Lupe Fiasco has been on a tear lately. Once staunchly on the wrong side of leaks and giveaways, the Chicago emcee who once printed a list of reasons why he’s upset with the current leak-heavy music scene has been releasing a tirade of freestyles via blogs and websites. The reason for Lupe’s surge in activity can be traced to MTV’s Hottest Emcees list of 2009, and Cornell Westside’s (as he’s been dubbed) absence from the list. But for Lupe, inclusion on MTV’s list wasn’t just about ego or the current standing of Lupe Fiaso. As he told us during an exclusive interview,
“For me, another part was ‘I gotta make that list because the kids have to see that you don’t have to do this to be successful.’ If you look at it and 90% of it is negative, it’s like we gotta have something positive on the list. That’s not taking shots at anybody. All those people are my homeboys, but if we come down to the nitty gritty and what’s effecting the streets, you got kids getting beat to death in the streets. You really have to take the responsibility to step up and be like, ‘I have to show my success. I have to work this hard. I have to be to be looked at as this top ranked dude and top ranked Emcee. It’s not because I want the glory and fame, but so kids can have a different role model or choice of role model.’ If we’re excluded from that, the top pop culture thing for Hip Hop is devoid of anything positive, oh naw, we got to go to work. The conscious backpackers have to go to the club and go to work.”
Lupe’s current work includes his forthcoming album L.A.S.E.R.S., which also represents a new found clarity for Lupe in terms of what the emcee wants and doesn’t want, as evidenced by the L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto. Lupe spoke to us about the manifesto, the new album, his changes at FNF, and how preparing for his Halloween concert showed him how to get his swagger back. Check out the full interview below.