, with two keys you have to turn at the same time. There's only one place where all the pieces of the new album are in one spot: on two LaCie hard drives in Chicago. And only me and my engineer, Greg Magers, have access. Not the record company, not anybody. I have a real serious trust thing going with him. He understands what it meant for Food and Liquor to leak.

I still have to send things out to other producers, other rappers. But everything's in pieces now—two songs at this studio, half a song at this studio, maybe a beat over here. If any of those pieces leak, you can figure out what happened. And you won't lose everything. Because it doesn't matter what you're trying to control. If someone wants it bad enough, you can't stop it. You just want to find the source, so you can kill it.

There's a difference between album songs leaking and the viral stuff. I look at it as dual campaigns: a viral campaign and then an official, deliberate campaign in which the label is actually spending money. I don't believe in using BitTorrent or file sharing to steal music. But I think it's dope when people go and get the viral stuff.

I did a song with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams called "Us Placers." In 2 days, it went from Kanye's mix tape—online, for free—to all over the world, to MTV news headlines, to reviews in Rolling Stone. That was just the strength of the record. Personally, I appreciate when I'm getting something for free, so I make sure I go out and buy the stuff people are actually trying to sell.

Time Out Chicago Article

http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/over-out/23634/cool-hand-lupe

Cool hand Lupe
Hip-hop whiz kid Lupe Fiasco weighs
Kanye vs. Pharrell, Barack vs. Hillary.

By Matthew Lurie

It was only a year ago this fall that Lupe Fiasco released his debut album, Food & Liquor, to critical hosannas. Since then, the West Side–born Muslim rapper has toured the world, played the big kids’ stage at Lollapalooza and made a generation of disaffected hipsters believe they had an MC they could look up to. A serial woman-respecting, nonalcoholic, antiswearing rhyming genius and sex symbol (precisely because he doesn’t want to be one), Lupe makes it hip to be square.

We spoke with Lupe from the office of his current label, Atlantic Records, where the 25-year-old owner of the budding 1st & 15th record label was preparing his sophomore album, The Cool, for its December 4 release.

Before Food & Liquor came out, you said you hoped it would make kids think about their values. Does having women throw themselves at you affect your own?
[Laughing] Naw, naw, not at all. That really isn’t a factor for me because I don’t really go out. I take myself out of those situations so I’m not even there for it to be offered to me. I have somewhat of a strong faith in myself, I guess, to say no. And when I say no, I mean no.

You have a new group with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams called Child Rebel Soldiers. Both are renowned for their egos. How do you avoid getting trampled?
Pharrell doesn’t really come across like that to me. People place upon him the things that he’s famous for, his high level of fashion and everything he does. I think ’Ye is the one who’s more over-the-top, more with a point to prove. I don’t think P or I have one. That’s the separation. Kanye has been through a lot of turmoil as far as trying to make it with a lot of people pushing him back. I didn’t really have that. I always had Jay-Z in my corner, and those people who didn’t believe, it was only because they didn’t know. It wasn’t like someone ever said, “Yo, I think you just should keep [producing] because you suck at [rapping].” So it’s a balance. We’ve got the mouthpiece and then the humble dudes in the back.

Politically speaking, whom would you call the hip-hop candidate?
I think there’s a lot of the hip-hop crowd behind Barack Obama because he’s a black man. Honestly, I’m rooting for Hillary because race is only going to go so far. All the presidents are men at the end of the day. We’ve never had a woman in charge, and I think that would be so ill for society as a whole, even as a four-year experiment. Just to see a woman in office and how the world reacts to that.

So the difference between a woman and man in office is greater than that between a white and black man?
Oh, yeah. I think the temperament is much, much different. I just think we’ve had the male perspective for so long, and I don’t think the black male perspective is going to be that much different. He’s not really saying anything that’s revolutionary because he can’t. He still has to be president for all of those people in small towns that are 100 percent white, who pay their taxes and are actually the thermometer for America’s economy. That very large Christian part of the country is massive and way bigger than just pockets of black people in this city here or that city there. But I just think, for a nice little refreshing kind of change, let’s get a female in office, you know.

Did you encounter that Christian nation while touring during the past year?
Not really. For me, I never wore my religion on my sleeve, you know what I’m saying? I never put myself out there as Lupe Fiasco, he’s Muslim, he’s from Chicago, he likes to ride a skateboard. It was just another piece of describing myself. But I do understand that America is a predominantly Christian country. A lot of morals and values are based in Christianity as opposed to Buddhism, which it’s not, or Judaism, which it’s not, or Islam, which it’s definitely not. So I’m not going to lie to myself and just be like, well you know, everybody’s equal. Because we’re not.

You sound like a reader.
I used to be, but now my attention span is not quite as focused. I just downloaded 1984 for my iPod, but I’ve read that before. It just hearkens back to the “romance” of my high-school days. I really liked the space I was in when I was reading it. And it’s a really dope book.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Billboard & mtvU

Click the Link to read the Full Article

"I don't define myself by this industry's standards," says Fiasco, sporting a slim army fatigue Gortex rain hoodie, black jeans and his signature thin glasses, as he looks out the rain-beaded window of a Navigator. "I have a core fan base of about 200,000 people, so I'm fairly comfortable that I can sell 200,000 if it takes me a year-and-a-half." Clearly, Fiasco has realized that there's more to life than hip-hop and isn't shy about saying so. Still, he's got "The Cool" to promote, and Atlantic won't have an easy time marketing a concept record whose creative songs don't easily fit onto urban radio playlists.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I'm Hating

Femme Fiasco KayCee and Mr. Lupe Fiasco

Why they both got the same smile like...

"Should I smile, Should I not, ummm...Damn, I guess I'll smile"

Smiling like it hurt...LMAO...

Cute.

Fiasco Fam Radio Tonight

Show starts at 9 PM

Call In
646-716-9415

Rap News UK


Click the link to read the article in its entirety

Welcome to my new monthly column, coming straight from the Rapnews headquarters. Here I’ll be reviewing some of the freshest new rap releases, as they come through the post.

This week I was pleasantly surprised to see that the lovely folks over at Atlantic records hadn’t forgotten about me and had in fact sent over a couple of preview tracks from Lupe Fiasco’s long awaited sophomore album, “Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool”, a follow up to last year’s debut “Lupe Fiasco’s Food and Liquor”.

This album had qualities reminiscent to the styles of Common and Kanye, and clearly went on to shape forthcoming releases by other artists, such as Kidz in the Hall’s debut “School Was My Hustle”, released early in 2007.

This goes to show the impact that Lupe, real name Wasalu Muhammed Jaco, has had already. Described as “the observer, a thinking man brave enough to dictate the acute thoughts that his peers ignore”, Lupe has gone a long way during his short time in the notoriously cut-throat rap industry, succeeding where many have failed, “keeping it real” where many have sold out.
If we skip way back to 2004, Lupe Fiasco was first introduced over on these shores by the one and only A&R Supremo Suzy Zenouzi of Mojona Ltd.

A devote Muslim, Lupe is known to shun the excesses of the industry, avoiding all the usual London nightspots when he’s in town, unlike fellow party goers such as his promising rivals Kidz in the Hall, who partied it up at Yoyo’s in Notting Hill after their gig there earlier this year.
Lupe told me during our interview; “The music business is so dodgy. It’s crazy what people are capable of to get ahead. Sometimes I can’t believe the levels people fall to in the pursuit of success, and to know that that’s how it works. You get people who are like, ‘I’m gonna sleep with him, to get next to someone else, so that I can get that deal’, or ‘I’m gonna mess up his project, lie to him, then I’m gonna come in and save it, so it looks like I’m the hero’. There’s a lot of calculated mischief going on”.

Nikki Jean- Lupe is Coming to Town

Monday, November 26, 2007

Yo I Wanna Giva Shoutout To...

Lupe Fiasco-
Thanx for all the Love

Bishop "Muthaphuckin" G-
Youllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

FNF Crew

The Fiasco Fam-
What up David, Isaac, KennyKenKen, Sk8 Eddie & Drew

Femme Fiascos-
Yo Ladies!! Radhiya, Sammy, Nat, Keka, Keena, Gracie

Republic Union-
Dano and Congratulations again David

My Girl C. Eileen "to the left" R.

Another Shoutout to Keena-
RAM!!!! hahaha

What up TURBO...Mr. TOP SECRET-
Get Bagger Vance a new hat please. thanx. haha

MIXMASTERMEGAN-
with the name Megan, you can't possibly go wrong.

Thanx for the luv!!!



Ummm....Who Else???

Everybody who actually comments on stuff...
Fly Ty, Natia, Meli Mel, Anonymous (lol), Brother Android

Everybody else who reads the blog...THANX!!!

Its Love!!!! All Around!!!

Lupe on the Radio in VA TONIGHT!!

Tune in to these stations websites and find the Listen Live link to hear Lupe Fiasco live on the radio TONIGHT...

(757) 823-9110

103 Jamz
(757) 466-0103

Update:
Both interviews are now done.
However you can go to z104.com now and listen for another interview.

Im not sure of the exact times he will be on the air for either station
so you're basically just gonna have to listen and wait.

Oh and Shoutout to KayCee
AKA "The hardest working women in Street Promotion"
LOL...

Lupe on TRL 11/27

Thats TOMORROW!!!

Its TRL's 'Spankin New Music Week'!

Be sure to tune in at 3:30pm on MTV!


Vote for SuperStar on BET and on TRL....

And like real elections there is no true system of voting, so

VOTE REPEATEDLY...

Episode 3

New FNF Radio Podcast Up NOW!!!

YUP YUP YUP YUP...4 YUP'S STRONG!!!!
WE BACK WITH YET ANOTHER FANTASTIC EPISODE OF FNF RADIO
HOSTED BY LUPE "LIBRA LOVER" FIASCO & BISHOP "WHOLE FOODS" G
FNFRADIO.MYPODCAST.COM

WE GOT AN EMAIL FOR THE SHOW TOO!!!

HIT US UP WITH COMMENTS, PICS AND NICE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THE SHOW
VIA:

FNFRADIOMAIL@YAHOO.COM

ENJOY GUYS AND GALS!!!FNF UP!!!

You should know what to do by now...

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Fiasco Fam Radio TONIGHT

I was watching "The View" the other day and was thinking that I would love to be on that show just to speak my mind during their "HOT TOPICS" segment. And I was speaking to KayCee about it and she has decided to let me do a segment on her FIASCO FAM RADIO show where I will present a topic and we will have a friendly debate. AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!

My first topic...



The topic is not about "STOP SNITCHING,"
But more about that this comic was done by a white man.

So...TONIGHT...FIASCO FAM RADIO...CALL IN...646-716-9415

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Since we're getting so much love from Lupe...

We decided to start our own myspace page...

Check us out...

And if you haven't added the Fam yet, you should do that too...


Fiasco Fam Radio every Saturday night at 10pm Eastern...

Oh... And RHOyal Radio... The schedule is sporadic so stop by periodically...

Don't be a stranger...

Happy Thanksgiving






2nd Episode of FNF Radio

The Return of FNF Radio

Its up Now...Go Download It




(Shouted the Blog Out AGAIN...Femme Fiascos AGAIN...Appreciate the Love!!!)

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Pre-Order "The Cool" and Get a FREE T-Shirt



White Man Jokes

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:Y6bmHCZoA_cJ:moestablet.com/%3Fcat%3D1+%22saw+lupe+fiasco%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=27&gl=us


I saw Lupe Fiasco this week at the diag…that dudes one crazy mofo. He’s cool and all, but I think at UofM, he needed to ease up on the white man jokes lol…he was all the white man won’t let me do this and do that, and then he even went to the point where he told someone in the crowd, ‘How you gon say that!? My grandfather worked for your dad!…FOR FREE’. It sounded like more of an grieving then a joke. I seen some white people’s facial expressions when he said that, and to ME they were shocked as hell to hear that. He’s albums is gonna be crazy though if there’s more tracks on there like “Superstar”. I like his style, because he raps about something different then your everyday hip-hop artist. I’m so sick of hearing “I smoke dro” and “ridin on 24’s”. Sometimes songs like that are okay…but recently, theres been too much and most the mixtape’s been super-crap.
- Signing off..pEace

(PATRON!!!! NIGGA, NIGGA, NIGGA, I GOT THAT WORK, PUSH THAT HOE IN THE POOL, BITCH AND BITCH AND BITCH...Where the hell is my PATRON!!!! Imma Make It Rain...What yall hoes gone do for this dollar?...Nigga, Nigga, Nigga, My CHAIN, My CHAIN, Im Ugly as Hell But Bitch I know You want Me...See this Pinkie Ring Hoe, Jewelers dont rent this shit to everybody)

That can get Old REAL QUICK...

Monday, November 19, 2007

Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump Gets Behind The Boards For Lupe Fiasco (MTV.com)...


Patrick Stump channeled his inner Kanye West to team up with Lupe Fiasco. The only way that sentence could be more Chicago-heavy is if it featured Ferris Bueller doing the "Super Bowl Shuffle" while eating a Maxwell Street Polish sandwich and watching "Oprah" reruns on WGN.

The Fall Out Boy frontman stepped behind the boards to produce a song called "Little Weapon," which will appear on Fiasco's upcoming The Cool (due December 18). And when we caught up with the two artists backstage at the mtvU Woodie Awards, they were more than ready to talk about the collaboration that has the Second City talking.

"He got his Kanye West on," Fiasco said of Stump. "It's a song called 'Little Weapon,' and it talks about child soldiers. The bulk of The Cool is kind of dark. It comes from a dark place. So 'Little Weapon' is about the coolness — so-called coolness — of child soldiers. It's a real ill record."

"I love how this one worked," Stump added. "We had a few snags, but in general, it was awesome, because I got to ask him about feel, like, 'What type of vibe do you want for this song?' And then I got to hear him take it to different places. I didn't have to steer too much, which is awesome. ... And I didn't sing on [the track], so this is a real test to see if I can make real music without my voice."

The two also joined forces at the Woodies later that night during Fiasco's performance, when Stump made a surprise appearance to sing the hook on "Superstar," the first single from The Cool. The song features a big beat that belies the darker message contained within.

"['Superstar' is] a macabre record," Fiasco said. "I took elements and compared them to other elements. Like, you'll see news footage of an execution, and you'll see people standing outside a death chamber with signs [that say], 'Yeah, Kill Him!' And those are the kind of things you see when you go to shows too. So it was putting those things together and then coming up with a weird story, like, 'What if getting into heaven were like getting into a club — a posh, super-hot club?' So it's kind of a dark record, but the bigness of the hook makes it this weird little thing."

Despite The Cool's dark, complicated territory, Fiasco said that making the album was anything but difficult — especially working with Stump.

"Man, it was easy," Fiasco laughed. "He's from Chicago, I'm from Chicago, [Shure] microphones are made in Chicago, so it just came about that way. Like I said, easy."

I Scare Myself Sometimes Too


All in his head
Forget scary movies--thoughtful Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco scares himself
By Matt Pais
October 30, 2007

The debate over rap music has grown hotter than ever, as politicians and musicians bicker about whether gritty, possibly offensive content is justified when it reflects on real-life experiences. Lupe Fiasco knows why.

“There always has to be an enemy, ya understand? And terrorism is kind of wearing off,” says the 25-year-old rapper and West Side native. “Can’t keep blaming the terrorists, so it’s like, ‘Oh, hip-hop? Yeah, those guys are responsible for everything.’ ”Despite his tongue-in-cheek explanation, Fiasco isn’t one of the artists under fire—and for good reason. On his debut, “Food and Liquor,” and the follow-up “The Cool” (out Dec. 18), the up-and-coming star favors fresh beats and deft storytelling over lazy, 50 Cent-style club songs. “The Cool” is based on a hustler of the same name who is killed and digs himself out of the grave. In advance of Fiasco’s Halloween show, we tapped into his dark side, his fears and his Chicago roots.


Your show is on Halloween. What if everyone in the audience is dressed as you?
Ha, ha, that would be quite hilarious. How you dressin’ like Lupe? I guess just with glasses and stuff. That would be pretty fresh.

You say the new album is darker. Why?
I just think the story itself and what The Cool is … he’s a zombie. Then the other characters that come into play, they’re almost like monsters. Very macabre. I was always intrigued that people love to be scared.

What scares you?
I think myself. Like if I let my mind wander off into things, I can actually scare myself. I remember I used to be a little kid and how I used to be like, “Did I just see something? I did just see something! Uhh!” And then I would just work myself up into a frenzy, like “Uhh, there’s something over there!”

Does that still happen?
Nah, it’s pretty much under control, but when you let your mind wander sometimes and you just start to really believe it, like, “Oh, maybe there is something over there. There is! There’s something in the closet! You gotta get out of the closet! You gotta go!” I find myself checking the closet every now and again.

How did growing up in Chicago shape you as a rapper?
Kinda made me more versatile. Chicago’s kinda like the crossroads as far as hip-hop. We don’t really have a real identity. Hip-hop is kind of imported. We get a lot of imports from all the different regions ... so you get the real versatile situation going on.

Why are we lacking an identity?
I don’t think we’re lacking an identity. I just think our identity is made up of a bunch of other identities. And it’s kind of still filling itself out. Is it going to be the club scene? Is it going to be like house music? Is it going to be Lupe Fiasco? Is it Common? Is it Twista? I think it’s still kinda undefined ... but that’s good. It leaves us open to do whatever we want.
Nice.

So will you dress for the Halloween show?
As Lupe Fiasco.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Fiasco Fam Radio TONIGHT

Watch How Easy Im gonna make this for you...


Hosted by KayCee

Call in
646-716-9415

8 PM
Be There or Be There.


Thank You Lupe...

It is sincerely my pleasure and honor to be your Number 1...
Until we meet again... Peace and much love... K

Scrambler Meets the Jedi / Electro Cool Encounter

AS TOLD BY TURBO aka T DOUBLE aka Mr. Top Secret

You know how at the end of a song, the music fades out? When this fade begins, the volume of the sounds coming from the various instruments gradually decreases until finally, the song is over. Let’s read a story following the same format, that is, a story where the details eventually fade out. Just because a song ends at a certain point does not necessarily mean that the story has come to a complete end, rather, the composer of the record has decided that it was appropriate to conclude the song at a specific point. Its something like how a TV show or a music video concludes with “To be continued..”

-yeah, something like that -

After I finished eating lunch in the dark corner of the restaurant, I went to my car in the parking lot, reclined in the seat, and began to brainstorm. I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket as I laid there in deep concentration with my beanie pulled over my face. Without checking the caller ID, I pressed the ignore button to complete a thought process that I had been working on ever since I ate the first chip that the waitress had brought to me. The chips were a mixture of the traditional light brown tortilla chip color in addition to some green and red chips that were randomly thrown in for decoration, I guess. Anyways, my phone vibrated again and I decided to check it out before pressing the ignore button again. This time, however, instead of a phone call, I received a text message from one of my friends. She asked me whether or not I am listening to the radio because “my boy” was on there. I did not know who in the world she was talking about due to my extremely frequent inability to listen to the local radio station but I saw that this was the 3rd text message that I received about “the radio” which was very odd. I thought, Rahiem? Cuba Gooding Jr.?

I called her phone and asked her what song it was and she explained to me that it wasn’t a song at all. She said your boy Lupe Fiasco is on the radio right now talking about his album. At first I was like “Oh word? That’s what’s up…Where are you?” She said she was here in town so I was like, “Oh… you listening to XM or something like that?” She was like “Ummm no, I mean the radio station here, (so and so) point 9”When she said this, the tortilla chip analogy in which I was subconsciously working on minimized and a new window opened. It was a window depicting confusion with many of these all over the screen: ???? The background was all black with a purple border. In the top right of the screen a skeleton hand kept flashing and the words “Did you even catch the change in theme?” scrolled along the bottom of my mental web page. I then asked her if she ever seen the movie The Matrix and if she remembered the part where Neo was on the computer and his screen said “knock knock.”She was like, “yeahhh….what about it?” I said “ Exaaaaactly” -

let’s fast forward this story a bit. Chorus: This is the most inopportune time.>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So I pull up in this parking lot next to the studio because the street is completely packed with cars. Hop out the whip, grab my backpack, close the door, and press the alarm button. As I am walking away from my car, I look back and notice that there’s a sign above the parking space that says something about “Manager Parking” or some BULL like that so I was like “Yiiiiiiikes.” Instead of moving my car, I continued to the radio studio which was surprisingly unlocked when I pulled the door handle. As soon as I walked in, to my immediate left was a lounge with 2 people in there. I immediately recognized one person as J.Boogie of Platform OGs. In my head I was like “OH Snap Son!” There was another person in the room who I did not recognize but she was BEAUTIFUL – real deal! So I walk into the room and take a seat as though I was suppose to be there, you know, as though I actually worked for the radio people or something like that. I don’t think anyone even noticed I was there which was a good thing. Next, I noticed a man who was talking on the phone in the hallway and he said something about “This is – from Atlantic”

Mentally I was like “OH Snap Sonny Son!!” I then realized that I should move my car because I really can’t afford a ticket so I get up and leave. I rush over to my car, exit the parking lot, and drive even further down the street to some auto shop. I make my way back to the studio as quick as I can and to my relief, everything was the same. After sitting down again, I knew that it would be best to maybe go get some water because my mouth was dry due to being slightly exhausted.. PAUSE.I got up and proceeded to search for a bathroom and ran into the Atlantic man in the hallway. I wasn’t thinking correctly and I asked him the stupid question, “Is Lupe still here?” He said something along the lines of “yeah man, he’ll be out in a minute. Be cool” Fresh! So I go down the hallway and further up I see some people standing and talking in front of an open door and you can hear laughter coming from within the room. I was thinking, maybe the radio interview and what not is in that room. I then made a right and entered the restroom. I went to the sink and tried to like wash my face off a little bit and somehow get hydrated – SMH. While I am doing this, I’m hearing a voice from another section of the bathroom singing the whole time. I didn’t pay any attention to it at first but then I took note of the lyrics. “If you know like I knooooow, you don't wanna step to this..It's the G-Funk errra, funked out with a gangsta twist.” I was dying laughing when the unidentified person was like “The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the trebbleeeeeeeeeeee.”

– let’s fast forward real quick.>>>>>>>>>>>>

Chorous: This is the most inopportune time = real talk>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So in the hallway was this other man and we discussed the definition of a word

– Fast forward >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bridge: Made the punch record >>>>>>>>>>>I happened to have my newly purchased camera handy because my original plans for the day included taking some photos and some video footage for a final project that is due in like….like 4 days or something. Anyways, the photo is taken. A most memorable day in HIP HOP history! Yesssssss

– Here’s the photo – I added some effects to it –

December 18 – The Cool. Cop it like police!

Added Bonus

Turbo- GREEN RAIN DROPS


Nikki Jean is Super Excited

Watch this video to find out why...

Saturday, November 17, 2007

'The Cool" Track Listing



1. BABA SAYS COOL FOR THOUGHT - BY IESHA JACO

2. FREE CHILLY - FEATURING SARAH GREEN AND GEMSTONES

3. GO GO GADGET FLOW - PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

4. THE COOLEST - PRODUCED BY CHRIS AND DROP

5. SUPERSTAR - FEATURING MATTHEW SANTOS, PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

6. PARIS, TOKYO - PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

7. HI-DEFINITION - FEATURING SNOOP DOGG AND POOH BEAR, PRODUCED BY ALSHUX

8. GOLD WATCH - PRODUCED BY CHRIS AND DROP

9. HIP-HOP SAVED MY LIFE - FEATURING NIKKI JEAN, PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

10. INTRUDER ALERT - FEATURING SARAH GREEN, PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

11. STREETS ON FIRE - PRODUCED BY CHRIS AND DROP

12. LITTLE WEAPON - FEATURING BISHOP G AND NIKKI JEAN, PRODUCED BY PATRICK STUMP

13. GOTTA EAT - PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

14. DUMB IT DOWN - FEATURING GEMSTONES AND GRAHAM BURRIS, PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

15. HELLO/GOODBYE (UNCOOL) - FEATURING UNKLE, PRODUCED BY CHRIS GOSS WITH UNKLE

16. THE DIE - FEATURING GEMSTONES, PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

17. PUT YOU ON GAME - PRODUCED BY SIMONSAYZ

18. FIGHTERS - FEATURING MATTHEW SANTOS, PRODUCED BY LE MESSIE

19. GO BABY - FEATURING GEMSTONES, PRODUCED BY SOUNDTRAKK

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: "FREE CHILLY" AND LUPE FIASCO

As you can see, the production is Soundtrakk heavy... So if you liked Kick Push, Sunshine and his other tracks on F & L, you should certainly like this... But then, it's Lupe!... What's not to like?!...

I don't know about you all... But I cannot WAIT until this album hits the stores... I'm taking the day off of work and forwarding all my calls to voicemail on December 18th so don't EVEN think about speaking with me at least until the 19th or 20th... LOL... But I'm serious though...

Friday, November 16, 2007

RHOyal Speaks About "Fiasco Tattoogate"...

Because I'm hella grown... I am not in the business of explaining my actions and decisions to anyone...

However...

Given the massive uproar that my absolutely GORGEOUS tattoo that I ADORE has caused, I will make an exception just this once...

If you know me... Then you know that in 2003, I was shot and nearly killed with a shotgun... Because of this, my left arm is severely scarred...

After 3 years of being ashamed and trying to hide my scars, I decided last year that instead of being sad everytime I look at my arm, I want to be happy everytime I look at it by having control over the way it looks... It was then that I decided that by the time I'm 30, I want my entire arm to be sleeved (Covered in tattooes)...

I got my first one last year on the anniversary of the shooting and I plan on getting one EVERY year until it's completely covered...



Last year I got drumsticks, the title of one of my favorite poems, a young man who I consider to be my angel's initials and the date of the shooting...

This year I got Lupe Fiasco...

Next year I'm getting a half sleeve of a montage of Disney characters that I adore...

And the year after that (or maybe even earlier) I'm getting stars to fill in all the empty gaps...

The bottom line is this... Drums make me happy... Disney makes me happy... Stars make me happy... Sylvia Plath's poem makes me happy... And Lupe makes me happy...

When I look at MY arm, I'm happy now...

So to those of you who feel the need to call me stupid and judge me (anonymously no less) in the comments section, I have only this to say... You do what you want with your arm... And I'll do what I want with mine...



It seems to me that you're just a bit envious that when I do something, I go extra hard... A lot of people don't have the balls to do what I do... Which is why a lot of people won't reach the heights that I do...


Everybody say praise the Lord
Ain't another like me, I swear to God
Everybody wanna be amongst the stars
So now I gotta go and do it extra hard

Steppin out extra hard
New aim, new game, fresh feet on the car
Don't ever let a nigga tell you who you are
So when you gotta show 'em, go extra hard... (c) Little Brother


Oh... And just for the record...

A) I was Lupe's #1 LOOONG before the tat...

2) I may be a lot of things... But stupid is not one of them...

D) I'm not trying to get attention from Lu... I've already got it... Lupe is my homeboy!... Thought you knew...

Fiasco Fam Up... FNF Up... Free Chilly... The Cool in stores Dec. 18th...

Chicago Tribune Article


His mother, his muse: When Donda West died, Kanye West also lost his closest friend and adviser. What will he do now?

When Kanye West received the call last weekend that his mother, Donda West, had died in what is believed to be the aftermath of plastic surgery, the 30-year-old West — now at the top of the music world — had lost not just his mother, but his role model, closest friend and most trusted adviser.

"She was the main force behind who he is today," said the rapper Lupe Fiasco, who like West grew up in Chicago, and the two have collaborated several times, including a side-by-side appearance at the 2006 Lollapalooza in Grant Park.

Like West and Common, another Chicagoan who has risen to the top of the hip-hop world, Fiasco was guided by a strong family matriarch.

"When people ask me is there something in the water in Chicago that turns out these MCs with the same flavor, I always respond that it’s our upbringing," said Lupe, a.k.a. Wasalu Muhammed Jaco, who grew up on the West Side. His mother traveled the world and is a gourmet chef. "I always bring up our mothers — Kanye’s mother, Common’s mother, my mother — that intellectual background, a very powerful intellectual role with a massive impact on the community. My mother was like the mother of the neighborhood, she cooked for the neighborhood, she was the epicenter and when she [and the family] moved away, the neighborhood disappeared. For the three of us in particular, I know we are who we are because of the influences of our parents."

"See you’re, unbreakable, unmistakable Highly capable, lady that’s makin loot A livin legend too, just look at what heaven do Send us an angel, and I thank you (Hey Mama)" — "Hey Mama," Kanye West

Donda West’s influence is far more pervasive than even that 2005 lyrical valentine could convey, and the results are clear: Kanye West is the most celebrated rapper-songwriter-producer in pop.

He has accumulated six Grammy Awards and more than 8 million in sales. His latest album, "Graduation," sold more than 900,000 copies in its first week — the year’s fastest-selling release. His first two albums finished atop the Village Voice’s Pazz and Jop poll of the nation’s critics. While also producing hits for artists such as Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson and John Legend, he has changed the way mainstream hip-hop looks and sounds with a smart and smart-aleck persona that runs counter to gangster cliches.

Born in 1977 in Atlanta, West was only 3 when his parents — Donda and Ray West, a photographer and later a ministerial counselor — divorced. Donda moved to Chicago with Kanye, and he grew up on the South Side and the southern suburbs while his mother continued her career in higher education. She eventually became chairwoman of the English department at Chicago State University.

Her devotion to her only child was total. She would drive her teenage son to music stores so he could try out instruments and to the home studio of locally renowned producer No I.D. (a.k.a. Dion Wilson), where he learned his craft and met Common, the first major rap star out of Chicago. The connection was made by Donda, who used to play cards with No I.D.’s parents.

"His whole life has been his keyboards, and his records and putting together money for more records or gear," Donda West told the Tribune in the weeks before her son’s first album, "The College Dropout," was released in 2004. "I never had to worry about him wanting to go to some party or hang out in the streets. He was totally obsessed by music."

Kanye West acknowledged his mother’s influence, both direct and indirect, in a separate interview with the Tribune before the album’s release.

"My mother had all kinds of records — Stevie Wonder, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Earth Wind and Fire," West said. "The song ‘Slow Jamz’ is all about me as a little kid listening to my mom’s records. Those records are part of me still."

West came to prominence with his production on Jay-Z’s 2001 album, "The Blueprint," which was steeped in 1970s soul, and his solo albums had a similar feel.

"I loved hip-hop — I’ve been rapping since 3rd grade — but rapping was just one way for me to get my music across," he said. "The main thing is message and melody, even more so than rapping. That comes from those records my mom had."

Common, a.k.a. Lonnie Rashid Lynn, was himself raised by an educator, Mahalia Ann Hines. "The families we had were similar," Common said when he began collaborating with West in 2005. "We were raised by good, churchgoing, straightforward, educated people. I grew up in a house where I had to make my bed in the morning, go to school, go to church, make sure the door was locked when I left. It was old-school, traditional parenting, and that rubbed off."

West’s outspoken personality was also shaped by his mother, who was 58 when she died Nov. 10 in Los Angeles, where she moved to manage Kayne’s career. She came from a household where "I wasn’t raised to be shy and hide behind Mother’s skirt." When her son was 10, Donda West took him to China, where she taught English for a year at Nanchang University.

"They had meat on skewers there, and they’d cook them on the streets," she recalled. "I saw him eating some one day, but I hadn’t given him any money. I said, ‘Where’d you get the money to pay for that?’ And it turned out he had been break dancing for the kids on the streets. And I thought it was just such a stereotype—the only black kid in town spinning on his head for money. But he turned that into a positive. Those people didn’t have much money, but they were giving it to him. He was an entrepreneur even then."

Donda West’s only disappointment with her son was that he dropped out of college after briefly attending Chicago State University. "He became an English major, but while going there, he was getting calls from record companies to do production work," she said.

"It was drummed into my head by my parents that college was the ticket to a good life. I don’t know what I’d do without my degrees. It allowed me to see the world. I had no doubts about Kanye, but I wanted him to have the safety net of a college education. Then I thought about a conversation I had with my father when he was taking me from Oklahoma City to Virginia Union University [in Richmond, Va.] for college. We were talking about what I would study, and he said, ‘Maybe you need something to fall back on.’ And I said, ‘Daddy, I’m not going to fall back.’ I think Kanye feels the same way. There is only going ahead in his viewpoint."

West went on to enjoy tremendous success, first as a producer, then with a string of multimillion-selling albums: "The College Dropout" (2004), "Late Registration" (2005) and "Graduation" (2007). His mother left education to become his manager, and then to oversee his business and charitable work. With each success, his mother was always at his side. A few months ago, her memoir, "Raising Kanye," was published, and mother and son promoted the book together.

"We established a bond that could not and cannot be broken," Donda West wrote.
What will that mean for her only son now that she’s gone? Kanye West is a ferociously driven artist; his work ethic borders on the obsessive, with multiple projects juggled all the time. Now is no exception, with a still-fresh album to promote worldwide, tour dates looming in London and worldwide, and outside production work — including a collaboration with Michael Jackson — to oversee.

"I haven’t spoken to Kanye, but I know what he’s going through," said Fiasco, whose father died last January. "One of the reasons I am speedily pulling myself out of the music business is that it didn’t fit into my schedule to mourn my father’s death properly. It was like you got to get on a plane next week. Or the day after the funeral you have to leave and go. Promoters would get salty because you have to miss a show to bury your father. You can deal with it by putting it in proper perspective, with a firm understanding of the cycle of life and the hereafter. That can console you. But there are still periods where you can’t believe that person’s gone, and it will color everything in your world."

FNF Radio Returns

Thursday, November 15, 2007

And The Votes Are In...


Lupe Fiasco's
Number One Fan

(By a Landslide)

Officially Goes To...




Feel the Flyness?

Just A Fly Looking Picture...

mtvU Woodies


Don't miss Lupe Fiasco's live performance at the 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards TONIGHT at 8pm! Lupe will be opening the awards show with a performance of his hit "Superstar" featuring special guests Matthew Santos and Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy!


Tune into mtvU or mtvU.com at 8:00pm to catch the show! Didn't get enough of your favorite "Superstar"? Catch Lupe's performance again on MTV this Saturday, November 17th at 10:00pm and on MTV2 this Sunday, November 18th at 12:30am!


FNF UP!!Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool" In Stores 12.18.07!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

With the Deepest of Sympathy...



We here at the Lupe Fiasco Show would like to extend our deepest condolences to the entire West family and especially to Kanye West on the passing of his mother, Dr. Donda West... May she rest in peace...





Wednesday, November 7, 2007

MixMasterMegan Says

Dear Lupe,

You said FNF radio is coming back.......my only question is WHEN??

Love,
MixmasterMegan

A Few Links To Check Out






Lupe Fiasco Feat. Unkle

"Hello Darkness
Hello Sunshine,
Hello Not at all,
Hello all the Time,
Hello Nowhere,
Hello Oblivion,
Hello GoodBye..."

And He Gets The Girl

This is so cute...I love it.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Backstage with Lupe Fiasco on 106 KMEL


And GUESS WHAT???

I HEARD that Lupe shouted THIS BLOG out on 106 KMEL very recently...As in YESTERDAY recently...First okayplayer, now radio...WHAT NEXT???

Monday, November 5, 2007

"Superstar"... Directed by Hype Williams...

Hip Hop Panel

http://democracyandhiphop.blogspot.com/2007/11/nola-hip-hop-for-hope-panel-discussion.html

When Lupe made his way to the microphone, he was immediately bombarded by the backpack, cultural conservatives with questions as to how he feels about being a 'conscious rapper'. Witty though he was, he answered with a question, "Do you think Jeezy and 50 Cent are conscious artists?" to which the questioner replied, "No." He then stated that he feels that consciousness is an awareness of your surroundings and that Jeezy and 50 are very aware of their own. Whereas Lupe says he talks about the surroundings as they are, Jeezy and 50 embrace them.

Lupe Fiasco at N.O. Hip-Hop Panel Discussion


Add to My Profile More Videos


Sunday, November 4, 2007

Lupe in NY & NC



Lu Encounter




So last night this guy stopped by my little school... he goes by the name of lupe fiasco... He tore it up. I opened for him... I had an hour set just pumpin up the crowd and having fun. Again, lupe rocked out.

I got to hang out in the green room with him after the show. Think of the nicest person you know. Think of that guy that you think is just TOO nice. That is Lupe. Coolest guy. I tried to get him to make fun of Greencastle, IN but all he said was, "its cool"

Does Lupe Fiasco Have to Choke A Bitch???


I try not to be biased about newstories that I hear about Lupe. And while this is a fansite I feel that GOOD press as well as BAD press should be recognized. Because you wouldn't be able to distinguish the Good without the Bad, RIGHT??? This is definitely a RUMOR as of now. DJ Busy, who does the Child Rebel Soldier Blog had this to say...

"Oh, and Lupe didn’t get into any fight with a female at some tmobile party in nyc either…Someone in his crew accidently spilled a drink on a girl, and some dudes jumped in…that was it…stop the rumors folks…Fiasco don’t get down like that…"

-ChildRebelSoldier.com


Also some more news from the same blog...
Lupe will be in the NYC this week for a few days, to finish mixing the album and to sequence the record (won’t be 20 tracks on there! probably like 14-16 with exclusive bonus tracks at iTunes, Circuit City etc…). Lu’s also gonna do Angie Martinez show on Hot97 this week, DJ Clue on Power 105, and BET’s Rap City (will air later…)Shoutouts to the D-O double G…a yes sir!!! 12/18 THE COOL!!!

So yeah...Im pretty sure Angie or Clue are gonna ask him about the rumor, so be sure to listen if you can. Also TOMORROW...SUPERSTAR VIDEO...ALL DAY...MTV FNF TAKEOVER...

Saturday, November 3, 2007

"Superstar" Video Premieres Monday on MTV2...


Tune in to MTV2 this upcoming Monday 11/5 at 11am EST to catch the world premiere of Lupe's new video "Superstar" ft. Matthew Santos!


The video is "unleashed" which means it will air on the hour, every hour on the channel! The clip was directed by the one-and-only Hype Williams, and introduces all the characters from Lu's upcoming album THE COOL in stores December 18th!


For even more Lupe in your life - watch the video premiere on MTV.com all day as well, and on MTV's TRL @ 3:30 PM on Tuesday! It's a Lupe-MTV takeover!! FNF UP!!!Pre-order Lupe Fiasco's 'The Cool' on Myspace!