Lupe Fiasco

At 42 years old, Lupe Fiasco has this physical status:

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco (LOO-pay), is an American rapper, record designer, and activist.

Following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, he came to fame in 2006.

Under his real name, he appears as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon.

Fiasco, as an entrepreneur, is the CEO of 1st and 15th Entertainment. After initially dislikeing the genre's use of vulgarity and misogyny, Jaco, who was born in Chicago, developed an interest in hip hop.

19-year-old Fiasco, after adopting the name Lupe Fiasco and recording songs in his father's basement, joined a group called Da Pak.

After the group's inception, Fiasco met rapper Jay-Z, who helped him sign a record contract with Atlantic Records.

Fiasco's Food & Liquor, his debut album on the label in September 2006, received three Grammy awards.

In December 2007, he released Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, his second album.

On the Billboard Hot 100, his lead single "Superstar" became his first top-40 hit.

Lasers were first introduced in March 2011 to mixed reviews, but it was his first album to debut on the Billboard 200.

Drogas Wave, his latest album, was unveiled in September 2018. Fiasco has also ventured into other industries, including fashion, in addition to music.

He has two clothing lines, Righteous Kung-Fu and Trilly & Truly, as well as Reebok's Reebok, which has developed Reebok's sneakers.

He has been involved with charitable causes, including the Summit on the Summit, and in 2010, he hosted a benefit single for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Fiasco has also been known for his anti-establishment views, which he has expressed in both interviews and his music.

Personal life

Lupe Fiasco is a huge gamer who likes to play the Street Fighter series of fighting games. He surprisingly won an exhibition match against Daigo Umehara in 2016, defeating him 3-2 using Ken.

Lupe Fiasco has said on MTV's Rap Fix, as well as other publications, that he is Muslim and that Islam "plays a role in my life and everything I do" to a certain degree. I don't like putting my faith out there, and I don't like wearing it like that because I don't want people to think of me as the poster child for Islam. I'm not. I don't want them to see my flaws and be like "oh, that's Islam's flaws." Fahrenheit 1/15 was a mixtape collection of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" named "Muhammad Walks," which went on to become extremely popular in the Muslim community. In "Hurt Me Soul," "Little Weapon," "Definition," "HiDefinition," as well as the introduction and outro tracks to Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, he can be seen using Islamic recitals. Lupe Fiasco has endorsed the belief that Islam will "be the world's religion and rule the world" someday.

Fiasco said in an interview with Stephen Colbert on the satirical news show The Colbert Report: "You should criticize power even if you agree with it." Fiasco discussed the political elements of his music in another interview on CBS' What's Trending, saying, "My fight against terrorism" is the biggest terrorist to me is Obama and the United States of America. I'm fighting the terrorism that's actually responsible for the other types of terrorism. You should know that the root of terrorism is the stuff that the US government allows to happen. "People are compelled to become terrorists because of the foreign policies that we have in several countries." He also chastised Obama for his stance on the Israeli–Palestinian war. Fiasco claims he did not vote in the United States elections until 2018. On Twitter, Trump said he now votes due to his racial convictions and that he now votes for Democratic candidates. After performing a 30-minute version of "Words I Never Said" with anti-Obama lyrics in Washington, D.C., during Obama's second presidential inauguration, he was barred from the stage by the security for refusing to move to the next song. Lupe Fiasco wrote an open letter about white supremacy in June 2015.

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Life and career

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 16, 1982. Fiasco is of West African descent, one of nine children of Shirley's cook and engineer Gregory, an engineer. His father, a Black Panther Party member, was a prolific African drummer, karate instructor, and entrepreneur of karate schools and army surplus stores. Fiasco was raised Muslim on the West Side of Chicago's Madison Terrace housing project. Fiasco began taking martial arts lessons at the age of three. When he was five years old, his parents divorced and he went to live with his mother, but his father's life was still a huge part of his life. "After school, my father will come and get us and take us out into the world," Ravi Shankar said. "We're listening to N.W.A. One day, we're in Chinatown."

He went full-time in Harvey, Illinois, in sixth grade. His father grew up in a crack house and taught Fiasco how to protect himself from drug dealers. Despite his turbulent upbringing, Fiasco claims he was well-educated as a child, and that reading was highly encouraged in his household. Fiasco competed in Academic Decathlon competitions as a youth. "He was a wonderful spirited boy," his mother said of him. He was definitely a loner, but he didn't hang out with a lot of people...He still had the glasses. Obviously had a book bag over his shoulder and some sort of a writing tablet." Fiasco began to dislike hip hop music for its use of vulgarity and listened to jazz; he idolized clarinet player Benny Goodman. His inability to play an instrument led him to writing poetry instead, which fueled his interest in the lyrical aspects of music.

In the eighth grade, he began rapping his poems, and After discovering Nas' 1996 album, It Was Written, he began to explore hip hop. Fiasco met gang member Bishop G. The two became friends due to their common interest in music while attending Thornton Township High School. Fiasco's father encouraged him and Bishop to make mixtapes in his basement, and the two musicians gained notoriety at the school for their music. However, they were kicked off stage during their first performance because their unique musical style was not well known by the hip hop crowd. Little Lu and Lutha Underdog, which were stage names at the start of his career, were a hit at the Little Lu and Lu tha Underdog. Fiasco's mother gave him the nickname "Lu" in the last part of his first name as a boy. "Lupe" is a variant of this name that he borrowed from a high school buddy. The rapper "Fiasco" refers to The Firm's "Firm Fiasco"; the rapper "liked the way it looked on paper." "You know how rappers always have names like MC Terrorist," he said of his name, implying that they're 'terrorizing' other rappers. I knew fiasco was a big disaster or something similar, but I didn't know that Fiasco would be the cause of the fiasco, and that I should be calling other MCs fiascos, not yourself...it kind of humbled me in this sense. "Yo, stop rushing, or you're going to have some fiascos," it said.

Even though Fiasco's parents were not keen on having their son be a rapper, he started creating music in his father's basement when he was 18 years old. He searched flea markets and secondhand stores, where he was able to find an old mixing board and a record player, stacks of vinyl records, and mic stands. Fiasco joined Da Pak, a group that was inspired by other California gangsta rappers like Spice 1 and Ice Cube at the age of 19. Da Pak signed to Epic Records and released one single before dissolving. Later, Fiasco described the event, saying, "We had a song out about cocaine, guns, and women, and I'd go to a record store and wonder, 'What are you doing?' I felt like a hypocrite. I was behaving like this criminal who would never be judged, and I wanted to kill him. Because Lupe Fiasco says on this microphone that it will be back to Wasalu Jaco. You have to go home and live with what you say when the music stops.

He gained a greater appreciation of Jay Z and Nas' lyricism after escaping from gangsta rap. His mother gave him a copy of The Watts Prophets, one of the first bands to use spoken words with music. Fiasco began to play music while he was without a band for the first time. "Could Have Been," one of the first self-recorded tracks, referred to the career paths he might have pursued if he hadn't started rapping. He viewed the album as a turning point in his career that marked a drastic change in his music subject matter. Despite the fact that no video was ever made for the song, "Could Have Been" was released on a demo tape and discovered by MTV.

Fiasco later signed a solo contract with Arista Records, but it was eventually terminated when president and CEO L.A. Reid was fired. He met Jay-Z, who was president of Def Jam Recordings at the time, during his brief stay at Arista. Jay-Z referred to him as a "breath of fresh air," saying that he reminded him of a younger version of himself. Jay-Z later helped him land a record deal with Atlantic Records. Although Fiasco was recording his debut solo album, he announced Fahrenheit 1/15 on the internet, gaining notoriety by word-of-mouth.

Kanye West's "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" was remixed by him, renaming the new version "Conflict Diamonds" in honor of the original version. Fiasco wanted to raise the profile of the conflict diamond industry with this remix. West's curiosity piqued his interest, and he ordered Fiasco to perform on West's album "Touch the Sky." The album, which sampled Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up," became a hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number forty-two. Fiasco's first single, "Kick, Push," was released earlier than anticipated following this success. The album was a love tale about two people who shared a passion for skateboarding, a subject that was otherwise unheardied in hip-hop. "Skateboarding culture is] just as deep as hip-hop," Fiasco said. I'm not the best skateboarder, but I'm a damn good rapper, so I made a damn good skateboarding video." Fiasco's single and its accompanying music video helped the group gain traction in the hip-hop scene, and was later nominated for two 2007 Grammy Awards. During this period, he appeared on Tha's "Kiss Me" and "Didn't You Know" albums, as well as K Foxx's 2004 "This Life."

Jay Z assisted in the creation of Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor's debut album. The album's name is a remark on Chicago's 'Food and Liquor' stores. "The store is where everything is located," he says. You eat food and gain muscle. You need it to live. Liquor isn't a necessity; it's a want. It's a curse that kills you. It's broken. I can see why it's outlawed in Islam...I've always felt that alcohol represents the bad, the food represents the positive, and everyone is made up of a little bit of both." Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor was officially launched on September 19, 2006. Among others, the album featured work from Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, The Neptunes, Prolyfic, and others. "Kick, Push," "I Gotcha," "I Gotcha," and "Daydreamin" starring Jill Scott were among the singles that resulted from the album. The critically lauded album was later nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album. Fiasco won "Best Urban/Alternative Performance" for "Daydreamin." He was named by GQ magazine as the "Breakout Man of the Year" in the same year. He has also received four BET Hip Hop Award nominations, bringing the Billboard 200 and number two on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Albums chart to number eight. He appeared in the first Cypher at the BET Hip-Hop Awards the year before.

Fiasco's The Cool, his second album, expands on the tale of his first album's name. When recording this album, Fiasco's father died of type II diabetes and his business partner, Charles "Chilly" Patton, was found guilty of attempting to supply heroin to a drug ring and was sentenced to 44 years in a correctional facility. Fiasco and the subsequent themes that were not discussed on the record were greatly affected by these events. The album was released in December 2007 in the United States, but Matthew Santos' first single and video appeared on the album, "Prostar," was released the first week of November 2007. The Cool, Lupe Fiasco's new concept album that expanded on recurring themes in Food & Liquor, is about "a hustler who dies and comes back to life only to be robbed by two little boys with the same rifle that killed him." Fiasco decided not to collaborate with well-known designers because he felt it was "too expensive," referring to Pharrell's commercial flop, "I Gotcha."

The Cool by Lupe Fiasco had a positive reception by critics and was dubbed "one of the year's best hip-hop albums" by The New York Times. As the first single from the album, "Superstar," a semi-autobiographical account of his ascension to fame, debuted as the first single from the album and debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Hanley Ramrez, Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Zimmerman, Gerald Laird, and Ryan Braun have all used "Superstar" as their at-bat song. "Paris, Tokyo," Fiasco's second single (which was released in the United Kingdom in April 2008), was a song based on Fiasco's travels across the world between his first and second albums. In addition, Fiasco, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams had formed a faction called Child Rebel Soldier in 2007. CRS first released "US Placers" as a single product and featuring a Thom Yorke sample. Fiasco revealed in an interview with The Village Voice that he was writing an article about a window washer titled Reflections of a Window Washer. Fiasco and his band 1500 or Nothin joined Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour, which also included Rihanna and N.E.R.D. The tour visited several towns, including Chicago, which is his hometown. Fiasco, the game's 7th Hottest MC, was selected by MTV in 2008, and MTV announced that he was remixing The Cool with French electro house act Justice.

For the first time, Fiasco performed new content from the then-titled We Are Lasers at a New Zealand performance in February 2010. He said that the album was complete and waiting for a release date from his label, Atlantic Records. However, Atlantic feared that the album was lacking commercial singles and provided Fiasco with songs the label wanted to hear. Fiasco refused because he was told he would not have any rights to the songs. "I don't think the brand cares about an album," he said. "People just want their number one hit." The album's deferral of six months has remained hazy to the public for six months. Fiasco's fans launched an online petition requesting that Atlantic Records remove Lasers from their website. The petition attracted a lot of attention on hip hop blog pages as well as over 16,000 signatures. Fiasco said that the petition "brought [him] to tears," and that Fiasco performed a song titled "B.M.F. Building Minds Faster" to thank his followers.

Fiasco released another album called Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album while waiting for Lasers to be released. He was uncertain if the Food and Liquor II would be released ever, but he did "go to sleep" from the album "out of desperation" to bring out new music. In the midst of the delays, he also pursued several side projects. Fiasco, Pharrell, Asher Roth, B.o.B., The Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, Blu, Diggy Simmons, Wale, J. Cole, & Dosage formed the hip hop group All City Chess Club in April 2010. The group has so far produced one song, a spin on Fiasco's "I'm Beamin." In addition, Fiasco's debut EP In The Jaws of Death appeared on July 16, 2010. The Japanese cartoon was inspired by a variety of musical genres, with Fiasco saying, "I've always been a fan of all music." Hijacking is just something I've always knew how to do, but I've always wanted to participate in other genres of music." I had to produce some hip hop, but it was like, 'Okay, what am I going to do now?' "Yo, let's do some rock music," my artistic side was like.

Lasers were first released on March 8, 2011. The album's completion was more than two and a half years ago. Modest Mouse's "The Show Goes On" was the first single from the record. On the Billboard Hot 100, "The Show Goes On" debuted at number 57. Since then, the lead single has hit the number 9 position. The album's producers include Alex Da Kidd, King David "The Future" and Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis, as well as featured artists Skylar Grey, Trey Songz, and John Legend. Lasers debuted on the Billboard 200 chart, number one on the first week, with first-week sales of 204,000 copies. Despite the album's commercial success, most music critics gave Lasers mixed feedback. "If there is one MC whose rhymes should not be dulled for the sake of chasing pop trends, Lupe Fiasco," editor Andy Kellman wrote about the album three out of five actors and sluggish choruses. At the 2012 Grammy Awards, Lasers were nominated for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song, with "The Show Goes On" nominated for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. Lupe Fiasco later became involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests, donating tents and publishing a poem in support of the demonstrators. On Thanksgiving Day, he also unveiled his "I Fight Evil" mixtape.

Food & Liquor 2 was later released by Fiasco, as well as putting together a joint album with fellow Child Rebel Soldier & All City Chess Club member Pharrell. Before the album's introduction, he said that after "Mates Of The People: I Fight Evil" before it was announced, there would be no more mixtapes after "Friend Of The People: I Fight Evil" would be released in fall 2012. Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free) was released on May 21, the Simonsayz and B-Side produced track Around My Way (T.R.O.Y.'s lead single). Rock said he felt "so wrong" by the use of the sample, although the original track used samples from Tom Scott and James Brown.

Fiasco collaborated with Australian singer Guy Sebastian on the single "Battle Scars" in 2012. When Fiasco was in Australia for Supafest, the single was recorded in Sebastian's Sydney studio and appears on Sebastian's album Armageddon. In its first week, it debuted at number one in Australia, becoming Fiasco's first top-one single. On August 21, Fiasco's fourth album, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt., it was announced that "Battle Scars" would be included on "Battle Scars." On August 28, 2012, the first single in the United States was announced as the fourth single. The Billboard Hot 100 Chart, at number 23 on the Billboard Digital Song Chart, and number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Chart, has risen to 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and at number 23 on the Billboard Digital Song Chart, and at number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Chart. The song debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 for 20 weeks and gained platinum status. "Battle Scars" spent six weeks in Australia's top-ranked position and has been rated 9 platinum by ARIA. In New Zealand, it also scored number two and double platinum, as well as Norway's number two.

Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. On September 25, 2012, 1 was published. The songs "Go to Sleep" and "Bitch Bad" were also released as singles. Contemporary music commentators generally support the album. The album received an average score of 70, indicating "generally positive reviews" based on 18 reviews at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream observers. At the 55th Grammy Awards, it was also selected for Best Rap Album. Originally, the album was supposed to be released as a double-disc album, but Atlantic Records didn't approve this arrangement, so the album was divided into two parts. In spring 2013, it was announced that a Part 2 would be published. Lupe has said that the album showcases more of his dexterity and lyrical substance. S1 has confirmed that it will be on the album. He cancelled the proposal for the unveiling of the second portion of the original double disk on January 17, 2013. He also announced that he would debut another studio album in 2013.

On February 10, 2013, on the red carpet of the Grammy Awards, he revealed that Tetsuo & Youth would be his fifth studio album. Since then, he has released songs that are not supposed to be on Tetsuo & Youth. These songs are titled "Light Blue" and "Jonylah Forever." Imogen Heap's name appeared on Lupe's album Form Follows Function, which led to Fiasco's request that she appear on her next album, making her a potential guest artist on Tetsuo and Youth. Lupe Fiasco announced on August 4, 2013 that a new song, "Peace of Paper/Cup of Jayzus," would be released on September 11.

"Crack" by Tetsuo & Youth was the first song by Fiasco on August 24, 2013. Fiasco revealed the Tetsuo & Youth Preview Tour on October 3, 2013 from November 2 to December 15, 2013. The tour includes labelmate Stalley as a supporting act and The Boy Illinois as an opening act. He also revealed that Tetsuo & Youth would be released in early 2014, but it was postponed to 2015. "Old School Love," Fiasco's first ostensible song from the album, starring singer Ed Sheeran, was released on October 14, 2013. On October 21, 2013, Fiasco revealed that Big K.R.I.T. On the album, Rick Ross will appear alongside Rick Ross.

Fiasco's first promotional single was released on May 19, 2014, a few days before the album's track list was revealed. "Mission" is a way to empower those facing cancer, honor cancer survivors, and honor those who have died as a result of cancer-related illnesses, according to the author. He has worked with Stand Up to Cancer as a celebrity ambassador. They are all planning collaborations linked to the launch of the same year. Fiasco's second promotional single, "Next to It," features Ty Dolla Sign on the hook.

Lupe Fiasco has been involved in feuds with fellow rappers Azealia Banks and Kid Cudi in Ferguson, Ferguson, 2014, most recently due to the 2014 Ferguson riots. Kid Cudi's feud with Lupe Fiasco has not been resolved, and has reportedly escalated, with Lupe Fiasco threatening MTV.

Lupe surprised fans with a new free mixtape named Pharaoh Height on August 29, 2015, containing six new songs with Egyptian-themed titles including cuts like "Valleys," "Kings," and "Pyramid."

Fiasco said in April 2016 that he would release three albums (Drogas, Skulls, and Roy), later becoming Drogas, Drogas Light, and Skulls, but that no one would release new music between October and January.

Lupe unveiled his "N.E.R.D" freestyle on December 12, 2016 (named after the funk rock pair and over J. Cole's "Everybody Dies"), which included the phrase "Artist gettin' robbed for their publication/By dirty Jewish execs who believe his alms from the covenant. Brian "DJ Z" Zisook, a Jewish hip-hop website, published an editorial condemning the line for suspected anti-Semitism. Lupe eventually tweeted that after "N.E.R.D" was allegedly deleted by SoundCloud for "hate speech," Lupe said that the situation was a sign from God to pull away from music for good, announcing the cancellation of Drogas, Drogas Light, and Skulls. However, he also revealed that DROGAS will be available on February 10th. The latest album will be released by the record label Thirty Tigers.

In March 2018, Fiasco premiered Beat N Path, a three-part television documentary about how he went on a trip around China to discover his passion for martial arts. This film is dedicated to his late father, who was a grand master and ran a martial arts school in Chicago. His experiences will influence his next book, "Air China." In Southeast Asia, the documentary aired exclusively on KIX.

Drogas Wave will be published on September 21, 2018 at Fiasco's September 13, 2018. The album is the second installment of a planned trilogy of albums, with Drogas Light as its predecessor and Skulls following.

Drill Music in Zion, which was released in 2006, was released by Fiasco, from 1st and the Thirty Tigers. Two singles, "Autoboto" and "Drill Music in Zion," were preceded by the festival.

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