Controversial hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco Lupe is very involved in the community, though he doesn’t believe in voting. He believes that people need to get involved in the state level of No Failure in this things and not think that voting for the president automatically gets things done. He, as seen below, is involved in the Occupy Wall Street. He prefers people questioning authority because of his anti-establishment mental- Fiasco ity. Which led Fiasco into trouble with his label, Atlantic Records, over his highly anticipated album “L.A.S.E.R.S.(Love Always Shines Everytime Re- NICHOLAS SPRINGER member to Smile)”. Lupe originally finished the album ahead of time and was awaiting a release date from the label. That was stalled because Atlantic Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by felt that the album didn’t have enough “commercial tracks” and wouldn’t his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is an American rapper, record producer, and sell. entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor. He also performs as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. As an entrepreneur, Fi- asco is the chief executive officer of 1st and 15th Entertainment. His mother gave him the nickname Lu, and “Lupe” was the nickname he got from a friend in high school. He took the name “Fiasco” from a group called the “The Firm’s” song, “Firm Fiasco”. He liked the way Fiasco looked, and knew that it meant disaster but didn’t realize that he should call others a fiasco not himself. “I didn’t realize that the person named Fi- asco would be the disaster, and that you should be calling other MCs fias- cos—not yourself...it kind of humbled me in a sense. It taught me like, ‘Yo, stop rushing, or you’re going to have some fiascos”, Lupe said. The album was therefore pushed back by 6 months, and forced fans to sign an online petition wanting Atlantic Records to release the album. Lupe Fiasco, being a fan ofconscious music, was quick to tell people he didn’t like the album because the music on it wasn’t him, it was what the record wanted not what he wanted. As a result he came out with a Thanksgiving day mixtape called “Friend of the people”, in 2011 to make up to his fans. On numerous occassions he’s threatened to retire, with his last album being “LupE.N.D”, because he despises the way the industry works. And many people still contemplate when it may happen. 2 3 As for Fiasco, he has no plans on hanging up the mic just yet. Although many see his music as boring because he rather focus on the lyrics than on the instrumen- tals he has no worries that some- one somewhere will understand. ”What I’ve learned is not to take anybody’s advice. If you rely solely on your fans, it sets you up for the downfall on the industry side and if you rely on what your label is saying, it will disconnect you from your fans.” Lupe said. And as you can imagine he’s not taking any- one’s advice to “dumb down” the music or to be more “radio friendly”, to put it nicely. He’s here to stay and he’s here to fight. Here to have people question everyone’s motive and never take everything as it is. He’s not your normal musician nowadays, nor is he your normal person. He prides himself on being different not only within the music, but daily.

In other words, he takes on the issues one microphone at a time.

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