Make Sure You're Game is Tight

I have been wanting to write about Lupe Fiasco’s journey since I saw him at the Ecko ‘Save The Rhino’ jam. And the quote from Ian’s blog finally gave me the motivation. I have also wanted to comment on Little Brother’s Titerniagate. And the final piece of this post is the leak of the new Jigga track.

What ties these together? “Know Thy Audience’
Jay Z knows his audience with unprecedented accuracy.
Little Brother and Lupe better learn…quick.

Let’s start with Lupe. When he showed up to the Ecko jam without a DJ and had my man Neil Nice from Ecko spin for him I saw a big red flag. How do you have a monster record like “Kick, Push” and play one of the biggest venues in NYC without a DJ. Now maybe his DJ missed his flight or just got fired. I honestly don’t know and don’t like to throw stones, but regardless I thought it was a bad look. Then he performed and was underwhelming. I, like many others came to see Lupe more than the god, Rakim and put high expectations on his show. And that is when it first struck me that we may be building Lupe up for a fall.

After the Ecko show we did some interviews with him for the Festival and his interview game was also lacking. One word answers and overall uninspiring. Then he came to the Festival and delivered another ill received performance. After that I knew the underground was about to get him.

My theory on Lupe is that after the MTV debut of the ‘Touch The Sky’ video his project was rushed. Not so much rushed by Atlantic (you know I don’t do record label hating) but rushed by the public. We wanted him. And we wanted him now. We wanted our savior. We wanted Kanye’s heir. Why? Because there hasn’t been a real star in our world since Black Star. There was Little Brother and we will get to them later. We needed a new leader and after one verse and a video we crowned Lupe.

But I am not sure we ever asked Lupe if he wanted the job or asked if he was ready to take it. So what happened was we pushed him into the spotlight too soon. The result was boring interviews and ill prepared stage shows. And just like that the Hip-Hop police tossed him aside and now await their next victim.

And he didn’t help either. I don’t think he ever knew what he was getting into. He never took the time to assess the situation. He should have realized what people expected from him and either deliver or re-position himself. If he didn’t want to be the new prince he should have made that known and then tell us clearly what he did want. And then do it. Instead he let us put him in a box that didn’t fit. So when he says things like, “I don’t know one Tribe song by heart” we look at him like he has three heads. ‘Who is this impostor? Off with his head.’

Is it fair? Absolutely not, but as they say ‘it is what it is.’ Whether you agree or not you must at least understand that axiom. So now I shudder as I see the dream of Lupe silently fall apart. He was on MTV2’s My Block Chicago essentially pissing on all his demographics. To the skaters he looked like an interloper. To the ‘hood he looked like a deserter and to the idealists he looked apathetic. What is he? I am not sure. I know he has skills and brings something different to the game that we can all sense. I hope that he sorts it out before we kill another one of our own.

I get to Jigga and LB another time.