Friday, September 19, 2008

Lupe the Gamer..Interview with Celebrity Cafe

Came across this interview while searching for music...

Lupe Fiasco -

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

Chicago-born rapper Lupe Fiasco is making headway in hip-hop, winning awards for his albums and performances, and now he's a featured artists inXbox 360's new karaoke game, LIPS. TheCelebrityCafe.com's Dominick Miserandino spoke with Lupe about his venture in the video game industry.

DM: What got you started in the video game industry?

LF: They came to me with an idea that I really liked and I also liked the calibre of artists they were bringing into this particular job.

DM: Were you always into video games growing up?

LF: Oh yeah. I go way back to early Nintendo and SEGA and now we're looking to the future with PSP and Xbox.

DM: How did you find the game when you played it yourself?

LF: I'm actually … I'm actually quite terrible. (laughter) I had to learn how to play the game, that you don't just sing but also how you move with the mic to really get your points up.

DM: As a gamer yourself, how do you think this game will do on the market?

LF: I think it will go really well. I think it fit well alongside Guitar Hero and Rock Band but I think that because it's a different genre of music from classic rock and rock. It's got an iPod-type feature you can load your own songs and even music videos. And of course you have to move with the mic, to perform. That really sets it apart and lets it compete with everything else.

DM: Now video games aren't your main source of income, but do you think music and video games are all just merging together now?

LF: It's one of my main sources of lots of income. (laughter). I think it's kind of the final frontier with all these different types of media converging into one entity. I think that's the sign of the times, the future. It's like you've reached the limit with what you can do with a lot of stuff whether it's music or movies, so now it's how can you put the great music with a film, or that video game with a film, put this song with a game. I think the convergence is the natural order of technology.

DM: Does that mean you're trying other avenues, too?

LF: Actually I'm gonna go out and get some robotic arms next week. (laughter) Yeah, a complete cyborg overhaul. I got a couple movie soundtracks out. My older records were just part of the video game soundtrack, but now they're really part of the game, so that's a revolutionary thing for me.

DM: Did you enjoy working on it?

LF: My work was already done. I already had it all recorded. Now my work is to beat my own score.

DM: So now the work is the fun afterwards.

LF: Now the work is beating everybody up. It'd be a shame if some fat kid Idaho gets a higher score than I did. I really don't want to look at YouTube and see that.

DM: Do you have any other video game projects in the works?

LF: This is probably the beginning of something. I want my own video game. I actually did my album with a type of video game on the side.

DM: So this has been on your radar for a while.

LF: Video games are a big part of my life. I've got them at almost every concert for before the show.


http://thecelebritycafe.com/interviews/lupe_fiasco.html

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