S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco has justified his recent rant against MTV after the network playfully taunted his career and offered a Top 10 list of ways for him to become successful.
According to Lupe, the renowned music network has a distorted view of him.
“They did a story before which was ‘Lupe Fiasco: What Happened,’ and it was kinda like, ‘F*ck you mean what happened?,’ like, what are you talking about,” Lupe told radio host Angela Yee in an interview. “I kinda let it go because I know those dudes, personally, so it’s like, why y’all letting these stories come out like this? … It was bias. If it was unbiased, then you should have reported on the protest and that’s as unbiased as you could possibly be and just tell the story directly. Get Atlantic Records’ half and get my half and put it together. Don’t put it on me like I’m just this little monster who don’t want to listen to my A&R because you honestly don’t know what the story is, so they just kinda caught me in a bad place when they came out with the second story which was like the ’10 Reasons For Lupe Fiasco To Be Successful.’ You can’t dictate what success is to me. You don’t know what I have, materially, you don’t know what I’ve achieved. When they wrote the story, I was on my way to being principal for the day at my old grade school on the west side of Chicago. Why ain’t you talk about that, that’s success.” (Team Yee TV)
Last week, Lupe questioned the network for their joke despite having a good relationship with them.
“Oh snap…MTV (illuminati’s favorite network) back on the attack…why can’t y’all just chill out? Salacious banality @ the speed of light? I think I’ve been very good natured with you. I personally know several employees of your company. You guys know me as well. I’m confused. Where is the true music journalism??? where is Suchin?!! What happened? Where are the honest critiques of cultural expression? For it’s not about being RIGHT it’s about being HOT Fame over self-awareness and virtue Hedonism over self respect Celebrity over cerebral. A destroying force in our culture and society just like rest of the useless vapid spectacles that pour out of our tv’s and radios.” (Rap Radar)
He also openly pondered the network’s overall purpose and called out its corporate ties.
“What are we supposed to be learning from you? What is your point? Do you have a point beyond corporate sponsored distraction? Your a materialistic shell of your former self that can only identify with celebrity pageantry and instant gratification. Corporate garbage pushing plastic lifestyles and wasteful, destructive behavior into the brains of the youth of the world. So when your relevance thins in2 a whisper & the stock price collapses and you have 2 come 2 grips with the mess you made. I’ll be here 4 ya. We’ll be here. With hands full of baby powder 2 smack some sense back into your body & a warm shoulder to cry on. We want the REAL MTV back!” (Rap Radar)
Prior to Lupe’s remarks, MTV published a Top 10 list of suggestions Lupe should consider before the release of his upcoming Lasers album.
Though his oft-delayed third solo album has been in the works for nearly three years now, Atlantic Records reportedly refused to release the project or even deliver a projected release date for the Chicago rapper. However, after thousands of Lupe Fiasco fans signed a petition earlier this year to try and force Atlantic to release the album and even threatened to hold a protest outside the Atlantic offices, the label finally caved and gave Lupe a release date: March 8, 2011. That said, it might seem like the hard work is done for Lupe. All he has to do is sit back and wait for March 2011 to come around, right? Wrong. In fact, the uphill battle for Lupe Fiasco is just beginning. And there are still plenty of things he needs to do if he wants Atlantic to give him the chance to release any more albums after this one. (Rap Fix)
Check out some recent Lupe Fiasco footage below:
