List of paintings

> When I start feeling resistance creating something that I am passionate about, I fear it not being created, more than I fear not creating it. I'd rather show up with 1,000 paintings to a sea of hatred and resistance then coming with no paintings and still be hated. Because, people don't hate you for what you make, they hate you for what you are.
>
> Wasalu Muhammad Jaco

**List of paintings** by American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur Wasalu Jaco. He sells them through his company and website, Wolf Studio. His signature is the momento mori skull, which is seen in "Uomo Mangiato Tigre (Man Eating Tiger)" and "War Bonnet #4," used as album artwork for *Tetsuo & Youth* and *Drill Music in Zion*, respectively.

For his works in the Beta art exhibition, they were created from 2013-2016 in Jaco's home studio in California. In 2020, he remarked of his 2015 art exhibition at Chicago's Soho House: "It was mostly skulls from various approaches. A lot of the early work was on exhibit. This one here "War Bonnet [#3]" was part of the show and is to me the most intense of the early work. I've painted a couple variations since then. One of my favorites."

## Background

Originally when Jaco first got into painting, he didn't want to seek it out as a passion due to his beginner skillset. While he held abstract ideas for artwork, he was hesitant to place it on a blank canvas. When he asked his friend in Los Angeles to paint pieces for him, she refused, believing Fiasco could do it, and taught him. From that point on, he spent years learning all he could about painting and the theory behind it and started to do it himself. He found, like music, that it could have "layers of meaning."

He told *Billboard* in 2015, "I paint a lot—probably too much. I paint more than I write raps. It's the same creative thing for me. I started painting two years ago, and I gave myself 10 years to really get good. I'll sit and paint for 11 hours and get lost in it, the technique of it, trying to execute it clean, colors and palettes, etc. Van Gogh said he wasn't happy unless he was painting, and I'm starting to realize that's becoming true for me. If I'm not in a creative mode and I'm dealing with the outside world, I'm not really happy."

He revealed on Twitter that his song, "Cripple," is "based off a painting."

## Gallery

"2-ER""Adoration of the Magi""Blue Square #2""Born into This""California""Chelsea Manning (Womanning)"
"The inspiration came directly from a particular Warhol of Marilyn Monroe at the MOMA. The meaning behind the work, for me, is about our roles in society; how those roles and identities can be reversed and re-decided and the consequences that come along with that process. Chelsea's "double agency" as covert intelligence officer and spy, as well as the overt duality of "man becoming woman", is something that I felt needed to be captured and re-contextualised. She encapsulates the antiheroes in society - sitting up in the heights of mythology, simultaneously demonised and forgiven.""Epiphanies #2""Epiphanies #5""Positions (Perfection Is a Balance Between Flawless Victory & Absolute Defeat)""Solo, Solo, Solo""Surf""The Body Politic""Uomo Mangiato Tigre (Man Eating Tiger)""Ursa Major""War Bonnet #3""War Bonnet #4""War Bonnet #5""War Bonnet #6""Wasalu x Futura"* March 29, 2015
* Instagram
**@lupefiasco**: "#PortofAngels at Art Basel presented by @bruceluriegallery x @gallerygoart is open to the public from Dec. 1-6 • 11am-6pm | Opening Reception Thurs. 3rd • 7pm-10pm & Mural unveiling reception Sat. 5th 7pm-10pm RSVP@portofangels.com"
* December 1, 2015
* Instagram
**@lupefiasco**: "5 in Miami."
* December 5, 2015
* Instagram
**@artnoirco**: "Congrats to #WasuluJaco aka @lupefiasco on his new exhibit 🎨 #Beta opening tomorrow at the #edpaschkeartcenter. 🖼Thanks for the sneak peak! 👏🏾 #artnoir"
* September 22, 2016
* Instagram

## References

1. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@lupefiasco)". *Instagram*. October 11, 2020.
2. ↑ "Conversation with Lupe Fiasco". *YouTube*. April 23, 2020.
3. ↑ Golianopoulos, Thomas (January 15, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Talks New Album, Defending Iggy Azalea & Quitting Twitter: 'I Don't Want to Be Relevant'". *Billboard*.
4. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". *Twitter*. September 25, 2018.