Lupe Fiasco on Lasers, Lame Rap, and His Battles With the Music Industry

In October 2010, nearly 200 Lupe Fiasco fans stood outside the New York offices of Atlantic Records to protest the delay of Fiasco’s third studio album. Fiasco and Warner Music Group CEO Lyor Cohen came out carrying a boom box and gave the crowd a listen to what they’d been waiting for: Lasers. The album has since leaked online to some negative reviews, but on March 8, those rallying fans can finally take a legal listen and decide for themselves what they think of Fiasco’s latest. We spoke with the artist about ho-hum hip-hop (Justin Bieber included), his beef with President Obama, and his tumultuous relationship with the industry.

So what was the reason for the Lasers hold up?
Lasers came in phases. Some of it was honest and some of it was dishonest. When I say dishonest, I mean the label coming in and sort of messing things up. And the honest part, we’d record a phase of Lasers and this guy puts out an album, and it's like, we got to compete with that. Then you get up to the last month, everybody is happy, and you get a call from the publishing company. Shit, now we need to cut three records ... I was coming off a very successful second album. Then when you come in with the same formula on this next record, all of a sudden The Cool and “Superstar” become unsuccessful. So it's like, Oh shit, now what? Now everything I do on this record is going to be unsuccessful?

Were you expecting more freedom because of the success of The Cool?
No. I trust people to be human. Sometimes you do things that make amazing amounts of sense; sometimes you do things that don't make any sense whatsoever. 360 deals are the new things of the industry. It's not about selling records; it's about selling T-shirts, getting a piece of your publishing, getting a piece of your touring, and all these other kind of properties. I didn't have my hopes too high. But when you have things like that on paper: when you have nine weeks at No. 1, when you have these Grammy nominations, when you have this platinum single, and when you have these kind of record sales in excess of 700 [thousand], when you look at things like that, that's success.

What are you hoping will happen with Lasers?
To be blunt, I don't really give a fuck. I've grown very distant from the business, very numb to it. Before, I'd just kind of be a ninja. Just kind of keep it moving. When I first got into the music business, it was like, "You need to do this interview and all this promotion even if it kills you, because it means your record is going to do this and if you don't do it you're not going to get this and you're not going to get that." Now those same kind of things don't have that effect on me, because I don't really care about the success anymore. I don't really care about the fame. Three, four years later, I look at my bank account statements, and I haven't made any money with my record label. You start to think a little bit differently about your motivations and why you're doing what you're doing.

How has the fan support for Lasers made you feel?
It was amazing, humbling, and inspiring, to the point where I went back in the studio and did more records … it made everything real, that your music is actually something that people want. And it's something that is successful, not in selling records, but the way it moves people and inspires them to do better for themselves. That was what they were saying, when they were doing interviews with Village Voice, MTV. The interviewers were a little crass with them, kind of saying, "Why don't you protest something that's really worth it? Child hunger, poverty, or whatever." The response from the fans was, "You listen to Lupe Fiasco’s music, that's what he talks about. He addresses that." It's pretty dope.

Did it play a big part in Atlantic finally releasing the album?
To a certain extent, yes; to a certain extent, no. I didn't want “The Show Goes On” to be the single. It kind of brought us back to the table. We were ready to go. My whole team, it wasn't about putting the album out, it was about getting off the record company and going independent or going to another label. To the point we were like, listen, just take Lasers. You can have whatever percentage off the next ten records I do for the rest of my life. I just do not want to be here anymore. It was actually [Atlantic Records President] Julie Greenwald, who was kind of on the sidelines a little bit during the process, when she saw that she came in and made everybody shut up. It was kind of like, "Look, Lupe, what do we need to do to get this record out?"

Why didn’t you want “The Show Goes On” to be the first single?
Because I didn't. When you're an artist, for sink or swim, you're like, I want “Beautiful Lasers” to be the single. I want a record that is super meaningful to me. I don't want to put out music with the intention of getting it on the radio, because I don't really care about the radio. And I don't really care if MTV plays it. You, as an artist, want to express yourself as meaningfully as you possibly can at every step.

How are things between you and the label now?
I don't like the music business. I've always said that. I've been on Sony, BMG; I've been in every system. It’s something that I've always looked at with a certain level of disdain about the way the business was carried out. The relationship that I have with Atlantic, right now, it's copacetic. Hopefully we'll get through the rest of our contract without too many big hiccups.

Your previous albums tell a story or are structured around a character. Why don’t you speak more from a personal basis?
The story of Lasers is my story. I didn’t have to look too far to get subject matter for this record; it was stuff that was happening to me. I wrestled with suicide. [I wanted to] document that in a song, explain to people what the fight of it is. There’s this wrestling with fame and success: How much is enough? How much of this money can I blow on Ferraris? What level of fame [shows] that I made it? Is it when the paparazzi are chasing me down the streets? Then I’m famous? Or am I famous now?

You’ve said there’s a lack of creativity in hip-hop. What’s the problem?
I’m guilty of it, too. Hip-hop today — talking solely about the commercial space — it’s the same producers, sound, over and over again. The artist with that particularly poppy song is given the first look as opposed to that ethereal, weird artist with the brand-new music. I think that’s why you see things like you saw at the Grammys, where you have these massive acts, humungous records, crazy talent — and the person who wins Best New Artist is this really abstract left bass player. Because it’s about who’s making music, who’s making something different. Justin Bieber sounds just like everybody else, to be honest. He’s the homie; he’s dope. But he’s no different than Sean Kingston, Usher.

On “Words I Never Said,” you voice some criticism of Obama. Some have taken that as disrespect.
Was I disrespectful to Obama for saying that he didn’t say anything when the Israeli military bombed Gaza for seven days and killed 900 innocent civilians? 'Cause he didn’t. So that’s not disrespectful. To say I didn’t vote for him, that’s not disrespectful either — that’s exercising my right to not cast a ballot for a system that I don’t necessarily believe in. It’s more of a corrective critique as opposed to me just trying to be an asshole. I didn’t believe that he had the power to change the system, which is what needs to happen. I don’t look at the color and I don’t look at the historical significance. Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you’re going to save the world. There are no superhuman qualities about us; we’re all human, able to make mistakes and be hypocrites, [and] also at the same time do great things.

Two Men Stabbed At Lloyd Banks Show, Banks Played Role

Two Men Stabbed At Lloyd Banks Show, Banks Played Role

Witnesses say Banks provoked to crowd to turn violent at his show where two men were stabbed

On Saturday, March 5 at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, New York two men were repeatedly stabbed. G-Unit emcee Lloyd Banks was performing at the venue that evening.

Clayton Webster and Anthony Marshall were both repeatedly stabbed in what police believe were unrelated altercations. Webster, who is 23 years old, is in critical condition. The 21 year old Marshall is in stable condition.

The first altercation involving Marshall occured at 2:15am, 45 minutes later Webster was stabbed as well. No arrests have been made and the Police are investigating to see if the assaults are connected.

After the stabbing at a recent Lloyd Banks concert left two men in their early 20's in the hospital, eyewitnesses have come forward claiming that Lloyd Banks egged on the crowd, provoking the violence.

"Cursing, making fun of our town, just getting everybody riled up to the point where it's chaos," James Norton, cousin of victim Clayton Webster, told Buffalo WVIB. Norton also said Banks' comments caused five or six fights to break out. Despite 36 security guards on hand for the show, they could not get things under control.

Ja Rule's Prison Sentence Delayed Again Until June

Citing the need to settle a tax issue and finish his album, Ja Rule and his team successfully lobby for three more months of freedom.


After it was decided his previous court date would be moved to Wednesday, March 9, 2011, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers ruled that Ja Rule will not have to report for sentencing until June 8. Ja—real name Jeffrey Atkins—was sentenced to two years for weapons possession stemming from a 2007 incident. According to Ja’s attorney, Stacey Richman, a few personal matters need to be handled before going behind bars.

“We want to finish the album, and there's also a tax issue,” Richman told the New York Post. “Somebody, an accountant, had filed an incorrect form, and this is to correct what was done in the past.”

Biggie Smalls. Freestyling On a Brooklyn Street Corner

WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU BIG POPPA

Name: Christopher G. L. Wallace
Stage Name: The Notorious B.I.G.
Alias: Biggie Smalls, Frank White
Birth: May 21, 1972 Brooklyn, New York
Death: March 9th, 1997 Los Angeles, Ca
Occupation: Musician/Father/Entrepreneur


Born May 21, 1972, the only child of Voletta Wallace, Christopher was special from the beginning. "He was singing and talking before he could walk," his mother remembers. "Writing before he attended school, the biggest most beautiful handwriting. And everyone loved Christopher, everyone."

Raised by a single parent in Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant, young Christopher found himself pulled in two different directions. He dreamed of being a graphic artist and was an honor student ("and I have the awards to prove it," beams Mrs. Wallace). On the other hand, there was the peer pressure from the neighborhood, young men who were famous for being junior outlaws.

A tape he made with Big Daddy Kane's DJ, Mister Cee, was submitted to The Source Magazine for their "Unsigned Hype" competition. It won. The tape, a basement production of B.I.G. rhyming with authority over "Half-Steppin," was forwarded to Bad Boy founder and CEO, Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was looking for a hardcore rapper. He was blown away. "I just kept rewinding and rewinding it. I had to meet him," remembers Puffy.

Within weeks of signing Biggie, Puffy put him to work, placing him on re-mixes for Mary J. Blige, Super cat and Neneh Cherry. "Party and Bullshit," an anthemic club hit from the 1989 soundtrack Who's the Man? added to the street buzz. By September 13, 1994, the anticipation for Notorious B.I.G,'s debut, Ready to Die was electric. Ready to Die, with its immediacy, honest first person autobiographical narrative, superior writing, relentless deliver and cinematic style quite simply changed hip hop.

The album was an overwhelming success; the first single, "Juicy" went gold within weeks and by the end of the year the album was triple platinum. "Juicy" was a Billboard Top 5 Rap Single. His second single, "Big Poppa/Warning" reached #1, and his third, the classic "One More Chance," debuted at #1 on every format. In June of 1995, the single "One More Chance" debuted at number five in the pop singles chart, tying Michael Jackson's "Scream / Childhood" as the highest-debuting single of all time. Ready to Die continued to gain popularity throughout 1995, eventually selling two million copies. With its success, the Notorious B.I.G. became the most visible figure in hip-hop. The perfect mix of commercial materialism and realistic thuggery, Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 debut, the multi-platinum "Ready to Die," made him an immediate hip-hop superstar.

Spreading love the Brooklyn way, B.I.G. ushered long-time friends Li'l Kim and Li'l Cease into the spotlight, forming Junior M.A.F.I.A. The crew's 1995 "Conspiracy" went gold and Li'l Kim's subsequent solo album, 1996's "Hardcore" went platinum and B.I.G. became a rap institution.

Biggie won three awards at the 1995 Source Music Awards ceremony, including Best New Artist. At that year's Billboard Music Awards, his single "Big Poppa" was named "Single of the Year" and, in 1997, Life After Death won Billboard's "R and B Album of the Year," an MTV Video Music Award for "Best Rap Video," and two ASCAP Awards. But the album's impact cannot be measured by mere chart placements and platinum certifications, or even awards. "The stakes were raised," says Wu-Tang founder and producer RZA. "Before B.I.G., you might put out anything, now you knew, okay, it's real out there, you gotta come correct, 'cause this cat is spending time on his shit."

Early on the morning of March 9th, The Notorious B.I.G. was returning to his hotel in Los Angeles after a Soul Train Award party when another car pulled up aside his G.M.C. Suburban in front of the Peterson Automobile Museum and opened four shot's past through the side door where Notorious B.I.G. was seated and left the world wide loved rapper un-conscious and tragically dying upon arrival to a near by hospital.

Biggie's death was a vicious shock to the entire music industry and sent shock waves around the world. The Notorious B.I.G.'s public funeral, however, was anything but peaceful. Thousands flooded into his Brooklyn neighborhood to catch a glimpse of his hearse, jumping on cars and clashing with police; ten people were arrested. A private funeral held earlier was more cordial, with Queen Latifah and members of Public Enemy and Naughty by Nature in attendance. The casket was open from the waist up, and the rapper had been fitted in a double- breasted white suit and matching hat.

Two years later after his death, the posthumous album "Born Again" is released and debut's at #1 on the charts knocking off Celine Dion from the spot. The album featured Lil' Kim, Lil' Cease, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Ice Cube and other well known rappers paying their respect's in a celebration of the late great rappers life and legacy.

Christopher Wallace was undoubtedly one of the greatest rappers of all time and is a legend in his own right. B.I.G. survived by his wife and two children. Still today, many want to learn more about the late great rapper. Many remember what he accomplished as well as gained in his very young bright successful career. Notorious B.I.G. might be physically gone but spiritually he will always be alive thru his works. Nevertheless he was larger than life. The murder investigation of The Notorious B.I.G is still active to this day but there has still been no arrest's in the murder..