Filter

***Filter*** (stylized in all caps) was a music magazine founded by Alan Miller and Alan Sartirana in July 2002 and based in Los Angeles, California. American rapper Lupe Fiasco was featured in their *Filter Good Music Guide* No. 34 March-April 2011 issue, during his *Lasers* era, where he gave advice on the music industry. Photography was provided by Andrew Zaeh.

## Article

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known as Lupe Fiasco, is an American rapper who has managed to avoid several of the pratfalls of hip-hop stardom. His conscious lyrics uplift positivism and love. Sadly, his long-delayed third joint, *Lasers* (a backronym for "Love Always Shines, Everytime Remember 2 Smile"), was sent through the hellish gauntlet of major label delays and general rigmarole. Super fans stood up last fall on a day dubbed "Fiasco Friday" with petitions for the album's release and a protest outside Atlantic Records' offices. The subversive artist was so impressed by this show of love for his music that he went back into the studio and focused on making *Lasers* a statement of purpose that aims to move people in "violently peaceful" ways. Considering recent events, the *Guide* enlisted Mr. Fiasco to rap with us—in list form—about the dark waters of the music business and how the past only strengthens his resolve and love for making consummate tunes.

### Know Your Dope Reasons

"I want to be rich and successful and get my music out there. I want to have a bunch of girls and do shows. I want to buy my mom a house." Those are just the random things that most people want to get out of the music business. I would argue that they should play the fucking lotto because you have the exact same chances that you do in the music business—and it's way less stressful and cheaper. If you're serious, make sure you have really dope-ass music. Dope-ass music doesn't mean it's pop, either. Some of the dopest music I've heard didn't even have lyrics. At the end of the day, having dope music gets you far, no matter if you are on a major label or are playing in coffee shops and bars.

### Have a Doper Back-Up Plan

Why don't you go get a degree from Yale or Princeton, or get a vocational degree? That way, you can make music your side hustle and if it doesn't work out you have a full-on job to fall back on as opposed to just wanting to be a musician and throwing yourself into the business. You might be broke for the rest of your life. That's just the honest truth of the situation.

### Love for the Game Gives You a Bulletproof Vest

What's going to make you successful is the same thing that makes you really love a crazy girl. You know she's bat-shit crazy and she's going to send you through the ringer; she's going through your phone; put your clothes in the bathtub with bleach; throw your golf clubs out the window; key your car; and get pregnant and threaten to thrown herself off a building. That's the music business. You're not going to put up with that unless you're really in love with that shit. She might also be the nice girl, but you still have to love her and go through the ups and downs in a relationship. That love for the game will give you a bulletproof vest so you don't kill yourself. You got to have a certain level of insanity and invulnerability to be a musician. You wake up every day next to that crazy bitch called the music business, but you love it.

### Don't Give a Fuck

I know I said that you've got to love the business, but at the end of the day I don't care if my album comes out, or my songs are played on the radio, or if I sell a million records. When you start caring about that shit—which I did wholeheartedly when *Lasers* was delayed—it makes you crazy. There are two sides to every story. You love it but it's slowly eating you up. The only way to combat that is not drugs or getting a roomful of strippers. That stuff only goes so long. There's no easy fix. On a contradictory side, you really have to not give a fuck. That kind of human duality—where you love it but are willing to push that bitch in front of a bus—is what kept me sane when I had to please all these people's expectations.

### The Joy of Philanthropy Isn't Just for Rich People

I would help Haiti victims or do things like Summit on the Summit even if I wasn't making music. Philanthropy and success should not be respective of each other. You should be poor and still philanthropic. It's not all about money. Sometimes it's just you opening your mouth and saying something, moving people into or out of their house, or picking up a broom and sweeping some shit up. Philanthropy isn't just about putting money in the fucking bucket at the Salvation Army. Financial success in any business is separate.

### Don't Underestimate Your Fans

I can't separate *Lasers* the album from the bunch of bullshit that happened last year with Atlantic Records during the making of it. If you listen to the first official track off the album "The Show Goes On," the first verse addresses it in a completely angry way. The whole point of the record was to get people physically active. Before the music even came out, people were starting social movements and doing protests. There was "Fiasco Friday" and Team Lasers before any music. The music was supposed to inspire a movement, but the movement started to inspire the album. I underestimated my fan base.

### Be Violently Peaceful

People say we don't live under a dictatorship where we can't say what we want to say and do what we want to do. We can do whatever we want as long as it's not the truth. The instant that you talk about serious, system-changing and vehement situations, you're labeled a terrorist. There's a certain level of self-censorship that we have that ends up being worse than living in a place where there is no radio, TV, Facebook or Twitter. We don't use the tools we have. You can go out and fight against it like they're doing in Egypt and other places in the world. You shouldn't be humble to a dictator. You shouldn't be humble to madness. We're slowly killing ourselves. That's what I wanted to say with my single, "Words I Never Said." I want to make sure that when all the shit collapses, we're able to pick ourselves back up.

## References

1. ↑ Brown, Harley (June 27, 2014). "Filter Magazine Ends Its Run as Co-Founders 'the Alans' Part Ways". *Billboard*.
2. ↑ Lemmon, Kyle (March 2011). "Lupe Fiasco's Pro Tips to Surviving the Music Business". *FILTER*.