Ruby Hornet

Ruby Hornet is an entertainment website established in March 2008 that focuses on urban culture. It was founded by Alexander "DJ RTC" Fruchter and Virgil Solis as a hip-hop blog, located in Chicago, Illinois. They have conducted an interview with American rapper Lupe Fiasco in 2009"Lupe Fiasco: Don't Forget'em". Ruby Hornet. November 9, 2009. Archived from the original on February 5, 2010. and 2010, during the Lasers era. In the latter interview, they spoke about the album, Fiasco's struggle with Atlantic Records, and Fiasco Friday. It was hosted by DJ RTC, filmed by Virgil Solis, and edited by Tony Shane."Lupe Fiasco: At War with Lasers". Vimeo. December 1, 2010. In 2012, they held another interview with discussion concerning his forthcoming album Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1, thoughts about the United States, and the current hip-hop landscape.Fruchter, Alexander (May 21, 2012). "Lupe Fiasco Speaks on New LP, American Culture, & More". Ruby Hornet.
== Transcript ==
=== 2009 ===
Ruby Hornet	We're all pretty excited for your Halloween concert tomorrow. You've done this the last few years. How does it feel to you, is it starting to feel like a regular occurrence, a family type of setting?
Lupe Fiasco	Yeah, it definitely has the family element to it. This is not the only time, but I'm rarely in the city so this is when I really do see my family. They come out 30-40 deep to the show. It's almost like we took Halloween and made it a family holiday for me. A lot of family comes out to the show and it's more so creating a tradition. The first one was like a fluke, like 'yo, let's do a show on Halloween.' And then it turned into 'let's do another one. Let's do another one.' And every year it's gotten bigger and bigger, a little more sophisticated, a little more complex, it turned out to be something that hopefully I can do from here on out.
Ruby Hornet	This one is called Remember 2 Smile, billed as a retrospective. Is that something that you came up with, and is that a direction to the fans, or something that you need to remind yourself at times?
Lupe Fiasco	It's kind of dope. There's a few meanings for it, like with everything I do. One is that basic idea that we're pushing, especially with the title for the next album, which is L.A.S.E.R.S. (Love Always Shines Everytime Remember 2 Smile). It's kind of that, giving you a little hint, a little wink-wink into the next album. There's also so much going on in the city right now, so much violence and with the economy and all of this craziness involved, we're in the spotlight for negative reasons. It's kind of like a boost from one of the dudes in the city. And I'm not the only person, but this is just my two cents on the situation. No matter what goes on, remember to smile. And then the other part of it is that we're going down memory lane a little bit. Not too crazy, but we're definitely going backwards for the people who might have forgot, or the fans that were reminiscent. It's like a piece of nostalgia what the actual concert is going to be and the songs that we're gonna perform. You're really going to remember somethings like, 'oh, you forgot about that… Remember this?...' It has all those meanings rolled up into one.
Ruby Hornet	As far as going back in preparation for the show, has going back impacted or influenced the new music you've been creating?
Lupe Fiasco	Oh most definitely! I had to go back, and even as of today I'm still replaying old records in my head to remember the lyrics, going back through the old songs I even remember where I came from. I remember I heard "Failure" for the first time in years. Literally we're sitting down listening to it for real, it's been a couple years. And it's like, 'yo, I was doing that back then?' That record is almost 6 years old. And it's still fresh, it still has meaning, and I forgot some of the lyrics so I'm like, 'that metaphor was kind of crazy.' It was just like, 'am I doing that right now? Have I maintained that?' It pushes me to actually go back. I feel like I was murdering things back then. I don't feel like I'm murdering anything right now. It's not like I changed or anything like that, I just needed to step back and just do the things I was already doing cause it's still ahead of its time. Not to pat myself on the back and be mad arrogant with it, but this still sounds new, and they're still kids that come up to me and say, '"Failure" is the most ridiculous…' And you just go through my old tracklist and it's kind of the same way. For me, I should be doing this now. Why would I stray away and not come as hard on every record like I was doing before? That was real. Yeah, I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna go back into the studio and try to beat myself, try to take myself back to where I was. I feel like also I was losing inspiration and it was like, 'what else is there to talk about? What else is there to do? Nobody is really doing anything.' Kids are coming up now and it's like, 'he's still nice. This guy is still nice. That guy's still nice. Yo, you were nice son. You should be nice again.' And fans might not even realize like 'Lupe said he sucks. Lupe feels like he kinda fell off.' Well not really, I just stopped doing what I used to do before, and now I'm going back to it. All because of going back through tracks for the show.
Ruby Hornet	Recently you've released various freestyles. Some sites have put them up with, 'Lupe put this out because he's upset he wasn't named to the MTV Hottest Emcee List.' Is that output of new freestyles related to the list?
Lupe Fiasco	Definitely the Emcee list. For me it was like, I guess you feel a certain way like, 'I hope these people aren't forgetting about me. Are they forgetting about me? Is this what the status quo is right now and I'm not in that? That's unacceptable.' I feel like I'm nice or nicer than all of them, and it's not taking shots at anybody. It's the same situation where if there's competition and this is what it is, it's like, 'OK, I can do that. I can play ball with you guys.' And if this is the criteria of what it needs to be, I can do that easily. It's just putting myself into it. When they didn't put me on the last list, when they first starting making the list I was really pissed because I didn't make the list and I could understand, if I'm not the hottest dude right now, cool. But then they did an honorable mention list, and I didn't make the honorable mention list. And I know those dudes over at MTV. It's not like a beef or I was tripping, but it's like, 'come on man, what are you talking about?' And then I just had to go on a tirade and start destroying stuff and you got "Superstar" and got all that other stuff. Put me in arenas where they say if you want to be hot, this is what it is. You have be murdering it over here, you have to have the clubs jumping like this, you have to have this over here.' I can do that. I feel like I got enough accolades and enough of a foundation laid where I can go and do these things and my fans won't look at it like 'Lupe's selling out.' It's more so... this is just fun for me. It's 'Lupe's on parade almost.' That kind of exclusion this time around was like, 'oh, OK. I really have to go back in and start destroying. Really go in and just show that you won't ever forget about me in that realm.' I'm not a fame hog, but that's kind of like the last competition for Hip Hop. I got massive competition. It's like the Olympics of Hip Hop. I'm at the Grammy's every year. Every album's been nominated for a Grammy. On the music side I'm satisfied, but when it comes back to fun in Hip Hop, that's the last real competition. The 5 Mics has kind of fell off, that's not inspiration or drive anymore. That top Emcee list is, 'OK, this is the Olympics now? This is the Final Four, the World Series.' I'll be there.
Ruby Hornet	You just mentioned having fun in Hip Hop. For you, is having fun a necessary part of making music? What has to come in line for you to be like, 'Ok, I'm ready.'
Lupe Fiasco	It has to be-another thing about that list before I answer your question. The list was void of any balance. Everybody on that list except for maybe one or two people, but for the most part it was all one face. You had the hustlers, you had the street dudes, you had your heartthrob, but you didn't have like Mos Def on there. You didn't have the balance and I feel like I walk that line. If you're never gonna put dude on the list cause he's never gonna do this, Lupe can do that. Lupe can jump off and talk about whatever in a way that the streets are gonna get it, the girls are going to get it, nobody's going to be able to deny it and it's still going to have its integrity. For me, another part was 'I gotta make that list because the kids have to see that you don't have to do this to be successful.' That's the thermometer of success. If you look at it and 90% of it is negative, it's like we gotta have something positive on the list. That's not taking shots at anybody. All those people are my homeboys, but if we come down to the nitty gritty and what's effecting the streets, you got kids getting beat to death in the streets. You really have to take the responsibility to step up and be like, 'I have to show my success. I have to work this hard. I have to be to be looked at as this top ranked dude and top ranked Emcee. It's not because I want the glory and fame, but so kids can have a different role model or choice of role model.' If we're excluded from that, the top pop culture thing for Hip Hop is devoid of anything positive, oh naw, we got to go to work. The conscious backpackers have to go to the club and go to work.
Ruby Hornet	In the "L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto" one of the things you say is 'we want to have our own voice.' As far as the manifesto goes, did the music start to shape the manifesto or did you approach the manifesto first and that influenced the music you were making?
Lupe Fiasco	It was more so the manifesto came first. I felt like I needed to have a DNA. I talked to good friend, Ian Ashbury, who used to sing for the Doors and was real heavy in the scene and just a cool dude. I kick it with him in New York a lot. One of his partners was talking about how the old punk bands had manifestos. They built their whole thing off their manifesto. Think back to the Black Panther party, every movement had 'this is what we want'. It made sense because I'm at a point in my life, and been at a point in my life for the last year or so, where I guess I'm gonna be old now? I'm gonna be like a man? And it was like, 'how am I going to live the rest of my life? On what rules?' It was more so about knowing what you want. If you know exactly what you want it makes life become easier in a sense. You have a set goal and there will be no iffyness, no indecision because you know exactly what you want and in knowing what you want, you also know exactly what you don't want. Just that simple life lesson, you can create things off the top of that. The L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto was that. This is what I want my music to be. This is how I want to be looked at as an artist. This is what I want to achieve. Once you have that DNA it's easy to go back... I don't have thousands and thousands of songs. I have hundreds and hundreds of songs that cover the gambit of everything and go here and go there. So you kind of struggle with, 'Ok, now what am I going to talk about?' OK, let's strip it down and take a bare bones approach. What do you want as a human being? What do you want for other people in the world? What do you want? It's like, 'OK, here's a list.' Old punk bands had manifestos. The Black Panther Party had a manifesto… It gave the movement purpose, it gave the movement a goal so every step had to make sense. After I did the manifesto the music became, 'OK, is this song achieving this or no? Well that song isn't the song you need to make… That's the song…'
Ruby Hornet	I understand that, and I understand where you're at in life. Something that comes up after you figure out what you want and how to achieve your goals, I think that another important step in all that is being able to forgive yourself when you don't necessarily meet what you're going for, and being able to move on as you just said, 'OK, that song didn't make it, but we're gonna go to the next one.' I'm wondering if that's gone into your thinking, being less critical of yourself and being able to forgive yourself.
Lupe Fiasco	Um, most definitely. It's almost like certain things I can't let go because they're my inspiration. There's a core of my inspiration. But other things I just don't take them as seriously. Cause when you step back and you look at it, it's so trivial. Certain things for me. Do you want to be the best emcee? Naw. I can't be the best emcee, I don't really believe that. I don't really believe that any human is really better than another human being. Maybe at certain physical kind of things, but at the end of the day, we're not in competition. We're trying to co-exist as opposed to compete. There were certain things that are innate in what I do and the business that I'm in it's like I had to push it away and start to come to grips. My ambitions had to come down to my abilities. It was more so, 'OK, you've made mistakes and you've had the life lessons, the ups and downs and now that you understand that and are at a place with some clarity where you can look back on it, you see that and it's like, 'OK, what do you want to do with it now?' And that's where forgiveness comes in. It's not like completely I'm going to forgive myself cause I did this. There's certain stuff that you don't have control over, or certain stuff that you'll never know until you get to the end of it and then you turn around and it's like, 'OK, now I see that I was too ambitious.' God forgive me for being too ambitious and prideful and let me kind of fix that kind of flaw in so that before I make a whole other set of decisions I'm gonna keep it right. I got rid of, you're the first to know, I got rid of the entire First and Fifteenth Record Label. Me and Sarah Green are the only artists on the label, like I got rid of the whole label. It was just such a 'this isn't right for you right now. This isn't gonna work for you right now. You need to be focused on you. Do you really want that, do you really have the capacity to do it?'
Ruby Hornet	What you said goes back to what you said earlier in the interview regarding, 'OK, if this is what I have to do to be the hottest emcee then I'll start to do some of these things.' But you're also at a place where you can move around. If you want to experiment, I think fans are open to you doing that…Not a lot of artists get to that point. How do you navigate doing what feels good to you vs. keeping in mind the fans and what they may expect?
Lupe Fiasco	This isn't all me. My philosophy has always been about art, or any type of creative thing, it's 50 percent you and 50 percent your audience. You can create it up to a certain point and put everything you want to put into it and everything you want it to mean. And you can represent it and somebody else will take it completely different. They'll say, 'oh this song is about this, and this etc..' They're going to take it and set it to their life and their tempo. They're going to put it in the soundtrack to their life where they need it at. Some people might look at "Streets On Fire" as a big political piece and so intricate, and some others might just hear background music for a bubblegum commercial. You'll never know when it comes to your audience. They're going to take it how they take it and it's going to go through a process where they're going to make it mean to them what they need it to mean to them. I've been totally understanding of that since the door, and I know that we're in it together and it's a partnership, speaking of my fans. I know I need to give them what they want and at the same time give myself what I want. As long as that balance is kept, that balance of 'I understand what you guys want. I understand why you guys are fans, I know what you want to hear, I know what you don't want to hear at the same time too. But I also know that other than what you want to hear, this is where you want me to be. And this is where I want you guys to be.' 
This Halloween show for instance, I'm not making any money off this show. I'm taking all the money that I make off this show, which comes from the kids buying tickets, and putting it right back into the show. It's so over the top, but that's what I feel my fans should get at this point. I feel my fans shouldn't just get Lupe on stage with two turntables and a microphone. I feel like we've graduated from that. The fans that have been with me, they should share in that. They should see a career that's been ten years in the making. This is what the end of this ten years looks like, this massive, this 'oh my g-d, that's kind of big, that's kind of impressive.' They need to know that they've had a hand in it. You support me kind of financially so to speak, so that I can create these things that you can partake in and walk away with and know you had a piece in that. That's the relationship. That's the open type of relationship I got with my fans. But at the same time too, I know I need to push the boundaries so they can look up and see Lupe over here. How did Lupe get on tour with, and I'm just being super hypothetical, none of this is true, but for the future, how did Lupe get on tour with U2? Then turn around and Lupe's the spokesman for Whole Foods? To trace it all back, it started from this core of music that you guys supported with your clicks on MySpace. Then you went further and downloaded the mixtapes, then you went to buy the album. Then you went to buy tickets to the show. All of this is being fueled and supported by you guys, but at the same time I want you guys to know that I can go left and go and do anything that anybody else can do. I'll be your super role-model. I'm your super-duper homeboy friend that is able to go anywhere and do anything. If you want me to talk about something, I'm going to talk about it. If there's something on your mind, know that it's on my mind too and I'm going to put it in a public space. It may seem that nobody cares, I'm going to make a whole damn album about it and put it on MTV. So when you look at me being on this list, it's for my fans. So they could be like, OK, Lupe's back on the list, we got a homeboy on there too.
=== 2010 ===
"At one point it wasn't about Lasers, it was about 'yo, we want out," says Lupe Fiasco about his long standoff with Atlantic Records. Lupe had a completed project, and an eager fan base awaiting it, yet Atlantic Records did not want to release Lupe's 3rd studio album, citing creative differences and corporate concerns. Lupe Fiasco's fans took up the battle, staging protests and circulating online petitions for the album's release. They got what they were after this fall, when Lupe Fiasco's Lasers was given a March 2011 release date.
In this interview we talk to Lupe about his feelings during the holdout, as well as how this ordeal has affected his relationship with the music found on the new LP and his enthusiasm to promote it. We also talk about the impact of all the protests and demonstrations on future of the music business, and how he finds grounding and support in the Lasers Manifesto.
DJ RTC 	What's up everybody, it's DJ RTC. RubyHornet.com. We're at Vocalo right now and we are joined by Lupe Fiasco.
Lupe Fiasco	Yo, yo.
DJ RTC 	I guess the first question is Lasers finally got a release date. Did you ever think this would not happen?
Lupe Fiasco	Yeah, at at one point in the process it was really like the phone calls to the label, it wasn't even about Lasers. It was about like yo, we want it out. You know what I'm saying like, what do we need to do out? Do you want some money, do you want rights to the rest of my songs, for the rest of my life? Just, this a very unproductive situation. So for awhile it was kind of like, is this album gonna come out?
DJ RTC 	Has any of these problems taken away from any of the enthusiasm or your relationship to this project?
Lupe Fiasco	Yeah, you know. I would lie if I would say that my heart wasn't 100% in. I always say that this album is controversial. Not because it's full of when you open up the cover it's bunch of naked prostitutes in it. It's controversial and just the controversy of it actually happening not even just the music but the business that went into his creation. The heartache that went into creating it and it was just kind of like what's the point? You know what I'm saying like, what's the point? And lost it a few times I was like man whatever. I completely walked away from it.
And then it was the point where it was just kind of like it took so long that I started to get off into other projects, you know what I'm saying? And it was like yo, but what about Lasers? So I would lie and say if my heart was 100% in Lasers. Like that, you know, during creative process. And even now I still look at it with a certain—'cause I know the pain that it went through. The public's not going to probably see it now but when you listen to the album, you won't hear that, you know what I'm saying? You won't feel that but for me it was just kind of like you know, whatever. But at the same time it's match with a certain level of excitement and happiness because it's just getting past it, getting it out. Letting fans get it, and to know that there's. I want to put out another album after that, you know what I'm saying?
DJ RTC 	I remember clearly when I got the email from Atlantic and different press releases out like with the petition right on the day where they a little bit before they're going to march you know everything changed and you got a release date now. I'm driving somewhere and my first thought was wow, this could maybe this will have a bigger impact on the music industry. Maybe more power will be translated to the artist if this could happen. And I'm just wondering, will this really make a change in how these record labels do business or was this like one gesture here you go you can have this small victory?
Lupe Fiasco	No, they will not change the way they do it. It'll change the way they do business with me, but I'm just a small guy. But with a very big mouth with fans who have very big mouths. And I carry a lot of weight, 'cause you can't just knock nine Grammy nominations, you can't. You know what I'm saying? You can't knock some of the other accolades that we've received and you can't knock the amount of a force that we have internationally just as a brand that is Lupe Fiasco. That's what their whole thing was, we want to be responsible for maximizing the commercial potential of Lupe Fiasco and being able to come in and say, "hey, we did that." And that was it. That was the whole point of this whole stand-off and the whole corporate espionage and intrigue and everything that went into it.
DJ RTC 	I've read the Lasers Manifesto a few times, and again, even today. It's pretty powerful stuff, and I'm just wondering through all this, do you go back to this? And does this kind of give you like when you were saying you thought the album may be shelved indefinitely, and like what is all this for. Does this ever ground you, this is what it's for?
Lupe Fiasco	Yeah. It definitely re-reminds me you know that it was and I'm kind of glad that that I did that so long ago because it set precedent for me to go back to when I was losing that faith and it was like man, whatever. And then the manifesto would be there, when the kids came down and did the protest they had lines from the Manifesto on their things and this is like yo. And hearing some leaked songs but not hearing the album. Not hearing the full body of work and to see that it had it was a force to see it was like oh man, they really rocking with that. It definitely keeps me going to know that the message is out there. As you can see, this on the back of the promo material, it feels good man.
=== 2012 ===
Ruby Hornet	On the Pete Rock sample in "Freedom Ain't Free":
Lupe Fiasco	All the credit goes to my partner and manager Chill, he just felt like it was time to bring back a joint… Go back and take one of the iconic records of Hip Hop and put a new spin on it and put it back out there. I spit on it a couple times before, some mixtape stuff back in the day, Chill felt it needed a bigger look than that.
Ruby Hornet	The New Album As An Interpretation of America:
Lupe Fiasco	The album is meant to be my interpretation of America. Politics, society, religion, class, race, food, all across the board. It was only right that we had to have a song that was a collage of that so people got it from the door that all these different things, topics that make up America, that make us Americans, the things that influence us and the things that we influence. You needed that first record to be the embodiment of that whole piece, the whole direction that we're going in. This record is a collage, but it's a more like an introduction. As you get into the album, as we release new records, and hopefully we'll release the album in a few months, you'll see that we focus on particular issues on particular songs. We will expand on something that may have came up in the second verse of "Freedom Ain't Free". There will be a whole song that speaks about this particular relationship in American society, or this particular phenomenon in American society, so people can get a good direction of where the album is going. You get it all in the first joint. But it's not necessarily angry. The whole record's not angry. It's not coming from an angry place, it's coming from a serious place.
Ruby Hornet	Making People Change Through His Music:
Lupe Fiasco	Over the past couple years, in the midst of being on tours and doing L.A.S.E.R.S. and doing all that kind of rapper, professional stuff, I'm a human being too. You study, read, hear different people speak, come under the tutelage of certain people, and expand your mind. That's nothing to do with music, or trying to make money later on, just for me personally. You start to come up and start to realize certain things, which are just gonna be what they are. It's just human nature. We're pre-conditioned a certain way, conditioned to act a certain way, conditioned to consume, and walk, and talk a certain way. There's a lot of things that we may personally hate, but we professionally support. We may hate that the environment is being destroyed. We may want our kids to have a certain environment, but we don't buy Prius'. We'll go buy the muscle car that will spit out all the oil, and damage and destroy the environment and what have you. We don't necessarily see the connection of what we actually do and how it effects the rest of the world. For me, I'm not even on that anymore. I'm not even trying to get you to change anymore… There's people who don't want to get beat over the head all day with lyrics and crazy wordplay and metaphors. There's people that just want to sit down and listen to music for what it is, and not feel like they're taking SAT's every time they come to a show.
Ruby Hornet	Subliminal Messages In His Music:
Lupe Fiasco	There's definitely certain things that carry across from the beginning of my career up until now, that I'll keep going. Whether it be a particular story line or a particular character. There's certain key words, like "The Cool" record and my second album. There's different characters on that, and I'll bring them in every now and again on a song and there's hardcore Lupe Fiasco fans that catch on to that and add it to the ongoing storyline about that. There's definitely some kind of behind the scenes messages going on, but not like Illuminati or nothing like to hypnotize people if you listen to it.
Ruby Hornet	Connection to B.o.B., Pharrell, Kanye West, and fascination with space:
Lupe Fiasco	It's just a mode. There's a certain things, you look at them in the sky.. It all depends on where you come from. The album cover for my first album, Food & Liquor, where I'm floating and got all the stuff around me, It ain't that deep. That album cover came straight from a comic book. I was looking at a comic book that I had as a little kid and was like, 'I want my first album cover to be like that, so there you have it.' It's not that deep. There's definitely some things though in the music that's less about me trying to tell you something brand new, but moreso trying to reinforce something that we already know. We already know we're being watched or controlled in some way or another.
Ruby Hornet	Jay-Z and other features on the new album:
Lupe Fiasco	It's Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Part I. Part I, which "Freedom Ain't Free" is the single off of, is coming in the next few months. It really ain't got no features on there. It got a few people on the hooks and stuff like that, but no other real features other than myself. But that's part one. It's a double album. We're probably 80% finished with part 2, which is going to come out a little later. It's not finalized. You don't know who's going to be on it… Part 1 is done and there ain't gonna be any features on there, but part 2, it maybe somebody coming at the last inning to drop a verse. We'll see.
Ruby Hornet	Next Leak or Remix:
Lupe Fiasco	There's a lot of life in this record ["Freedom Ain't Free]. I played the record for my man, DJ Timbuck2, who DJ's for me and he was coming up with all kinds of different ideas just on his own. Just because of what it is and the heritage of the record. We're definitely gonna pick up on the energy… and expand this out. Like, 'let's do a remix with Pete Rock on and CL on it for 2012…' There's a lot of legs on this record, the first one. But the next record is crazier. We just felt like this one was a strong first look, but definitely what's gonna carry the album is the next couple singles that we got coming out over the next few months. When DJ's get their hands on those records, it's gonna be an opportunity for them to put Lupe Fiasco is places they probably couldn't because of the subject matter, or the production. Now we kind of found a way to meld the message and the skill and the technique with the production and the sound that's right now. It should be real interesting.
Ruby Hornet	Feelings About America:
Lupe Fiasco	I think, and you can relate to this… I know any artist that plays music in any capacity can relate to this, the world just ain't America. You kind of lose that American perspective when you go to Australia for the first time or you go to China for the first time, or you go to Africa, or you go to some place in Europe or South America, or you go to Dubai. And you look back and you look at where you came from, you look at America from a different point of view. And it starts to lose that specialness, that elite-ness. When I say that, I don't mean it becomes whack or you hate it. It starts to lose that myth about it. You start to recognize that there are other places in the world that are possibly better. They got better food. The way they run the economy is better. The way they treat their poor people is better. The way that the poor people treat you is better, the way rich people act around you is better. You just feel what you've been told, and what you grew up thinking about the rest of the world from your American perspective and you go overseas and experience a different way of life, and it's not about being rich and taking a private jet over there, just going over there flying couch you get out and walk, around see a city, different people, you start to gain that world perspective. That's something that I felt was important with this record. Going into it without feeding America with that elitism. Not treating America like it's the greatest country on earth, 'cause it's not.
Ruby Hornet	Columbus Day off the calendar:
Lupe Fiasco	On that record, and I say this with a caveat and all honesty, a lot of stuff on that record ["Freedom Ain't Free] is stuff that I just recently learned about America. Going around and just experiencing different groups and being introduced to different people. There's a whole movement specifically that comes from Native Americans where they're really trying to get Columbus Day taken off the calendar. It's really real. If anybody has any right to say that they are America, that they "own this place or belong here," it's the Native Americans. They were here first. Before any Africans, any white people, that's the original history of this country, the Native American experience. They had it for thousands of years, before people even came here. You learn about that, and there's a serious movement of people who's whole goal is to get Christopher Columbus day taken off the calendar.
Ruby Hornet	On listening to Hip Hop and current hits:
Lupe Fiasco	Everything that's a hit isn't necessarily a rap song. I listen to music from all parts. I listen to country music, I listen to jazz, I listen to pop. I peek up and I listen to Hip Hop from time to time, one song I like right now is the "Same Damn Time" joint from Future. I literally play that in my set, my DJ set. But I say that it's one thing, I don't listen to it on a daily basis. I'll peek up and I'll jump online and look at a site or go on iTunes and look at what's new or what's hot and stay privy to what's going on out there. But it's less about me trying to be influenced by it, or trying to gauge my competition, or gauge where I'm at in the industry. It's more so the same way when I go and look for new dance music, or I look for new jazz, I just want to hear what the new music is personally, not for any ulterior motive. I don't like to listen to negativity all day. It's still beating a dead horse, but just me speaking personally, a lot of the new music that comes out as Hip Hop as cutting edge is still negative. Like I said, "two bitches at the same damn time," that's negative as a motherfucker. It got a dope beat and you can rock to it. I ain't gonna lie, I play it. When it comes on Shade 45, I turn it up, bang it and rock out to it. Next song comes on and I'll turn it back down. But, I'll be a hypocrite to say that I don't, but it doesn't affect me as deeply like, 'oh I got to have a song like that on my album,' or 'I got to compete with Future now and rap like him or get beats like him.' Nah, you realize that it's a cycle. The same thing everybody's doing right now, they were doing ten years ago. Same music, same hooks, talking about the same things, some of the same beats. Look at me, 20 years later I'm using the same track from Pete Rock and CL Smooth.
== References ==
category:2009 interviews
category:2010 interviews
category:2012 interviews
category:Websites