Nerissa Monton Spring 2012 MUSI 102 #57

Lupe Fiasco is an American rapper, record producer, the CEO of 1st and 15th Entertainment, and entrepreneur. He was born with the name Wasalu Muhammed Jaco on February 17, 1982 in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Lupe shares his story in Hip Hop Saved My Life of how he first was uninterested in listening to hip-hop for its vulgarity in its lyricism so he joined with a few friends in high school to make his own beats in his basement at the age of nineteen. He and his friends called themselves Da Pak. His parents did not approve of him being a rapper at first for the negative connotations that rap has been given. He adopted the name Lupe Fiasco while he was still in high school from Lu already coming from his real name of Wasalu and he has a friend named Lupe in high school. Fiasco came from a song called Firm Fiasco by the Firm. He grew up in a Muslim family in Chicago and his father was a member of the Black Panter Party. He participated in martial arts since he was a young boy. As a teen he practiced skateboarding. All of his community, religion, and hobbies influenced his desire to create

music to be original, to be unlike the mainstream rappers of the day. Lupe is known for his creative lyricism frequently incorporating intelligent double-entendres. His lyrics commonly are positive, political, and heavy of social subject matter that other mainstream rappers lack. He was always well educated. His parents divorced when he was young and he kept to himself in school. He had no interest in hip hop but always wrote poems. Lupe was more into jazz. In the 8th grade he began rapping his poems after hearing Nass 2nd album It Was Written. In the hip hop community, Nas is often cited as one of the best rappers. When he was 17 he made his own music as a solo artist in his fathers basement. After performing with his group Da Pak he realized he was being a hypocrite and rapping about subject matter such as drugs like the other rappers out there were singing. He left Da Pak and became more heavily influenced by rappers such as Nas and Jay-Z and the Watts Prophets. He was signed with Arista Records but was later dropped after L.A. Ried was fired. After Arista Records he met the rapper Jay-Z and worked with him to get signed with Atlantic Records. In 2006, Lupe released his first album Lupe Fiascos Food & Liquor and received three Grammy nominations. His second album, Lupe Fiascos The Cool was released in 2007. His most recent release, Lasers was released on March 8, 2011. Lupe is most recognized for his lead singles Kick,Push, The Show Goes On, and Superstar just to name a few. Lupe is said to release Lupe Fiascos Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album in 2012. His song Solar Midnite was featured in the 2011 movie New Moon.

In 2006 he was awarded Freshest MC by the MTV Music Awards, and Breaker Artist by the AOL music awards. In 2008 he received the Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performace Daydreamin (ft. Jill Scott). In 2009 he won the Charater Approved Award for Musician by USAs Character Approved Awards. Lupe Fiasco did a performance honoring Grandmaster Flash at a Grammy concert in 2011 along with Common, and Rick Ross. This special performace was in recognition to the recordings recent addition to the 2012 Grammy Hall of Fame.

"Biography." Lupe Fiasco. Web. 03 May 2012. <http://www.lupefiascoblog.com/biography/>. "Lupe Fiasco." About.com Rap / Hip-Hop. Web. 03 May 2012. <http://rap.about.com/od/artists/p/LupeFiascobio.htm>. "Lupe Fiasco." Official Website. Web. 03 May 2012. <http://www.lupefiasco.com/>. "Soundslam Interviews." SoundSlam.com. Web. 03 May 2012. <http://www.soundslam.com/articles/interviews/interviews.php?interviews=in06 0511lupefi>.