Occupy Wall Street

**Occupy Wall Street** (**OWS**) was a protest movement against economic inequality and corporate greed. It began on September 17, 2011, at Zuccotti Park in New York City. Lupe Fiasco publicly supported the movement and attended the protest, where he stated to Fuse in 2012, "I always looked at Occupy Wall Street, since the beginning, as being a classroom. It's incubating the next leader. It's incubating the mind that's going to be that next dude to come out with the charisma and the revolutionary mentality to make this world a better place."

## Background

Fiasco additionally donated tents and wrote the poem "Moneyman," which was read out loud at the New York City protest by the people. He wore an Occupy Wall Street t-shirt during his performance at the BET Hip Hop Awards on October 1, 2011. To *BET*, he declared, "OWS does have a leader... the protestors. The agenda is to bring attention to the power that people have in themselves. The power of self-determination. These things can be alien to the common American citizen because the normal concepts of leadership and protocol are so deeply embedded in monolithic and heavily bureaucratic systems of governance. The historical base of the American democratic reality is that of representation, that is someone who speaks on behalf of everybody else.... The #Occupy movement literally represents an 'occupation' of the power structures that make up this society. The most powerful and meaningful of these structures being the will of the people ourselves. We are attempting to get back in the driver's seat and 'represent' ourselves and reinstate the 'real' common good. We are all leaders." Fiasco continued, "I plan on supporting the #Occupy movement from now forward in whatever capacity I can. In the short term I plan on giving my total focus to both #occupyChicago and #occupyLA but I am making myself available to any and all #Occupy movements no matter the size or circumstance. I hope the #Occupy movement becomes institutional and a permanent fixture of the social and political landscape of America. God willing." On October 11, 2011, he joined the protest Occupy Oakland. For his own show at Fox Theater, he urged people to join the movement.

In another interview, he reported, "[Occupy Wall Street] started when we were right beginning our Generation Lasers Tour…[and] certain cities didn't have it yet, so we would go to a certain city and I would kind of sow the seed and say, 'Hey, you guys should be occupying your city right now because they're doing it in New York [and] Philadelphia.' It's a great classroom, so even people who aren't aware of certain issues to be frustrated about, when you come out and you be in the midst or a general assembly or just a random conversation with a few people that are there, the insight that you'll gain about your own situation…[is] just amazing."

## References

1. ↑ Estes, Adam (September 28, 2011). "Look at All the Famous People Supporting Occupy Wall Street". *The Atlantic*.
2. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Reveals New Album Details - Beale St Music Festival 2012". *YouTube*. May 6, 2012.
3. ↑ Gipson, Brooklyne (October 11, 2011). "Lupe Fiasco Defends Occupy Wall Street". *BET*.
4. ↑ Wilkey, Robin (October 13, 2011). "Lupe Fiasco Protests At Occupy Oakland Before Show At Fox Theater (VIDEO)". *Huffpost*.
5. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Talks Family Upbringing, Occupy Wall Street". *HipHopDX*. November 11, 2011.