We either stand at the precipice of the edge and jump without a parachute into a dark hole of self-hatred or take flight with Brown Condor to soar to our collective liberation. 

by Teddy Fikre  written: Monday, February 13th, 2012

Who to write about next?  This I ponder over a cigs by the dozens and coffee by the cup loads.  I mean my cortex can only produce so much DOPE text in any given moment and my synapses can only snap back so many times in any given day.  Seriously, I have written about poets, politicians, artists, singers, and cowardly niggas without regard to bias.  I wrote three lines of the Obama “Yes We Can” speech in 2008 only to end up in a ditch of depression from the outsized expectations.  I travel to Venus and back bringing back asteroids of DOPE factoids only to be scorched by Earth’s ozone layers upon reentry.  Maybe it is best I pump the breaks; maybe it is best that I slow down and look within first before I shine a light on some other deserving soul or an undeserving troll::

What the hell, you knew I was not going to do any such thing.  I impeach myself each time I give myself advice only to end up popping my collars in Hurricane Teddisho and come back meto gena to scream words into the vortex of winds blowing about me.  I am if nothing else all audacious with it, I continue to get back up to size up my opponents and start flailing until my intended target is felled.   So—you ask—who is your intended target today Teddiye?  Is it a deserving soul or a undeserving troll?  Now if you know anything about me, I try my best to write only of deserving souls. Sure, occasionally I get side-tracked and I find myself on the wrong side of the tracks battling ignorant trolls—but for the most part, I stay north of the tracks and only shine my light on deserving good folk. 

So on this particular cold ass Monday, I am about to warm up your collective souls by putting pen to pad and  bleeding my Bic dry to author a DOPE article about a DOPE prophet by the name of Lupe Fiasco.  Let me reach back and ask Serendipity to bless me with an ounce of epiphany so that I can fully capture the essence of this black poet and black thinker and grace the universe with the talent that is Lupe.  This is my homage to our version of Homer and Aristotle, this is my SALUTE to a poet and a liberation soldier who is intent on making a difference—one verse at a time.

Before Lupe became a household name, Wasalu Muhammad Jaco was born on February 16th, 1982 in Chicago.  Born of West African descent he was one of nine children of Shirley, a gourmet chef, and Gregory, an engineer. His father, a member of the Black Panther Party, was a prolific African drummer, karate teacher, operating plant engineer, and owner of karate schools and army surplus store. Fiasco was raised Muslim on the West Side of Chicago on Madison Terrace housing project. At the age of three, Fiasco began taking martial arts classes. His parents divorced when he was five, and he went on to live with his mother, but his father still remained an important part of his life.

He described his father’s influence over the family by saying, “After school, my father would come and get us and take us out into the world—one day, we’re listening to N.W.A, the next day we’re listening to Ravi Shankar, the next day, he’s teaching us how to shoot an AK-47, the next day, we’re at karate class, the next day, we’re in Chinatown”.

You see, this is why I love this brother’s soul—no not love like “boo boo from Atlanta” love—I mean love as in admiring an essence of black power that defies gravity and authority.  Lupe was raised by a Black Panther Warrior—I knew there was something in him that related more to a warrior more than just a thinker.  You see, at this exact moment, I am reading a book authored by Assata Shakur—a book that chronicles the racism and fascism that kept black folks down for 400 years in Amerikkka.  I knew that Lupe was an extension of this struggle that fought to liberate black minds and black spirits.  This is why I can hear in his music the muted melody of freedom.  He is a Sojourner of truth that is seeking out TRUTH. 

Raised in Chicago, Fiasco developed an interest in hip hop after initially disliking the genre for its use of vulgarity. After adopting the name Lupe Fiasco and recording songs in his father’s basement, 19-year-old Fiasco joined a group called Da Pak. The group disbanded shortly after its inception, and Fiasco soon met rapper Jay-Z who helped him sign a record deal with Atlantic Records. In 2006, Fiasco released his debut album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor on the label, which received three Grammy nominations. He released his second album, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, in December 2007. The lead single “Superstar” peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. He released Lasers on March 8, 2011 after a two-year delay.

In addition to music, Fiasco has pursued other business ventures, including fashion. He runs two clothing lines, Righteous Kung-Fu and Trilly & Truly; he has designed sneakers for Reebok. He has been involved with charitable activities, including the Summit on the Summit expedition, and in 2010 he recorded a benefit single for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Fiasco is also noted for his anti-establishment views, which he has expressed in both interviews and his music.

Fiasco, along with rappers Common, Rhymefest, and Talib Kweli, has been credited as a pioneer of the conscious hip hop movement, which focuses on social issues. Subjects touched upon on Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor include absent parents, terrorism, Islam and religion, war, and prostitution[ Fiasco attributes his interest in social issues to his highly cultured upbringing, as he describes his mother as "very intellectual" and his father as a "Renaissance man". He rejects the misogyny common in hip hop, which he discusses in the song "Hurt Me Soul". Despite this, Fiasco is strongly opposed to censorship in music: "If we're going to [censor things] that are offensive, then we are going to have to blind and deafen everyone. Come on, man. Let’s focus on education and literacy and poverty.”

Fiasco mixes various lyrical techniques in his songwriting. The rapper views hip-hop as a medium conducive to storytelling, a primary element of his lyrics due to his background in theater. He wrote plays as a child, which had a strong effect on his songwriting approaches. Fiasco utilizes both metaphors and literal statements in his work, which he describes as “getting from point A to point B in as few words as possible”. His use of metaphors is exemplified by the song “Gotta Eat” from Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, which is told from the perspective of a cheeseburger and addresses the poor nutrition in black communities in the United States.

Yo, seriously I can write a million pages about Lupe and still come back with a million pens waiting to write the next sentence.  This is why I identify with this brother, I too am Lupe.  I too am a Fiasco.  My life has been one Luped Out Fiasco and in between the loops and the fiascoes I have somehow managed to find a light that has guided me to the right side of the shores.  I have crashed a million times in rough waters only to keep rising up from the waters blessed by the Right Hand of God.

I have witnessed and continue to witness the genocidal approach most rappers take towards their own community in the most astounding and shocking manner.  Most hold in their hands the most powerful megaphone that could literally reverberate freedom throughout the ether, instead they use that megaphone to spew out a cacophony of misogyny and materialism that is literally leading 25 million African-Americans back into the Atlantic Ocean to be buried along with their 3 million African ancestors who died on the slaves ships and were tossed overboard as useless cargo.  Now 200 years later, our own rappers cum overseers are tossing over a generation of black babies back into the Atlantic Ocean to rest in war eternally. 

I say this knowing that I might get another reprimand from Talib Kweli for judging rappers too harsh without knowing their predicament.  I know brother, I know what you mean, but I can’t help it.  I can’t help hearing the shit that I hear on a daily basis and imaging what it would be like instead of more rappers like Lupe and Talib inhabited our hip hop universe.  Should I keep my mouth shut when I see seven year old black girls shaking their asses and dancing like strip pole dancers?  Should I seal my mouth when I see little black boys shooting at me with their fingers while driving through South East DC?  The world we live in has real life consequences; the drivel that comes out the mouth of rappers has the influence of a million preachers and a billion Obamas.  I watch on a daily basis when the audacity of “Yes We Can” is inverted and morphed by the paucity of rappers into forever “No We Can’t”.

This is my struggle, this is my pain, to shine more light on DOPE rappers like Lupe Fiasco and understand in their synapses they hold the key to our collective liberation.  We have struggled too long—oppressed and repressed too long—to be held back by the inertia of our own folk.  So I beg you Hip Hop fans, get up and stand up, get up for what is right, get up for TRUTH—and seek out instead DOPE rappers and poets in the mold of Lupe Fiasco.  I cannot impress upon you how much this issue matters. 

You see, Lupe Fiasco’s father fought as a Black Panther member in the 60s for this very essence.  He fought to give us HOPE and to give us CHANGE.  We have the ability to choose; to either accept HOPE and CHANGE or klick klack that Glock against our temples and shoot—KAPOW—murdered by our own lyrics! We face a critical juncture as a people, we either stand at the precipice of the edge to jump without a parachute into a dark hole of self-hatred or take flight with Brown Condor to soar to our collective liberation.  This is our choice; this is our Luped Out Fiasco.  What is your choice?  Me, I choose Lupe Fiasco.  Peace!

“Part of being a revolutionary is creating a vision that is more humane. That is more fun, too. That is more loving. It’s really working to create something beautiful.” ~Assata Shakur

 [click to see the SHOW going on with LUPE FIASCO]

[click to go to LUPE's website and follow him on twitter @LupeFiasco]

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Teddy Fikre

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