Why Conscious Rappers Dont Last In The Mainstream…

➡ Lupe Fiasco, a Chicago artist, rose to fame in 2006 for his unique sound and commitment to storytelling. Despite his success, including Grammy awards and chart-topping albums, his refusal to compromise his beliefs may have hindered his mainstream career. Born Wasulu Mohammed Jaco, Lupe grew up in a tough neighborhood but found solace in music and poetry. His journey in the music industry began with a record deal at 17, and despite early setbacks, he was encouraged to continue his solo career, leading to his eventual success.
➡ Lupe Fiasco and his manager Chilli started their own record label, 1st and 15th Entertainment, inspired by Jay Z’s Roc a Fella. Despite facing legal issues and Chilli’s imprisonment, Lupe continued to make music, gaining recognition for his unique style and lyrics. He faced challenges with his record label, Atlantic Records, but managed to release successful albums and even won a Grammy. Throughout his career, Lupe maintained his integrity, refusing to conform to the stereotypical image of a rapper, and faced obstacles such as the 360 deal, which he rejected.
➡ Lupe Fiasco, a popular rapper, faced delays in releasing his third album due to disagreements with his record label, Atlantic Records. Fans launched a petition and planned a protest, named Fiasco Friday, to push for the album’s release. The pressure led to a meeting with the label’s president, resulting in an official release date. Despite this victory, Lupe’s outspoken political views, particularly against President Obama and his foreign policies, led to controversy and strained his relationship with the label.
➡ Lupe, a rapper, had a heated debate on a TV show and expressed his political views, which were unusual for a rapper. He was critical of the US government and showed support for Palestine. Despite his talent, his fifth album didn’t achieve mainstream success, possibly due to lack of support from his record label, Atlantic Records. After releasing one more album to fulfill his contract, he faced backlash for his lyrics and announced his retirement from rap, feeling frustrated with the music industry.
➡ The artist chose a unique path in his music career, focusing on integrity and tackling tough topics instead of following mainstream trends. This decision may have cost him mainstream success and money, but he remained true to his values. Despite the challenges, he proved that it’s possible to be a socially conscious artist. Fans are encouraged to support such artists who release meaningful music, instead of just mainstream content.

I don’t know. I really fucked with Lupe when he came out, obviously, like, you know, before Touch the Sky. But Touch the Sky was fucking crazy. Kick Push was fucking phenomenal as well. You know, funny thing is, like, Lupe is super gangster, low key, super skateboards at all. That’s what I’m saying. Like, with the glasses and everything, it’s like, yeah. Have you. Have you ever seen somebody that remind you of you? Like, like, like, you know, I’m saying, like, you know, everybody bites your style and shit. Well, like, like, like they. You said, holy Lupe. In the music business, only a select few can truly say they’ve made it, selling out tours, building a dedicated fan base, charting albums and winning Grammy awards.

Even fewer accomplish all of this while staying true to their unique sound, maintaining a deep commitment to lyricism and storytelling, and still creating crossover hits that dominated mainstream radio. Back in 2006, a Chicago artist rose to prominence who managed to achieve all of that. And no, we’re not talking about Kanye West. We’re talking about an early collaborator of his who unfortunately doesn’t get mentioned enough in conversations about the greatest rappers of that era. Lyrically and sonically, Lupe Fiasco proved himself to be an artist who could hold his own, carving out a lane that separated him from his peers through.

Through his willingness to tackle topics that few others would dare to touch. Lupe’s refusal to compromise his beliefs was the secret ingredient that made his music so authentic. It built him a very dedicated fanbase in hip hop. But that same unwavering commitment to staying true to himself and his audience may have been the very thing that derailed his mainstream career. So let’s dive into Lupe’s world and. And see exactly how the industry treats an artist who tends to speak out. Born Wasulu Mohammed Jaco On February 16, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois, Lupe came from a large family, a total of nine siblings.

I got nine brothers and sisters. Three of us have the same mother and father. Everyone else is half brothers and sisters. His mother, Shirley, was a gourmet chef, while his father, Gregory, who passed in 2007, was an operating plant engineer at Northwestern Hospital. He described his father as a Renaissance man. He was also a martial arts instructor, owning several dojos in Chicago, a musician, a member of the Black Panther Party, and Army Green Beret. His parents divorced when he was just five. And despite bouncing between homes growing up, he was. He remained close to both of them.

Lupe was raised in the Madison Terrace housing projects in East Garfield Park. During his childhood Chicago was a very segregated place. In fact, in 1982, it was reported that Chicago is still number one in racial segregation. A study prepared by Pierre Device for the City Club of Chicago. Lupe described his upbringing like this. I grew up in the hood around prostitutes, drug dealers, killers and gangbangers. But I also grew up juxtaposed on the doorknob. Outside of the apartment there was blood from some guy who got shot. But inside there was National Geographic magazines and encyclopedias and a little library bookshelf.

And we didn’t have cable, so we didn’t have the luxury of having our brains washed by mtv. We watched public television cooking shows and stuff like that. The way he describes it, it was like one day Lupe would be with his father eating fast food, listening to NWA and the next he’s eating home cooked meals listening to Ravi Shankar with his mom after karate class. While growing up in a rough area, Lupe’s interests helped him stay grounded amid the chaos. From his love for jazz at just seven years old, earning a black belt by 11, to skating around on his board, something that would later become instrumental in his career, all stood in stark contrast to the world around him as he moved into his teenage years.

These passions highlighted the split realities he navigated daily, leaving him with one foot planted in each. I also had two careers, some street shit and then like some music shit. Right around the age of 12, Lupe started to form his love for poetry and hip hop. After seeing a close friend known as Bishop G, an artist himself perform. That gave Lupe the courage to give it a shot. His mother describes Lupe listening to Too Short, writing his own raps, but felt his subject matter was too negative and put him onto the Watts Prophets, an American political poetry group from Watts, California.

The group merged jazz and spoken word, very much something Lupe would draw influence from. As he grew. As a teenager, Lupe gravitated toward a lot of easter east coast hip hop such as Wu Tang Clan, Nas and Jay Z. Little did he know it, but one of those acts would end up playing a major role in his career. Now it wasn’t until he heard Nas’s It Was Written album that he would begin to take the idea of being a rapper seriously. Around this time in junior high, Lupe was rolling with close friend Bishop G, Napo and Doughboy, calling themselves the 1500s Crew.

But they went through a bunch of names at the time. My man Bishop G, my man Doughboy, my man Napo. We had a group called 1500s. Before that we had a group Called Treachery. Before that was Volatile Creations when, you know, going through rap names in high school, whatever. Lupe’s father actually helped him and the crew get the recording equipment and even some instrumental tapes to rap over from a flea market his dad’s friend owned. It was my father’s friend had a flea market. He would get like these just stacks of vinyl, right? And what, what it was, was like, I guess as people were doing promos in the city and they had like all this extra shit left over, like singles and B sides and stuff like that.

They would just wind up dumped at his spot, right? And so we go in there, he just had like stacks of just instrumentals and stuff like that with everything they needed to record. They set up shop in Lupe’s basement, making mixtape after mixtape, which they would get to perform locally. And so I had our studio was in my basement. We had like a little record player, a little mixer from like the 30s or 50s or some shit like that. And then we would do concerts. Like at high school, we do this concert, we do these talent shows or like they have a little situation, we get on the bill that sun look, not necessarily open mic, but some party in the park or some shit.

At this time, he was going by Lil Lou Lou, stemming from the last two letters of his first name. But very soon after, he’d change it to what we now call him. Today you use your government name was. What is it again? Wasalu Jacob. That’s my real name. And. And how do you get Lupe out of that? Because of the loop. Oh, okay. And. And then Fiasco. Fiasco. I had a friend in high school named Lupe. Okay. And when I was rapping all through high school, my rap name was Lulu, you know, and it was just kind of like, Lupe sounds cooler coming up.

And fiasco came by 1999, while just 17 years old, Lupe’s early skills on the microphone were enough to land him his first ever record deal. He tweeted back in 2019, quote, I got my first deal in like 1999, LOL. I was working at a fast food spot, making phone calls up to Aftermath, rapping over the phone while still in high school. Going into the new millennium was when Lupe really got his foot in the door in the music industry. He’d end up joining a rap group by the name of Dapac alongside Navi Butcher and dlo, signing with Epic Records.

Though this wouldn’t last long as the group only released one single before disbanding. And their deal would come to an end. He described how he wasn’t enjoying what he was rapping about. The usual crime, drugs and women, and didn’t feel comfortable with himself promoting it. Plus, they were young and felt misguided by the label. Lupe was in a weird spot. He went from signing a deal and ditching school behind to seeing that fall apart faster than it started. Tempted to quit, but thankfully he didn’t. One day, Lupe was walking his younger sister home and some local producers recognized him as a rapper.

They invited him to the showcase at Raw Dope Studios, where an Aftermath rep by the name of Big Chunk was present. Through Big Chunk, Lupe was introduced to Chilli. Both Big Chunk and Chilli would play a massive role in his life. Especially Chilli, who not only encouraged Lupe to continue rapping solo, but also convinced him to get his diploma. With the connections of Big Chunk, Lupe was able to get his talent heard by an artist he’d grew up listening to, who was none other than Jay z. Around this time, 2000, 2001, Chilli, whose real name is Charles Patton, which would take on the role of manager and mentor for Lupe.

Granted, he was a few years older in 01, Lupe and Chilli would go on to create 1st and 15th Entertainment, their own record label inspired by Jay Z’s Roc a Fella. Jay had even tried to sign Lupe, only for Lupe to turn the offer down. Lupe explained not wanting to be under someone else’s brand and how it could prevent him from maintaining his ownership and creative control. During this time, he and Chilly had a deal brewing with Arista Records, which they signed in 2002. Lupe was already a very refined lyricist at this time with his 2002 track Coulda Been a great display of his capabilities.

Despite his humble beginnings and focus on a more conscious side of rap. He was just getting started and felt that he needed to acclimate to the current landscape and image of icy chains and flashy cars. This thought would weigh on him for a bit, but he would push through by 2003, releasing the Future, which featured free chili dedicated to his business partner and manager, Chilli. Now, why is he saying free chili? Well, on March 24, 2003, police wiretaps recorded Chilli arranging Amtrak travel with Lupe Fiasco for an alleged drug deal. In May 2003, Chili Chilli was arrested during a house raid where six kilos of heroin were found, leading police to suspect a drug ring funding the 1st and 15th label.

Both he and Fiasco were arrested and authorities seized their studios, cars and jewelry. During this whole time, Chill gets locked up, right? So police raids, all that shit happens. In the midst of that, boom, all that shit. Lupe was later acquitted while Chilli was incarcerated, after which Jay Z stepped in as Lupe’s mentor. Lupe would later imply in his music that Chilli took the fall for him. With Chilli being behind bars, Lupe remained motivated to get his career back on track. He began laying down the foundation of his food and liquor project. Then in 2004, Arista A&R head, L.A.

reid stepped down, causing projects to be shelved and prompting Lupe to seek release from his contract. An ANR rep by the name of Mark Pitts directed him to Craig Kalman at Atlantic Records. Around this time, rumors circulated that Jay Z was expected to become Atlantic’s president, which would have helped Lupe in Chile. So shortly after, Lupe’s manager, Chilly, agreed to a deal from jail where Kalman visited him. Craig Calmann, he go visit Chill in prison. So he go to the county. Fred, Fred, Craig Calman come to Chicago to go to the county to meet with Chill and shit, right? But little did Lupe or Chilly know it, Jay Z was also offered the presidency at Def Jam, where he would get to own his masters.

This offer was just too good for Jay Z to turn down. So by the time Jay accepted the offer, Lupe and Chilli had already sealed the deal with Atlantic, a label that would release his debut album, but would also give him quite a hard time throughout his career. It was with Atlantic’s advance that Chilli was able to get released on bail in 2004. Then Lupe released Fahrenheit 115, the truth is among Us, the first mixtape in the series featuring Muhammad Walks and which became notable within the Muslim community. A vital part of Lupe’s career, one he wove seamlessly into his music, was his faith.

We weren’t raised Muslim. We were born Muslim. I didn’t go to a Muslim school. But it was just the theme song. It was ambient. Gaining some traction online. Lupe kept his foot on the gas with his Revenge of the Nerds tape. A sequel to his project the year before that featured the track Conflict Diamonds, another remix of a Kanye record. This was a very politically charged track, and it caught the attention of Kanye, which would later lead to Lupe’s first collaboration with Kanye on his second studio album, Late Registration. Lupe, in an interview, mentions how he actually had to be talked into doing the track for Touch the Sky.

But thankfully he did since this track would truly jump start his mainstream career. I didn’t even want to do Touch the Sky. I didn’t want to do that. That wasn’t my piece, he revealed. It was like, I’m over here. I don’t do that. My partner was like, nah, you gotta trust me, you gotta do this. Then from there on we kind of clicked up and kept it moving up until this day now. Fun fact, Lupe and Kanye, although they weren’t close friends, would bump into each other from time to time. Lupe actually brought Kanye to addition in front of L A Reid before signing to Roc a Fella, and L A Reid famously told the two quote, yo, you should stick to making music and stick to making beats.

Granted, Kanye started out as a producer, but clearly Mr. Reed was off about that. Anyway, now it’s 2006 and Lupe was the opening act for Kanye’s Touch the Sky tour, getting the chance to reach a massive nationwide audience, which was perfect as he was gearing up to release his classic debut single, Kick Push. What’s crazy is that according to Chilli, Food and Liquor wasn’t received well well by Atlantic, stating Craig Kalman didn’t like one track on the project. Chilli said that he had to spend a hundred thousand of his own money just to promote the single due to the lack of support.

Thankfully for those guys, this worked and with the music video ready, it was on repeat through MTV and bet, giving young kids and teens like myself the first glimpse of the Chicago native. This track would carve out a lane for Lupe at a time when Kanye West, a college dropout, know not street affiliated, was coming up and slowly shifting the music industry landscape from the gangsta rap style that was dominating with the likes of 50 Cent. It was in a way, a great time for an artist like Lupe to get his shot. He always wanted to steer away from the image of a stereotypical gangster rapper and preferred to have his morals intact.

This wasn’t something the labels were a fan of, as they were still much like now, aiming to promote the stereotypical version of a rapper. The reality was Lupe was from the streets and knew what that side was like, but understood his impact and that his words live on forever and did not want to feed the beast, if you will. Now. By April 2006, a leak of Food and Liquor pushed its expected June release to September 19th. To keep fans engaged, Lupe dropped the Touch the sky Mixtape on May 5, hosted by DJ E. Nice. When Food and Liquor finally arrived, it debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 with 81,000 first week sales, drawing widespread acclaim and a Best Rap Album nomination at the 49th Grammys.

By year’s end, Lupe had earned Best New Artist at the MTV Woodys and been named GQ’s Breakout man of the Year. Another fun fact. Jay Z genuinely believed so much in Lupe’s rapping capabilities that to the point where he offered to executive produce his debut album the following year, Lupe appeared on the first ever XXL freshman cover alongside the likes of Boozy, Badass, Papoose and more. Fans were eagerly awaiting his sophomore album, and by the end of the year in December, Lupe released the Cool with notable singles like Paris, Tokyo Superstar and Dumb It Down, a song that reminded Lupe’s fans of his inner struggle with trying to appease the labels wanting radio hits.

And while Lupe was in it for the arts, not the charts, the Cool would go on to sell 143,000 albums in its first week, nearly doubling his debut sales, proving that he could still sell records despite not wanting to bend to the will of the label and make the records that he wanted to. Heading into 2008, Lupe already earned the highest form of an award with Hip Hop rap at the 50th Grammy Awards for Best Urban Alternative Performance for the track Daydreamin featuring Jill Scott, but he missed the ceremony due to contracting pneumonia. Now, as we’ve seen countless times with artists, especially rappers, as they begin to rise higher, trouble always creeps around the corner, waiting for the artist to say or make one wrong move.

When it came to Lupe and his politically charged ways, he he wouldn’t hold back his tongue, no matter the issue. After his successful sophomore release came his third album, Lazers, which was released in 2011. But unlike his last two albums, this one faced a big obstacle in its way. The dreaded 360 deal was presented to Lupe in an effort to extort his artistry and likeness, and he simply wasn’t having it. At this time, Lupe was still signed to Atlantic Records, which the infamous Lior Cohen had been overseeing while serving as the chairman and CEO of Recorded Music at Warner Music Group, the parent company that owns and operates Atlantic Records.

Lupe recalls an interaction with Lior Cohen where he said, quote, Lior was like, yo, if you don’t sign this 360 deal, we’re not promoting your records. He continued to add that he was told, quote, not only are we not promoting your records, but we’re not promoting even the records that we give you. Lupe explained that he wasn’t completely against the deal. However, he wanted to do business for real and was going to need some collateral in addition to requesting he own his masters. I’m only two albums in. I don’t mind. Matter of fact, I’ll help you build out the 360 piece, at least when it comes to fashion.

In the end, Lupe’s offer was declined. With fans eagerly awaiting his third album plus Lupe’s label troubles, things reached a boiling point and it even had a name Fiasco Friday protest. Basically, Lupe’s third album was finished in 2009. However, due to Lior Cohen trying to shove a 360 deal on him, it led to delays and this is when Lupe noticed the effect his music had on his audience. On July 21, 2010, a petition was launched online by a fan named Richard Derek Barker. It was hosted on the website petitiononline.com, a gained over 2000 signatures within 24 hours.

To show his appreciation, Lupe released a freestyle to BMF to hold fans over and show he was tapped in with them. An email was sent by Richard to Atlantic Records in hopes of pushing forward the release. The petition had accumulated 28,979 signatures, including those from some record executives. But it wasn’t until word of a protest outside of the record label’s office in New York City was organized by two New Jersey natives and Matt Morelli and Matt Lecourte. Since Atlantic had not yet provided an official statement, news of this gathering would spread and a name would form Fiasco Friday Protests.

This quickly reached Lupe, who responded to let his fans know that he would be in attendance. With growing pressure from Lupe’s fans, just days before the official protest would go down on October 7, 2010, Lupe would end up meeting with Atlantic’s President Julie Greenwald, as the two are seen here giving thumbs up. And it was confirmed that his album finally had an official release date in the new year and a single releasing later in the month. Despite the positive news for Lupe and his fans, on October 15th, approximately 200 fans showed up to the Atlantic Records HQ in New York City to celebrate the milestone victory.

See, I actually did it, huh? On behalf of the Atlantic Records. The people that I work for, who, who I’m contracted to do albums for, There’s a ton of people up there looking out of the window because they can’t believe that a bunch of of crazy Lupe Fiasco would actually organize, finance, promote and actually execute probably the first and only protest for a hip hop rapper to put an album by March 8, 2011, fans finally got to buy their copies of Lasers and Lupe earned his highest ever first week sales of his career, selling over 203,000 copies plus.

He also earned his highest spot on the Billboard charts till this day with the album’s single the Show Goes On Now. Although it wasn’t Lupe’s highest selling album of his career compared to the cool released in 07, it clearly showed that Lupe had earned his spot in hip hop as a well crafted lyricist and an artist capable of blending storytelling with authenticity and sonic mastery while still pleasing both the fans and the labels. At least sales wise. However, as the years followed his big moment in 2010 2011, it seems that Lupe’s career would never actually get to see the continued success he deserved, especially as he was growing even more politically outspoken.

With a single like Words I Never said on his third album, it was pretty clear why the label, run by primarily Jewish executives and producers Presidents, didn’t want the project out. Lupe used the song to touch on heavy topics such as the war on terror, the Building 7 conspiracies, the Gaza Strip, Obama’s weak foreign policy, and more. With three verses carefully deconstructing our modern society’s pitfalls, the song aged incredibly well as we’re practically at the same point, if not way worse now. While Lupe was experiencing the peak of his career between 2006 and 2011, America was going through a very historical and unprecedented moment.

Having experienced the country’s first ever black president, Barack Obama, of course this moment came with a lot of split opinions. Middle class white America, not all, but a good chunk, were far from happy to see this type of change in government, whilst millions of black Americans finally got recognized on the world stage in a way that actually implied real power and authority. Now, without diving too deep into Obama as that’s a whole separate topic on its own, maybe many black Americans and other minority groups truly saw Obama as this beacon of hope for real change first and foremost in America, but also how the US would operate internationally regarding conflicts in other nations.

Whilst those people chose to blindly follow Obama’s well spoken and charming ways, Lupe Fiasco was able to see the wolf in sheep’s clothing from the jump. Just months after his Lasers album was released, he appeared on CBS to discuss his latest album where he would go viral again, this time for doubling down on his stance on the current and first black president at the time, Barack Obama So your latest album Lasers and the single Words I Never said is pretty politically charged and that’s actually an anomaly for a pop artist. You realize that, right? And you do mention though, going against Obama, my fight against the terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama and the United States of America, you know, so for me, it’s like I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s actually causing the other forms of terrorism.

You know, the root causes of the terrorism is the stuff that the US Government allows to happen, you know, and the foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists, you know, and it’s easy for us because it’s really just some oil which we can really get on our own. So who are you looking to vote for the 2012 presidential race? I don’t vote. Oh, you don’t vote? No, I don’t vote. Really? No. This interview went insanely viral with blogs and articles all bashing Lupe for his distasteful words against the President.

Many felt Lupe was going too far, while some genuinely appreciated his willingness to say whatever was on his mind, no matter the backlash in the Buzz now at 9, did rapper Lupe Fiasco go too far when he called called President Obama a terrorist? By September of 2011, Lupe was seen on stage waving the Palestinian flag, expressing his support. Following his outspoken stance on several political and geopolitical topics, Lupe’s willingness to speak up started to put his career in hot water as unfortunately for him, the very people he was speaking about were the same ones signing his checks.

Now Fast forward to 2013. At this point, Obama had already been re elected for his second second term. And it was becoming increasingly clear that just like the presidents before him, regardless of race and color, Obama was still just a puppet to the ones who fund him. Two of the five biggest individual donors to Obama’s 2012 election were Jewish men by the name of Jeffrey Katzenberg and Irwin Jacobs, both avid supporters of Israel and Zionism. By July 2012, the President signed the United States Israel and Hansicle Security cooperation Act of 2012, which strengthens Israel’s qualitative military edge.

Lupe made his stance clear that he did not support the current President just because he was black or even for the fact that he was a fellow Chicagoan like himself, but instead called out his inability to stop funding Israel’s continuous occupation of the Palestinian people and their land. On September 25, 2012, Lupe released his fourth album under Atlantic Records, which was a sequel to his well received food and liquor project titled Food and Liquor 2 the Great American Rap Album Part 1. This album actually beat the first week’s sales of the original, but did technically underperform mainstream wise compared to others.

One of the more notable singles on the project was Bitch Bad. This song was yet again another example of Lupe’s ability to tell a story, one of deep meaning meaning deconstructing a major societal problem in this case was the sexualization of women at the time, and men. It aged incredibly well, just like many of his other socially conscious tracks. At this time, Lupe was in a gray area with Atlantic Records still having a shaky relationship, one that would end up decomposing a few years after this release. But we’ll cover that shortly. By 2013, a headline came out stating that Lupe Fiasco was booted off an inaugural party stage after criticizing Obama.

Basically, Lupe performed at an unofficial inaugural ball in Washington and decided to play his single Words I never said for 30 minutes straight as it was a very politically charged song and he likely wanted to get its message out there. To be fair, 30 minutes of the same song is pretty crazy regardless of the record. But of course, this was another hit on Lupe’s name that the mainstream would use to try and slowly tear down his image for his outspoken nature. Then in June 2014, controversial conservative news anchor Bill O’Reilly called out Lupe for his stance on Obama as a terrorist and suggested that Lupe was invited to clarify his words, but declined.

However, a day later, Lupe tweeted in response, woah, I never got an invite to the O’Reilly Factor and turned it down. That’s news to me. Would never turn down the op to push Billy’s buttons. The following day, Lupe appeared on Bill’s show where he got into a heated debate that was heavily edited. Yet most viewers acknowledged that Lupe held his own and did a great job overcoming Bill’s attempts to belittle and undermine Lupe. Like some uneducated rapper that just says things for the sake of shock value, you are oversimplifying and bringing a message to people, younger people, as I pointed out, who admire you.

That is a message that is not true. So to say that the President of the United States of America, all of them, not just Obama, because I’m not trying to undermine him and him being a terrorist is just one label. He’s many things. Like you said, he’s a protector, he’s a father, he’s a midst of other things. Me just recognizing that one particular attribute of him is not me trying to undermine him or undermine my constituency or spread lies or spread rumors for the sake of anybody. I don’t really care about the GOP’s or the Democratic Party.

My point is the people, people and giving the people. I’m not misleading the people. The President. The President of the United States of America is the commander in chief of our armed forces. So it’s not. It’s not a lie. Basically. Basically the entire US Government and the military attached to it is a fiasco. When it came to this type of political rhetoric from a rapper, it was far from the norm, especially to be willing to openly call out America as a whole and firmly stand on the side of the Palestinians. And for example, here’s a tweet from just a month after his appearance on the O’Reilly Factor.

1 My support for Palestine began before I was born. The man who married my mother and father is Palestinian. That same man buried my father. As the years went on, Lupe would mature as an artist and grow even more content with his beliefs and never let himself drown out his truth to appeal to corporate America or even his own fans if he had to. By 2015, Lupe had released his fifth album under Atlantic Records, titled Tetsuo and Youth. This album, despite being a masterful display of his lyricism, failed to reach mainstream success, probably because it came with little to no support from his label.

It was increasingly clear to Lupe that his time with Atlantic was running its course. I mean, there’s only so many times you can call out the same Jewish executives that cut the checks before they cut ties. On the track mural, Lupe says, ain’t nothing to do it but to do it unless you Virgin Mary nothing do it but the truest believe all that unless you Jewish. This is a reference to the belief Muslims and Christians share of the Immaculate conception of Jesus and how the Jews don’t subscribe to this belief. Now, granted how sensitive the Jewish community is, basically anything said that’s not glazing them is seen as anti Semitic.

Even just noticing differences in beliefs at this point is a problem for them. And by that point, Lupe was practically fed up with his relationship with Atlantic. Based on the nature of his contract with Atlantic, Lupe was officially, unofficially obligated to release one more project, which was drogas light to fulfill the terms of his original recording contract. To clarify, though, he was no longer signed to Atlantic after the release of Tetsuo and Youth, but said himself that he needed to give them one more album, to which he admitted was just a bunch of throwaway records he put out because he didn’t feel that Atlantic deserved his best, especially if they were going to be profiting off his first project that he would technically be releasing independently under his 1st and 15th imprint and 30 tigers.

However, a month before Lupe would release his first independent album, he found himself in hot water again. So so much that it led to announce his retirement from rap on December 12, 2016. Lupe freestyles over J. Cole’s track Everybody Dies. Lupe titled his version Nerd and on the track he says artists getting robbed for their publishing by dirty Jewish execs that think his alms from the covenant. Yeah, let’s just say at this point our boy Lupe didn’t give no fox. But unfortunately, moments after the release, he was smeared by the Anti Defamation League, labeled an anti Semite.

And while in the modern day, that label is slowly beginning to lose its power just a bit back in 2016, having this label on you was truly a career killer. I mean, Jewish people are all over the entertainment industry and to go against them practically alienates you from countless opportunities. Opportunities. The freestyle released on SoundCloud was removed for hate speech and Lupe’s feelings of frustration led to a barrage of tweets. And this makes me an anti Semite how? If you feel that I am an anti Semite because I noted that race religion of the perpetrator, then that’s your opinion.

It’s some upright, moral Jewish execs in this business and some low down, dirty awful motherfuckers that would sell sell they mother into slavery. Shrug. Lupe said he has been at Auschwitz and has studied Judaism. I embedded myself in all the facets of their culture and religion and seen firsthand both the dark side and the light sides. To be fair, this wasn’t Lupe’s first time telling his fans that he would retire. But this time people really thought it was real when he said, I get the hint. God. Yo, Lupe fans, it’s been fun and I hope you’ve had fun.

I’m officially not releasing any more music albums cancelled. Getting beat up for telling the truth is not how I plan on spending the rest of my life. At this point, Lupe seemed defeated. Like, no matter how he would try to carefully articulate his point of view, the labels and media would always take it out of context. And he undoubtedly took heed to what he likely always knew deep down, which is that you, you can’t really beat the system no matter how much integrity one carries themselves with in this so called rap game, you’re unfortunately systematically designed to fail.

If you don’t fall in the mold, the label paying you expects you to fit in amongst the back and forth with the ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who stated Lupe’s line was offensive to the Jewish community. Lupe gave real names of Jewish people that directly impacted his career, citing Julia Greenwald, president of Atlantic Records. Craig Kalman, CEO and chairman of Atlantic Records, who Lupe describes once negotiated a deal in secret which said I agreed to give away 85% of my public rights to the song Airplanes to his producers. He also claimed that Craig Kalman brought me my 360 deal while I was half naked recovering from pneumonia a hotel room in la.

It was surreal just to throw it in there. Both Julia Greenwald and Greg Kalman of Atlantic were recognized by the UJA Federation of New York as Music Visionaries of the Year at a luncheon in June 2010. The UJA is a major Jewish philanthropic organization that supports Jewish community programs locally in Israel and around the world. Anyway, Lupe explained how even the Jewish lawyer he hired to assist with his label troubles was also out to short him. The Jewish lawyer I hired to get me off Atlantic was more interested in taking 5% of everything I did. He sent a bill for 100k and when asked about the details on what Lupe suggested was an exploitative contract, Lupe said, yup, clever, right? It was what they would call internally a Ferrari’s deal in Jewish business circles, a reference to the Hebrew slang term for succor, the height of insult for Israelis, something this LA Times article touches on really well.

With Lupe officially having no ties to Atlantic Records, he released his true first independent album titled Drogues Wave in September of 2018. The sales of the album were far from his previous releases went under the machine, which is to be expected. But it was clear that he was greatly pushed out of the hip hop world and not due to a lack of quality of music, but more likely because he didn’t fit the mold and direction of the music industry, something Lupe has always battled with. But unfortunately, the market for conscious artists wasn’t nearly as strong as it was in the early 2010s.

By 2018 we’d witnessed the rise of soundcloud rappers which birthed the mumble rap wave, and Lupe was becoming more of an acquired taste instead of a mainstream staple. Between 2018 and now, Lupe released a few EPs and tapes. And in terms of albums, after Drogas wave came Drill music and Zion in 2022, an album Lupe shared that he made entirely off GarageBand and an $100 USB mic in his living room. The album was yet again another solid body of work, with the track Adobotto gaining traction, but clearly not enough, as by this point he was far removed from the very labels and machines that initially helped catapult him into the mainstream now.

What’s the overall point I’m getting at throughout this video? Well, consider this. Who knows what kind of mainstream praise he would be receiving if he decided to just go with the standard gangsta rap image from Chicago and promoted the same junk that many of his peers chose to? Would he have been selling out more shows? Would he have had more number one charting singles? The answer, based on his previous records, is yes. But clearly the path he chose to pursue, the one off the beaten path, the road far less traveled, led to a career that he can certainly still profit from.

By no means has his musical talent dwindled in any way, but it’s undoubtable that the hill he chose to die on cast those who made that same choice in into the shadows of the music industry, buried under their old catalog and not allowed to reach the same heights they were once granted with open arms. Truly speaking, though, I don’t think Lupe really cares. Although I can’t say that with certainty. It’s evident that since early on, Lupe carries himself with a great deal of pride and integrity and will always choose morality over money. As he began to be even more outspoken on topics that most are artists and entertainers dodge like a sickness, he chose to tackle them head on.

And while it might have cost him millions of dollars and prevented his mainstream career from ever continuing to grow as he can at least truly say that he didn’t sell his soul for a check, he managed to stay strong and continue his art. And even if he didn’t beat the system, he proved that it’s possible to be a socially conscious artist even in a business. That is the only antithesis of that very idea. Anyway, whenever people try to tell you that hip hop is dead, don’t let that narrative slide. Surely on a mainstream level, it’s been dumbed down beyond belief, but there are always artists out there still releasing very good and meaningful records every year that get swept under the rug either due to their outspokenness or simply not being signed to a major.

It’s up to the fans to support the music they firmly believe in, Earth, or else you’ll find yourself listening to the very stuff you once considered slop. If y’ all enjoyed this video, do your boy a favor and drop me a like for the algorithm. Share your thoughts in the comments below. Share the video to a friend who loves Lupe’s work and is curious to learn more about him. And most importantly, subscribe to the channel for more videos. Spin your boy script and I’m out of here.
[tr:tra].