MVRemix

*Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor*This article is part of the Food & Liquor era.Released: September 19, 2006
Label: 1st & 15th Entertainment / Atlantic RecordsCategory

## ***MVRemix***

### **Website**

mvremix.com

***MVRemix*** is an online music magazine founded in 2001 by Hugo Lunny. They interviewed American rapper Lupe Fiasco in September 2006, conducted by DJ Ini. A month earlier that same year in August, they transcribed his interview on DJ Hyphen & J. Moore's "Sunday Night Sound Session" on the radio station KUBE 93.3 FM.

## Interviews

### August 2006

**MVRemix: We were just talking off the air, you've been to Seattle once before or multiple times before?**

Lupe Fiasco: Once before, I came out here with the Ye-germeister (Kanye West) for his "Touch The Sky" tour out in Everett. So we did a show out there. It's my second time in Seattle.

**MVRemix: You like it so far? Or do you like the city, what you've seen of it in your limited time here?**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, it was dope. My homie Cash caught up, was droving me around. I went to get some food, and we went to the hood - to different spots. The first time I was downtown, but we went to other parts of Seattle. It was dope to see the city, it's a nice little city.

**MVRemix: Plus you've got a sunny day...**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah! Every time I come it's sunny days. As soon as I leave, it be like terrential downpours.

**MVRemix: No doubt, well the latest rumour is that the album "Food & Liquor" has been pushed back again...**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah...

**MVRemix: In fact you have actually confirmed it...**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, its been pushed back to September actually. September 19th, and it's mainly because of the record company. It's not because of the bootlegging, it's not because of the presence in the media, it's not 'cause of anything like that. It's just the protocol that the record company has taken - it's too slow to release. Like we wanted to release August 27th, but they not even doing what they 'posed to do in certain arenas. It's technical, it's nothin' to do with the quality of the music or nothin' like that. They're just taking stutter steppin' to get stuff out. It's a label deal, like I've got a company called 1st and 15th - so it's 1st and 15th and Atlantic. So you've got two entities trying to reach the same goal, we just do it in different ways. So when Atlantic's agenda ain't really meetin' up with ours, we pull it back. Like we pulled it back, 1st and 15th pulled it back because the label wasn't on point.

**MVRemix: Speaking of the album, the buzz of the album has been real, real crazy. Especially as a lot of cuts got leaked on the internet, so they created a frenzy. What are your particular feelings on leaks or bootlegging?**

Lupe Fiasco: Initially it was a shock. It was bittersweet, especially on that day. 'Cause "Kick Push" debuted on TRL, I was in the studio with Jill Scott, we was in Philly and I drive back to New York and it was like, "Yo, your album got leaked." "Ah, okay, you've got to be kiddin'." "Nah, it leaked... dah dah dah dah..." It feels like a painting in a park. He was painting a picture, he was painting this mountain and he's not done. He's got the trace lines and maybe a few colours, he got a sheet on it and he goes to get a sandwich. He comes back and somebody took the sheet off and wrote they name on it. They finished it and turned it into not even a mountain, it's like a Ferrari now, with they name on it. So it's kind of like that creatively to just lose how you wanted the album to be presented - from the song titles being wrong to when we did the show, the kids being like, "Do such and such!" I'm like, "What is that?" "No Place To Go!" "That's not what it's called man..."

**MVRemix: [Joe] Budden was talking about that too, Budden said he's got that track that was labelled "Def Jam Diss" by the bootleggers, he was like "That didn't help my whole situation."**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, that didn't help him at all. It was just like how you lose that creative control and how you want it to be presented to your fans. But it was dope, at the end of the day I can't be mad - it was probably the best thing to happen to the album. That's why...

**MVRemix: I was going to ask you in a backwards way; what have been the advantages to it?**

Lupe Fiasco: The advantages have been, for one, it has relieved the pressure over me as far as making a classic album or what appears to be a classic album, 'cause the instant that it dropped all the reviews that it got. From the kids on the forum, like 70% was like, "Yo, this is a monster." That's what I want it to do, I didn't really come out to sell records. If it sell records, that's a bi-product. For me, I wanted to first set out an album, so I could set up a career hopefully to sell records later on, and to know we achieved that early was dope. I was like, "Yeah, that's fresh." One benefit now is I can - it's a double edged sword, 'cause now when I do shows people expect me to do two hours. They expect me to do two hours like "We heard all the music! We know every word..." So I'll do a show now, do a song now and the kids will know every word. You're like, "Wow, they know every word."

**MVRemix: The mixtape stuff too.**

Lupe Fiasco: The mixtape stuff, the bootleg album stuff. Everything in between. It's like kids know every word. It's dope to kind of know you've got that presence and awareness with your fans, with the people. Without no video, nothin' like that. That's a beautiful thing.

**MVRemix: Speaking of the fans, you interact with them on Okayplayer, I heard you won't reveal the other message boards. I heard you're on multiple...**

Lupe Fiasco: Nah, I'm only on one. A guy walked up to me the other day and was like, "Yo, how come you don't post on SOHH no more?" And I was like, "'Cause I forgot my password." And it's such a hassle going through, it gets to the point where you see where the other artists are and where they post at, Okayplayer probably being the most credible one because it's real artists on there: Tanya Morgan, Phonte, Questlove, there's 9th Wonder on there...

**MVRemix: If you talk to Quest, he'll tell you there's a bunch of people on there with other names, so you may be part of that club...**

Lupe Fiasco: Mine is very blatant, my screen name is real blatant. I'll go on there and just post tracks for them like secret little stuff that I'm workin' on and get they feedback.

**MVRemix: Do you like doing that or is it more like market research in kind of a weird way?**

Lupe Fiasco: Nah, I like it because I'm a nerd man. I like the internet. Some people are like, "Man, the internet is wack!" No it's not, internet's fun. I like doing that, especially in that arena. It's some kids who know Hip Hop, different from Myspace where it's just like fans and stuff whereas on here [Okayplayer] they really rock with you. It's dope. It's dope market research too; see what's poppin' off in the streets.

**MVRemix: Has the feedback or anything you've read affected the final tracklisting? Do you even have a final tracklisting for the album?**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, we've got a final tracklisting. One thing we was playin' with was we were thinkin' about doing a double CD. Even though the album, the version that leaked... I don't even really call it the album, 50% of that was gonna be on the final album. Even when you took that 50%, like trash-canned the other songs. The amount of songs that we recorded intended for the album and the collaborations we did, like the Three 6 Mafia joint I did with Kanye. The joint I did with Jay-Z, when you put all them joints together, we sat back and we had 25 songs to go through. 25 songs, like hard songs - this was after we put out the b.s. and the album filler, stuff like that. We got 25 songs, so we was like, "Yo, we should try and do a double CD."

**MVRemix: Anyone ever come out the gate like that? I can't even think of a double debut...**

Lupe Fiasco: And it works, we were sittin' and talkin' with the record label about it and there's already awareness for at least half this. For them I think it was more of a budget thing where it would cost more, the more we press up and so we would have to charge a premium and I was like that's garbage, but it is what it is and we might, but not really. It ain't effective creatively at all because it wasn't like I had to go through anything new, it was songs that were just done, not songs that I was doing. When it leaked out in the studio, the week after that I'm with Kanye. The week after that I'm with Pharrell.

**MVRemix: One of the songs that I know a lot of fans hope to make it is "Failure," can you enlighten us on that joint?**

Lupe Fiasco: Not gonna make it.

**MVRemix: So everyone should save the MP3...**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, make sure... What I want people to do, for real, for real is after the album come out and all that stuff - make your own album. One thing I learned is when you lose that control, you can't control anything. So it's like kids are gonna make this, kids are gonna make that and so the way the iPod generation is right now, people makin' they own things up anyway, so go ahead and make your own version of "Food & Liquor," just back to it, it isn't creatively effective at all. But I want kids to make their own joint. "Failure" is not gone make it though!

**MVRemix: But as long as they buy the retail to show their support, then you can burn your own disc.**

Lupe Fiasco: Make your own playlist... I might even set something up through iTunes where we take that batch of songs and for the first time ever do something crazy.

**MVRemix: I think Questlove is doing something like that with The Roots' stuff - he's got three or four extra tracks and it's going to be on iTunes I think...**

Lupe Fiasco: Fresh to death... Yeah, "Failure" was a "Failure" - it didn't make it. "Failure" is like four years old. I recorded that when I was back on Arista, and the situation's where when they released us they were like, "Whatever, go ahead..." And now that they've released us and they're seeing everything poppin', they're like, "Well, you recorded such and such and we're gonna want 39% of that when it's released." It's like, whatever man.

**MVRemix: Trying to find those contracts...**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, whatever, go ahead - I'm straight.

**MVRemix: Have you shot any videos yet for the record?**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, we shot... Nah, no we didn't.

**MVRemix: [chuckles] It was a dream?**

Lupe Fiasco: Nah, 'cause I'm thinkin' about "Kick Push," you know we did "Kick Push" which was the single. Prior to that we did a video to another song on the album called "Emperor's Soundtrack."

**MVRemix: I didn't even know about this one; there's one that's an online video...**

Lupe Fiasco: My mans hit me up and told me that they either put it on "On Demand" or they put it on somethin' - some media thing on cable or sattellite and we shot a video for that. It was only like one verse, it was real small, but it was for a joint off the album. The next single is "I Got Ya" with the Neptunes, so we shootin' that next week actually.

**MVRemix: Tell me about this whole situation, I heard you made a little MySpace recently - I saw that apparently the UK, and maybe other countries are gonna get "Daydreamin," the joint with Jill Scott. But can you talk about the "I Got Ya" and "Daydreamin" situation - what's the deal with gettin' separate ones?**

Lupe Fiasco: I didn't want to do separate ones. Sometimes you conceed control to the record label just a little bit, and they run with it. "Daydreamin" is a conception of the record company and I just was like "Alright, go ahead." Before we know it they'd already pressed it up and put it out overseas. What people like to do is they like to put you in situations and they like to put your fans in the middle of it and then hide behind your fans. They're like, "Well, you've gotta do it now because you don't want to hurt the thing with your fans." I did this show the other day in New York and that's what the promoter did, he split it out like I was supposed to perform and I had like 500 of my fans there, and it was like "They gonna riot," I gotta do a show now, thank you very much. So you find that same kind of bootyness in the game, so "Daydreamin," what it's officially supposed to be is the single for the UK and "I Got Ya" is the single for the US. I originally wanted "I Got Ya" to be both and then we were gonna do double singles on the third single, so it was probably gonna be the joint with Mike Shinoda from Linkin' Park and maybe "Sunshine" or somethin' like that off the album. That's basically what it is, I'ma shoot two videos for both of them. That's what it is so far. I guess it leaked back to the States and they was sending "Cease And Desist" orders. It's like, "You thought it was not gonna leak over here? It's the world."

**MVRemix: No doubt. This dude's blog got shut down with the quickness.**

Lupe Fiasco: And I fall for that, and it be weird. Kids don't know how close I be to it 'cause I'm not just a artist, I'm a Vice President. I see all the papers that pass and I be like, "Yo, what are y'all doin'? That's y'all fault! You can't shut that kid down." I think it was like "Honourable Mention" blog or somethin' like that, I was like, "Y'all shouldn't shut that down on the strength of me. Don't make me the prototype to shut people down and then y'all go hard when y'all didn't go hard to stop the album."

**MVRemix: You and Phonte can commiserate...**

Lupe Fiasco: I hate the music business yo, I love music, I love business - but I hate the music business. This is one of the most terrible...

**MVRemix: I was just rockin' my industry rule #4080 shirt ("Record labels are shady") yesterday... After the success of "Kick Push," do you feel that may have pigeon holed you?**

Lupe Fiasco: To a certain extent it did, and it was deliberate in that sense to make that record for that particular niche. At the same time too, it set me up to totally re-invent myself quick, and that's what longevity is about - it's about re-inventing yourself and "Kick Push" came out a year ago officially, so it had enough time to go get cycled through the system. People heard it and was like, "Okay, good" and that shows longevity in the record. So now, when we come with the next record, it's like "Okay, Lupe can re-invent himself now. It's this. So now he's just a rapper rapping." Then the next single, "Now he's this" and, "Now he's that" and, "Now he's that," so I plan to do that throughout my whole career. It was dope just to experience everything that came from that song, people know 'cause a lot of people heard the leak[ed album] - a lot! "Be Easy" got downloaded 250,000 times.

**MVRemix: They should start giving out certificates for downloads, for bootlegging.**

Lupe Fiasco: So people heard it and people heard the body of work. So a lot of people that went to MySpace and stuff like that, they seen the other songs and "Steady Mobbins" and then you got links to download the mixtapes. So they would do that research and then go back and see the body of work and be like, "Oh, it's much more than skateboarding." That was good about when the album leaked, because people got to see the rest of the album is talkin' about nothin' about skateboarding, just backpacking nerd stuff, just real social issues. It was good, it set me up to re-invent myself lovely. Then I just did "Kick Push 2" which was another flip on it to extend the story, so it's a little bit more personal.

**MVRemix: I was gonna say, I think people are making the assumption loosely that "Kick Push 2" is based on you...**

Lupe Fiasco: Nah, "Kick Push 2." Nah, "Kick Push" is just me exaggerating, just making up stories on it. But based on reality, based on real people. It's nerdy like the "Dungeons and Dragons" booster pack. This is this character, and this is their story and this is why they do what they do.

**MVRemix: Real quick, I know Jay[Z]'s been involved with the project a little bit, how did you link up with him initially and what's his official involvement?**

Lupe Fiasco: Basically, overseeing the project and knocking down doors. I had Jay co-signatures back in 2001 before any Kanye West/Roc-A-Fella, I was in Jay-Z's house. Jay was like, "What up, I want to sign you to Roc-A-Fella..." We turned it down because we had 1st and 15th and they couldn't offer anything other than signing me as a solo artist, I was like "Nah, we can't do that." We just stayed in contact, for instance I gave him "What More Can I Say?" for the "Black Album." You look at the credits, it says 1st and 15th. He gave me my first real quote and co-signature from the Source in like 2003, where he said that "Lupe is refreshing to me" whole thing. He just tutored me in the game, I sat and watched him put that whole "Blueprint" together, watched him put the "Black Album" together, just been privy to those situations and watching him work. Its just been a learning experience like that. The one thing Jay taught me is "Don't chase radio," even as executive producer, which is his official position now - he came in while I was on Arista. The first time that him and L.A. Reid ever met face to face on business was about my project. He came into the Arista business, sat down with L.A. Reid and you see the history now of how that transpired two or three years later of them being partners. Its just been fresh, its been a fresh experience to have dude on the project and what it does is it opens up stuff that you don't even know. It kills stuff before you even get to the battle field. We might got some things planned later on, me and Big Homie.

**MVRemix: In your opinion, what is it about Chicago that makes it produce not only dope emcees, but kind of a brand of "every man" emcees - stuff that people can relate to. What is it about Chicago that brings out these kind of emcees?**

Lupe Fiasco: I think it's the way Chicago is structured; it's a regular city. There's nothing extreme about it, it's not L.A. or Hollywood where there's stars and there's a certain level of upkeep that you have to maintain, a certain level of phoniness to compete, it's just livin' regular if you wanna live that lifestyle. New York is mad fast, mad fast in your face, a lot of frontin'. The South is more laidback, overall in general it's more laidback. A lot of stuff down there is not necessary. Life is a little more stripped down - just that, the basics. Not that we're idiots, but "This is what we do - we don't need all that." Chicago has all of that but toned down and matured, literally, a lot of people that live in Chicago can trace their roots back to Mississippi ten years ago. When people take summer vacation to go back home, they go back to Mississippi, just straight like that. Our uncles got southern accents and gold teeth and the whole thing and we relate to that West Coast experience, when the West Coast was poppin', it was poppin' in Chicago hard, it was poppin' in the Mid-West crazy. Then that whole New York aesthetic; people wanna rock Timb[erland]s and "What up son, son..." We got all that. It comes together kind of crazy though because we're just regular, we're regular people. There's no stigma, you can't tell a person from Chicago almost because we're regular. You can tell a New York dude, you can tell an L.A. dude, you can tell a dude from the South, but Chicago we're like anywhere USA. And so I think we tell those regular stories, the regular stories that go on. There's no celebrities, there's no Bentleys driving down the streets in Chicago, there's nothin' like that. We had our gang experience, we had our drug experience, we had everything that every other city had, but we still just had regular. It's a regular city so you get regular emcees which are phenomenal emcees 'cause we still have that ability to sit back and think. New York don't really give you much time to think, it's like, "Now, now! What are you gonna say right now?" That's why the music is so short lived. "Now! Now! Now!" then somebody else is comin', and somebody else is comin'. Chicago there's more space for us to breathe and sit back and think. Like okay, now here we go... That Chicago aesthetic is something that's... Kanye and them, they represent more of a bourgeois aesthetic that the city has, a Hyde Park/South Side aesthetic - people like Twista where it's more ghetto, Shawnna more ghetto west side situation. But you know, it's good though. It's in the water.

**MVRemix: It's even symbollic, it's in the middle.**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, we in the middle.

**MVRemix: What kind of stuff outside of Hip Hop are you feeling? And who are your favourite emcees?**

Lupe Fiasco: For real, for real it's every emcee. Whether I'm inspired by their supreme and utter wackness or their ridiculous ability to bend words. When I started doing Hip Hop, I approached it like a science because that's what I was into as a kid, I was into science. So I took the scientific approach; I am going to study. So at first it was the West Coast, I grew up on Spice 1 and N.W.A. and Too $hort and people like that. Then the South, Eightball & MJG, OutKast and Tela. The New York experience came later on in High School, the Nas', Pharoahe Monch, Talib Kweli, the Mos Def's - I would study them all individually. I would take the "Black on Both Sides" album and study it for three months, then turn around and study a Chino XL mixtape, then turn around and study Andre 3000. Turn around and study these people too to a tee, studied Ghostface. We used to do whole albums on Ghostface - we used to call it "In Ghostface," just do whole albums "In Ghostface" and talk about nothin', makin' sure our delivery was gettin' sharper - our flow was getting better. So it's from everybody. But it's two dudes actually that stand out and it's probably Nas and Mos Def. Nas to me is the best emcee, because he's the most human. He doesn't parade around like he's Superman and he contradicts himself, which shows that he's learning and able to accept his mistakes or have that human flaw and get caught up in the glamorized violence, like I was. You get this certain thing when you're walkin' around with ten gangstas, people watch the movie "Killa Season" and get caught up in it. You start lookin' like it, start mean muggin', then you catch yourself like, "Oh, snap, I'm gettin' caught up in the gangsta of it." To show that and express that is real human to me. He can take that and he'll have a - to me "It Was Written" is the best Hip Hop album for me. He'll have all these violent songs and then do a "Black Girl Lost" and totally blow your mind, like, "Oh my gosh! He just killed it." For him to have the ability to do that, like I love Nas. Then there's Mos Def, and for one reason, I'm Muslim. He came out and he said on "Black On Both Sides" he was like Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem, I was like [gets excited] "Oh!" I was done from there. We might actually work on some stuff together, I seen him in L.A. actually on "Daydreamin" I think. See I just be goin' off.

**MVRemix: This is good - this is the information that got the internet goin' nuts...**

Lupe Fiasco: See outside of that I'm a Jazz buff, I love Jazz more than I love Hip Hop, and just everything inbetween. That was my history, I grew up on classical music and Jazz and world music and Rock & Roll. Hip Hop came in at just that one part. I just did a remix to the Thom Yorke "Eraser" joint, so it goes from that extreme to I be bouncin' to "Lean With It, Rock With It" - just a little, a very small bit.

**MVRemix: Who are a few of your dream collaborations?**

Lupe Fiasco: I got 'em all, for this album I got 'em all.

**MVRemix: Even outside of Hip Hop?**

Lupe Fiasco: I got 'em.

**MVRemix: Even the Jazz musicians?**

Lupe Fiasco: I got 'em.

**MVRemix: John Coltrane is on the record?**

Lupe Fiasco: For real though, I got Chick Corea. It was a Chick Corea sample for "American Terrorist," and Chick Corea hates Hip Hop. He doesn't clear any Hip Hop samples, he doesn't do any of that and when he heard the record, it was the first time he ever cleared a Hip Hop record. He cleared the sample for "American Terrorist," which was dope. So I've got a chance to where - people don't see that, you think there's a distance... You have to call up Chick Corea and be like, "What up this is such and such and I really wanna use this record on my album," so it's a real collaboration - you have to get their permission. I got to work with Jill Scott, I got to work with Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, I got to work with Three 6 Mafia, I got to work with The Neptunes... I got to work with Jay-Z. That was my wish list, so now for the next album I've got to recharge and see who I wanna work with.

**MVRemix: Nas.**

Lupe Fiasco: Nah, I don't wanna work with Nas.

**MVRemix: I need a Lupe/Elzhi collaboration and Phonte on the track too.**

Lupe Fiasco: Phonte? We was actually supposed to do something together. Me and Little Brother, Pooh... We was supposed to do something together for that "Gangsta Grillz" mixtape.

**MVRemix: Just to wrap it up, the album drops September 19th?**

Lupe Fiasco: September 19th - Lupe Fiasco's "Food & Liquor" finally. September 19th.

**MVRemix: Tours comin'...**

Lupe Fiasco: Tour's comin', I might go out with Pharrell, I might catch a few dates with big homie (Jay-Z), we talkin' about it right now, on his world tour. Then we'll do the Lupe Fiasco "Revenge of the Nerd" tour.

### September 2006

**MVRemix: How you doin' my man?**

Lupe Fiasco: We skate'n, what's goin on?

**MVRemix: Where we at right now?**

Lupe Fiasco: We in the back of Goods, in Seattle, Seattle Washington

**MVRemix: So you've become known for the skateboarding thing, is that something you intended all the way through?**

Lupe Fiasco: Nah, it's not even carried out through the rest of the album. It's just like "Kick, Push" is that one record, one song I dedicated to some skate kids back in Chicago, and that's where the story came from. I used to skate when I was real little, and I gave it up for a minute, and I picked it back up maybe a year and a half ago, two years now, it's just something that I do.

**MVRemix: Are you worried that it will be associated with you in the future?**

Lupe Fiasco: Nah! It's dope. Skateboarding is fresh.

**MVRemix: It definitely differentiates you from other rappers out right now. Just inside that signing you can see your fanbase is very different to a lot of other rappers**

Lupe Fiasco: It's diverse; I don't try and like tell one story, and leave it at that. I try and tell stories that are universal, not just stories of people from the hood, but stories about people from the suburbs. You know, wherever, I try to tell stories that have universal messages that have universal appeal and you see that in my fan base through events like this. People from every race, color and creed comin' out.

**MVRemix: Is that exciting for you? Having all that diversity in your audience**

Lupe Fiasco: Of course! You know, I'm touching a lot of different people and bringing a lot of different people to the table who I would have never met before, like I notice a lot of kids who never listen to hip-hop, but just because it's kick, push and it's pertaining to skateboarding, and now they listenin' to this song, and that song, it's dope. And it's introducing kids in the hood who were stigmatized skateboarding as just something for white kids. To be like, this is cool, this is dope, there are actually black skaters, Mexican skaters, Asian skaters you know everything around the board. It's not just some rich white kids, livin' in the 'burbs type situation.

**MVRemix: So tell me about this new project you got comin' out.**

Lupe Fiasco: Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor, executive produced by Jay-Z, it's my first solo album, I've been working on it for like 5 years between like three labels. It's been a dope experience, got to work with a lot of different people: Kanye West, Jill Scott, The Neptunes, Jay-Z, my producers pro and soundtrackk, who founded my company 1st and 15. They got a lot of time to shine, so it's just a dope project, mike shinoda from Lincoln Park, just pullin' different people from different genres, different people I'm fans of. So it's been good.

**MVRemix: What does the album mean to you, under all that?**

Lupe Fiasco: The album *Food and Liquor* comes from in Chicago, where a lot of the corner stores are called "Food and Liquors". You know, Mike's food and liquor or whoever's food and liquor, and I've only seen that in Chicago, so for me it's something that is specific to just Chicago and so I named it that. And on the other side, the good and bad, I don't drink or smoke, so liquor always had a bad connotation, so it represents the good and the bad, the food, and the liquor.

**MVRemix: Why is it that you choose not to drink or smoke?**

Lupe Fiasco: My religious background, it's just my preference, I just don't like what alcohol does to people, I don't like what alcohol does to communities, so it's just like whatever.

**MVRemix: So where a lot of people know you from, if not this Atlantic [Food and Liquor] project, is your Fahrenheit mix series, tell me a little more about that.**

Lupe Fiasco: It's my mixtape series. Fahrenheit 1/15 was the first one, revenge of the nerds was the second one, rhyming ape was the third. I just did them for online release, they just were me doing my thing, and I got a lot of fans off of that with songs like "switch" and "Lupe The Killa" and conflict diamonds and kids with guns and stuff like that. I just got a lot of fans from all over the place since they were online, and I had fan bases all over the world, it was an international thing, so it's been dope. And those were like my practice grounds, and I don't really take them too serious.

**MVRemix: On a song "hurts me soul" you talk about rappers degrading women and everything like that, what's your stance on the aspect of hip-hop?**

Lupe Fiasco: I just don't try to degrade women, but you have women degrading women so it's not just rappers which is something more deeper socially then in the music. I think that if we as rappers and musicians can make it, and we can take that out of the status quo then that's just one part of it that can be taken away from it for little kids and just women in general so they're a little bit prouder of the music we make. So me, I just don't do it, I just lead by example, hopefully the next rapper out will be like yo lupe didn't do it. When I first started rapping, I did it, because that's what I heard from Ice Cube and Too Short and stuff like that. But if the new generation see that there are rappers who don't do it then what are they gonna talk about.

**MVRemix: The one other thing I wanted to touch on was the fact that you're a lot more alternative in your rappers then most of the rappers out right now, especially on Atlantic. Do you think your gonna struggle with that coming in to the mainstream?**

Lupe Fiasco: Not at all. They already accepted it, I'm already in the mainstream. Now the fight is just to sell records, and have the same impact that mainstream artists have where they sell millions and millions of records. People wanna hear that, it's not that people aren't sayin it, it's just that it's not packaged right, and I package my message a little different, I approach it from a different stance and a different viewpoint. So you know, It's good.

**MVRemix: Do you think you're gonna have a problem selling records on a level of a mainstream artist?**

Lupe Fiasco: I don't know… maybe. I'm just gonna see where it goes, and just see where it end up, we're just grindin', getting support from a lot of different people.

**MVRemix: Legally and Illegally?**

Lupe Fiasco: Yeah, You know haha

**MVRemix: Where do you see yourself in three years?**

Lupe Fiasco: I don't know, I don't know where I'm gonna be at in next week, ain't no tellin' man.

**MVRemix: You're just livin it up?**

Lupe Fiasco: Livin' it up until I'm gone

**MVRemix: What's the thing you hate most about the rap game?**

Lupe Fiasco: The thing you hate most about the rap game? I hate the music business. I love music, I don't hate rap, I love rap. I just hate the music business.

## References

1. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco". *MVRemix*. September 2006.
2. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco: Sunday Night Sound Session". *MVRemix*. August 2006.