Fahrenheit Mixtapes placed on XXL's 15 Greatest Mixtape Series List

XXL Mag put together a list of the 15 best Mixtape Series and Lupe's Fahrenheit series was placed at position 10. Joe Budden's Mood Muzik took the #1 spot.

10. Lupe Fiasco - Fahrenheit 1/15 series
As he prepped his debut album Food & Liqour, Lupe Fiasco began building a loyal fanbase nationwide through his trilogy of Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtapes.

With the technicality and precision of an East Coast rapper, the nerdy spectacled Fiasco delivered material that spoke on Chicago’s ills in a way that had never been heard before.

The bar was set so high from the series, that many of Lupe’s longtime fans felt Food & Liqour was a letdown, despite the album receiving widespread acclaim from music critics.

Check the full list HERE

Lupe Fiasco on XXL's Top 100 Songs of 2011 List

XXL put together a list featuring their Top 100 Songs of this year. Lupe can be found 3 times on there. "The Show Goes On" is on position 14, "Words I Never Said" is on 34 and "Out Of My Head" can be found on position 41.

Check the rest of the list HERE and vote for your favorite!

XXL reviews Lupe Fiasco's "Friend of the People"

The homie Adam over at XXL reviewed Lupe's Friend of the People mixtape..read on below:

Lupe Fiasco is at his finest when he’s not artistically constrained, instead free to A&R his own project and entirely control its direction. For his most recent Atlantic Records release, this was tough. Many said his March 2011’s purgatory escaping Lasers fell short in this respect—pop beats and R&B hooks made for a major-label touch. With his Thanksgiving Day mixtape, Friend of the People, Lupe offers no such mainstream indulgence; this is Lupe at his uninhibited best.

The relatively constant thread woven throughout the release, a follow up to 2009’s Thanksgiving Day drop Enemy of the State, is purported in its title: Lupe is standing with the everyman, favoring Occupation over opulence. The tape opens with an excerpt from a speech by late progressive professor and author Howard Zinn, where he wonders, “Why do we have to be a military superpower? Why can’t we be a humanitarian superpower? Instead of sending planes for bombs Why don’t we send planes for food and medicine?” Lupe arrives on the next track, “Lupe Back,” and follows Zinn’s lead with a sharp critique of the state of the industry, where he encourages rappers to form a union and wags his lyrical finger at 360 record deals, radio, and fires at those who “Spit a lot of meh over jams of the year.”

Full review HERE

Lupe Fiasco speaks on passing on B.o.B’s two hit singles and his relationship with Bloggers [XXL Mag Outtakes]

XXL Mag just released parts of their interview w/ Lupe that didn't make it to the May issue. Lupe speaks on passing on B.o.B’s two hit singles and his relationship with bloggers.

XXL: Explain your relationship with the blogs and the internet in whole.

Lupe: Sometimes I wish I never found the internet. Sometimes I regret getting a laptop and Wi-Fi for logging into the internet because it is such a distraction. If you have any addictive personality, the internet will magnify it.

You have to be careful on the internet. You’ll look up and be like, ‘Damn, it’s been six hours.’ I’m still trying to figure out a way to take Safari off my laptop. With the blogs, it’s like high school. I wasn’t the most popular person in high school, it was like 50/50. Some people liked me, some people didn’t, some people really didn’t fuck with me.

Naturally, I’m going to go with people who like me and I’m going to stay away from the people who don’t fuck with me but when people go out of their way not to fuck with me then I’m going to go out of my way not to fuck with them. I’m going to feed off your energy.

If I know that they are being dishonest or malicious, then I can’t fuck with them like that. My first record leaked months before it came out. It send everything into a tizzy and fucked up a lot of the momentum I had. That left me a little salty with the internet as a whole. Don’t steal.

The dude from 2Dopeboyz had “Beaming” on his laptop. He had songs off Lasers and this was last spring. You going back a full year and the way it was done was, he took a screen shot of his Twitter page and was like, ‘Haha, You wish.’ People think that I’m lying. [He turns on his computer and shows me Tweet and the link to the iTunes page.]

Read the full thing HERE

Lupe Fiasco XXL May 2011 Cover Story Excerpt [Updated w/ Full Story]

“They still can’t understand me. They still don’t get it. They still don’t understand that, even without a hit record, Lupe Fiasco will be just as relevant and just as successful as the dude with the hit record. They just don’t get that.”

Click HERE to read an exclusive excerpt from XXL's May 2011 cover story!

PREVIOUSLY: Lupe Fiasco for XXL Mag [Pics]

UPDATE: Screw an excerpt, we have the full story for u after the jump!

Lupe Fiasco for XXL Mag [Pics]

As you know, Lupe covers the May issue of XXL Mag which is already available at some places but officially hits newsstands on April 26th. Scott Council did the photo shoot for the issue with Lupe and here are some of the pics he took. - More below!

Lupe Fiasco Covers May issue of XXL

XXL has Lupe on their May cover, check out what they had to say:

After experiencing the biggest selling debut week of his career with the recent release of his third solo album, Lasers, Lupe Fiasco is ready to open up and go into specific details about his struggle to release the record in XXL’s forthcoming May 2011 issue.

Issue hits stands on April 26th! - Click HERE to read more!

100 of XXL's Favorite Story Telling Raps (feat. Lupe)

XXL Magazine compiled a list of 100 of their all time favorite story telling raps and 'Hip Hop Saved My Life' made it to #31 and 'The Cool' made it to #88 on the list.

If you want to see what other songs made the list, follow this LINK!

By the way, if you had to make a list of YOUR top 5 favorite story telling raps, what songs would they be?

XXL's 2008 Freshman Recap

XXL Mag just posted their 2008 Freshman recap and this is what they had to say about Lupe:

Lupe released the gold-selling Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool in 2007. After a highly publicized dispute with Atlantic Records, which had his fans signing a petition to demand the release of his highly anticipated, Lasers, the CD finally hit stores in early March.

The LP debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 204, 200 its first week— making it the highest selling debut of his career.

See the full recap of the other freshmen of '08 HERE

XXL's 41 Favorite Freshman Moments

XXL Magazine compiled a list of 41 of their favorite XXL Freshman moments and Lupe is in there a couple of times. - See the full list HERE!

XXL's 25 Most Wanted Outlaws in Hip Hop

Lupe Fiasco as Deacon: Jim “Deacon Jim” Miller was a deadly outlaw and assassin, yet, he lived a life opposite from what most would expect from him. Miller didn’t smoke or drink and he regularly attended church. Chicago MC Lupe Fiasco can relate to Deacon Jim. He’s a Muslim who’s sworn off alcohol and drugs and is known for murderous 16s.

View the rest of the XXL list HERE

XXL Freshmen Class of 2008 - Where Are They Now?

Seeing that the Freshmen Class of '10 is in session now, XXL takes a look back at the class of 2008 (which was Lupe's Freshmen Class) to see where they are now...click HERE to read what they wrote about Lu and the others...

Don't forget to vote for Lu in the poll at the end of the article...

B.o.B gives XXL an early spin of his album

This feature can be found in XXL's current December/January Issue.

B.o.B revealed some details about a few tracks off his upcoming album "The Adventures of B.o.B." Most importantly, he talked about the track he did with Lupe called "Past My Shades."


"Past My Shades" feat. Lupe Fiasco (Produced by B.o.B)I produced about 90 percent of the album... There's a song on there I produced with one of my solo musicians called "Past My Shades."

The concept is, you can't see past my shades, whether the shades be physical shades or symbolic to certain kinds of perception or persona. And it's kinda saying you can't see past that...

Lupe Fiasco - “Enemy of the State: A Love Story” Mixtape [XXL's Review]

Though it clocks in at just over 22 minutes long, Lupe Fiasco’s Enemy of the State: A Love Story, proves that the Chicago MC has returned from his self- imposed hiatus—this is his first release since 2007’s sophomore effort, The Cool—with a renewed confidence...

Click HERE to read the full review.

XXL's LupEND Blog Description

-lupefiasco-lupend.blogspot.com-

"The Fiasco gateway for all things Lupe:
Videos, MP3s, lyrics transcriptions."

Click HERE to find out how they described the other sites on their list!

XXL's "The 100 Best Hip-Hop Websites" List

For their upcoming issue, XXL put together a list of their Top 100 Hip-Hop Websites...and guess what?...We're on the list!

Thanks to XXL for including us and most importantly thanks to all of our readers and everyone else who showed support to us and our site within the last 2 years (y'all are awesome!).

Also shout out to the whole LupEND bloggin' squad and Lupe & his crew!

You can check the full list HERE and grab a copy of the mag when it drops on Dec. 1st! -Now, where's the champagne? We need champagne!...lol

Lupe Fiasco to breathe life into Baatin in Animated Film

When news broke this past August that founding Slum Village member Baatin had passed away, the hip-hop community took the Detroit MC’s death hard. Such was the case for Miami-based rapper/producer/singer Jack Splash.

Baatin was a very close friend and mentor of him and had such a great impact on Jack’s life that he used the fallen MC as inspiration for the main character - which will be voiced by Lupe Fiasco - in his animated film scheduled to come out next year. -via XXL

Previously: Jack Splash - "FlashBack" [ft. Lupe Fiasco]

Throwback: Lupe Fiasco in XXL Mag - 2006

I wrote the article down for you...in case you can't read if from the scan 'cause the text is too small:

If not weird, then Lupe Fiasco is definitely atypical. This 23-year old muslim rap phenomenon from Chicago is into skateboarding, custom kicks, Japanese animation and gourmet food as much as he's into hip-hop. Oh yeah, Kanye West and Jay-Z are his homeboys, too.

You see, back when they thought backpacks would hurt the Roc-before 'Ye got the shit to pop-Lupe was recruited by Roc-A-Fella.

After a 2001 impromptu audition for Jay-Z at a Chicago hotel, Lupe (born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) was invited, not only to join hip-hop's Prudential, but inside the god MC's sacred space. "He's givin' me clothes out of his closet. Givin' me Gucci jeans, and I'm thinkin', I'm at Jay-Z's house. I'm at Jay-Z's house!" Lupe remembers.

Ultimately, Lupe chose not to sign, but build his own company, 1st and 15th, instead. When business partner Charles "Chill" Patton was forced to do a 14-month bid in the middle of creating Lupe's debut, Food & Liquor, Jigga stepped in. Says Fiasco: "We went to go see Jay and asked, ' Yo, could you help us?" Instead of simply making a few phone calls, Jay met with then Arista head LA Reid and offered to executive produce the upstart's album.

Though Food & Liquor has a new home on 1st and 15th/Atlantic Records, Mr. Carter is still it's executive producer. And Lupe's buzz has become a roar after scoring a 10 on "Touch the Sky" on West's Late Registration. "[Kanye & I] always had a relationship, explains Fiasco. "We was actually tryin' to get 'Ye signed before he was with Roc-A-Fella. When I did my showcase for Arista, 'Ye was sittin' on the couch in LA Reid's office. Right after our showcase, I was like, "What y'all wanna do with Kanye?" One good turn deserves another.

Now Lupe is poised to earn the underground respect and mainstream acceptance of fellow Chica-go-getters like Common and Twista. "I took the Kanye look as this is the biggest mixtape look ever," he says "That's the look that got the world's attention." And ain't nothing weird about that.

Classic Lupe: The Art Of Distraction

Published on Sep. 14th 2006 - XXL Bloggers

Lupe in his own words:

Hello again… As I type this I’m on the road heading to Boston or someplace to promote the album…I got my MacBook Pro in my lap and I’m bumping Daft Punk in the headphones…The van is fulla bags ’cause I have to carry three times the amount of luggage of a normal person…Here’s the breakdown…

1 Part Regular Everyday Clothes
1 Part Clothes For Photoshoots
1 Part Clothes For Performances

Add in another bag with just sneakers and the bags of my entourage and you can pretty much see the picture…”Robot Rock,” by the way…

For this entry I wanted to let ya’ll in on a little secret…I’m here to distract you…yup yup that’s right…me and all my fellow brothers and sisters in the wonderful world of entertainment are merely distractions to keep you from focusing on what’s really goin on in the world around you…Spooky ain’t it?

Now, this aint a grand conspiracy to trap your mind and transform you into mindless uniformed cogs in the machine…Or is it? Some distraction is necessary and even therapeutic…”HEY look a flying saucer!!!” and as you look up, I pull the splinter out of your finger or something…or other methods to draw attention away from the pain so the problem can be fixed…sorry kinda rambling…

Anyway, the point is, music, movies and TV are mediums of distraction used to kinda numb the pain, which in cases where the message within the distraction is one of an informative and positive uplifting nature it can be very good thing. The danger lies where the message in the distraction is one of destruction and cannonfodder. These distractions are the ones that flood media today and really nothing meaningful is extracted from these…and believe you me that the distribution of this kind of information is done very deliberatly by the powers that be…the goal of this society is not to uplift and meaningfully inform, because that is not its nature…

The nature of this society is to gain capital and maintain an unfair balance of power that resides in the hands of the producers…Consumers are meant to do just that: consume…To inform the consumer in a meaningful manner means to empower him and give him aspirations to become a producer…The producers know that this is a threat to to their position of power. If consumers all of a sudden start wanting to become producers themselves and become aware of the tools to do so, it upsets the balance and starts making things fair and harder to gain capital because people would just consume the goods they produce themselves…which goes against the nature of the society…

So to maintain society, the consumers are kept dumb…and not just on a level of intelligence, because truthfully the consumers are either on the same level or even smarter than the producers…the consumers are kept dumb on all levels from the knowledge of opportunity to how to grow food to the operation of a sewing machine…

Ask yourself, did you create any of the items in the room you are sitting in right now?…Secondly, do you know where they came from?…The raw materials used to make them?…Their origins?…The process that renders the raw materials into usuable materials?…Can you produce any of the food in your refridgerator?…If u can’t (and trust me, I can’t either) I think you pretty much know where you stand…and I don’t think 98% of the magazines or newspapers or CDs or movies or television programs are going to teach us how…

I mean, who owns the companies that distribute these things???…

I bet you know the correct operation of a semi-automatic firearm and the ingredients and cooking instructions to make freebase cocaine and the proper technique of felatio and the winner of the last NBA championship and how Paris Hilton looks naked and that Christopher Columbus discovered America and how much a Maybach costs and…Hey, me too!

I close on “The Primetime Of Your Life”…Daft Punk is soooo fresh…

“Why kill you when I can just not teach you and get the same results?”
-A Real Gangster

Lupe's New Album Is Called "Lasers" not "We Are Lasers"

XXL reports that the album title is simply "Lasers" not "We Are Lasers".

"Lupe Fiasco announced last year that he was retiring from hip-hop after the release of his third disc, LupE.N.D. But now, according to his Twitter account, that project has been abandoned in place of an album titled ‘We Are Lasers.’

The album is just called "Lasers", according to a rep for Lupe, who also confirms that the Twitter account is official. "

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