Lupe Fiasco, the musical karate kid hailing from from West-side Chicago talks exclusively to Kiss about growing up in the hood, his new album 'The Cool', super group CRS and about following in Jay-Z's footsteps with a headline show at Glastonbury in 2009!
How did you get into rap?
I grew up with the culture. From my parents, from the ghetto, the hood and with [the] drugs and gangs. So I got all that culture juxtaposed with all that violence. My friend was a poet and I said... 'I can do that', and it turned into rapping. I got a record deal in the summer after high school and from 2000 until now I’ve been rapping professionally.
You were critically acclaimed in the business from beginning, when did it translate into commercial success?
We lost our record deal with The Pack and in the midst of that I started recording a lot, including 'What Could Have Been'. MTV picked it up and I became Lupe Fiasco. It was the first song where I realised that you can do rap songs...and it wasn't just for black people. I started to change what I rapped about.
For me hip-hop is just a way of expressing the human experience, that is two-sided. Some people may be too political and it gets too ideal. On the other side it's about the common person and about being cool, I think you need that balance. It doesn't all have to be conscious happy MCs because then we start living in a fantasy land. You need to discuss struggle and poverty because otherwise we forget and these things exist.
Is there a danger five years down the line when rappers are multi-millionaires, they will be rapping about issues not close to them anymore?
I think that there's a misconception that rappers get out from the hood. You become the vehicle for other people to get out. You still have to go pick them up physically from their concrete building and they might have a package of weed or a gun on them. That's how rappers get caught up.
I don't think that when you cross a certain bridge you start to hang around with different people. Your friends from the hood are the same killers, gang bangers, drug dealers as when you were twelve. You'll be surprised about how many rappers have to put [down] their real name to bail out their friends and family because they are still there.
How has Jay-Z and Kanye West influenced you as an artist?
When I was nobody, Jay-Z took a liking to me, he offered me my first record deal. He became my 'go to guy', my contact. I knew Kanye when he was the beat maker, and I watched him become the phenomenon that he is; one of the most talented performers in the world. So I learned from him how to entertain, and with Jay-Z it was more business.
Tell me about the super group 'Child Rebel Soldier - CRS' (Jay-Z, Kanye West and Pharrel Williams)?
We are all doing similar things, have the same likes and dislikes, goals and inspirations. So we got together and did the remake of The Razor, by Thom Yorke. We’re going to debut CRS after our tours, we don’t know what it'll be exactly; art, fashion, music…
Jay-Z will be the first hip-hop artist to headline the predominantly rocky Glastonbury. Is it a smart move on his part?
Festivals are such a mish-mash to me, when you go to festivals you see all this music in all its forms and variations, this year Jay-Z got one [a ridiculous show]. I’m building towards a ridiculous show, so hopefully I can come back and headline next year.
You've been quoted to say that you're going bail out of rapping after three albums, is that still so?
I'm 85 percent sure simply because the music business tears and wears on you. For me there's the recording and the performing side. I love performing but there comes a time when you think that I can't do this for ever. It's not a lack of wanting to make music, it's just the lack of wanting to be in the game. I'm setting myself up to be well, and then I want to enable others to come into music.
Interview: Julia Dinome
'Paris, Tokyo' will be release digitally on April 14th and physically on April 21st.
