Baltasar Gracian: Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.
~~~
MY FUTURE RIDE, AFTER I GET THE SNOOP DEVILLE ~ TUPAC'S HUMMER, NOW ON eBAY FOR THE LOW, LOW PRICE OF $200,000!:
~~~
This report is from someone who was THERE. RAP IS OUTTA CONTROL!!!:
MF IS DOOMED IF HE KEEPS LIP-SYNCHING DOPPLEGANGERS AT HIS SHOWS:
MORE MILLI VANILLI SILLYNESS:
So…. I went to the MF DOOM show this past Thursday Dec 13th @ MJQ in ATL.
The night started off good for me, Dj Applejac was spinning when I walked in and he was killing it. Although the kids who came out to see Doom looked like they were just there for the show and had no attentions of dancing or even acting like they were enjoying the music. Which is weird considering they all paid $30 to get in. (FOR THE RECORD SENOR KAOS DID NOT PAY TO ATTEND THIS FUNCTION).Stacy Epps hopped up on stage and rocked one of her new records. Proud of you Stace, you’ve come a long way.
And then we waited, and waited! The show started Dumb Late, the opening acts didnt jump on stage until Midnight. And there sets were longer than they should of been at a hour where fans had already been waiting around for Doom for a few hours.
Shout out to the homie John Robinson (JR) who rocked and kept his set short.During the open sets there were the Doom Dunks being thrown out from the stage (MF Doom X Nike released a SB Dunk earlier this year). Shout out to the homie D Woods who bullied his way into a pair of 10.5 kicks!! Pics coming soon!
Finally at 1:28 AM a figure wearing a mask emerges from the back and takes the stage. Kids go crazy! He never greets the crowd, says hello or anything, and hes wearing some Fatigue cargo net looking thing covering his head.
FROM THE JUMP I SAID - THAT AINT HIM!!!!!!FOR THE RECORD, FOR THOSE THAT DON’T KNOW, I’VE PERFORMED WITH MF DOOM BEFORE, AT HIS FIRST SHOW IN ATL, AND DID ANOTHER EVENT WITH HIM DOING AN EXCLUSIVE DJ SET (WHEN HAVE YOU EVER SEEN DOOM DJ…. THOUGHT SO, ACT RIGHT!!!) - AND I’VE SEEN HIM NUMEROUS TIMES WITHOUT THE MASK!
So without greeting the crowd, this person jumps into song songs while Lip Sinching the whole time. How do you he was lip sinching kaos? Because money had the CD quality vocals, and anybody who has ever performed or watched a show at MJQ knows that the sound aint that damn good! (no dis to mjq). There was no talking other than the verses, No what up, how ya’ll doing, get ya hands up, none of that! And later on the evening I was told by a source that there wasn’t even a signal in dudes Cordless Mic. Things that make you go Hmmmmm….
So during all this, there was only a few of us who knew what was going on, while others in the front (mostly young kids) were soo happy they hearing songs went on to believe that were watching the real thing.
At some point of the show people started throwing cups! Check out the Video right here
OH OF COURSE WE HERE AT THE THEKAOSEFFECT HAVE EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE!
And someone else who was heckling was thrown out by sercurity as well - Dragged out by his neck!
22 Minutes later the imposter posing as Doom walks off the stage, no Peace, no thanks for coming out or nothing!! Only at this point that a lot fans realize they had just witnessed the Okeedoke!
Well after this I guess things got real funny, the Merch dude got his stuff took, and it is reported that there was money stolen by Dooms people. ( I say reported cause I didnt see anybody steal any money).
And of course the Internet heard about it first. Starting with Randy - Promoter for the show who posted the following bulletin on Myspace the next day! It reads like this:
“Many apologies go to all of you who came out to the MF DOOM show last night at MJQ and paid $30 of your hard earned money only to watch him lip sinc for 20 minutes at 1:30 in the morning. This was by far one of the single worst experiences I’ve had as a club promoter and I sincerely apologize if you walked away feeling cheated. To make matters even worse MF DOOMS appointed doorman took off with all the money from the door after the show! As soon as we realized the money was stolen we decided to help ourselves to all of MF DOOMS merchandise which included a bunch of T shirts and posters. So, in an effort to make it up to everyone who walked away feeling cheated, we’re giving away all the merchandise for free so come and get it while supplies last!! And if that’s not enough, feel free to let MF DOOM aka Daniel Dumile know how you really feel by calling him at his home in Kennesaw Georgia.
(HIS FULL HOME ADDRESS WAS POSTED, WE WILL NOT POST IT HERE, CAUSE THATS SOME GAY SHIT)
DANIEL T DUMILE
xxxx xxxxxx DR NW
KENNESAW GA xxxxx-xxxx(xxx) xxx-xxxx
All the best,Randy Castello / Tight Bros Network”
Then there were posts on Okay Player / URB Magazine Blog / Etc, Etc…
Apart of me feels bad for all the fans who came out and dropped their dough at the door for this, and other part of me feels like - thats what you get for jumping on the bandwagon. If you knew anything about Doom then you would know that this is not the first time this has been done. This started 2 years ago oversees where it was reported someone not looking like Doom toured Europe. Then there was the Elemental Magazine cover that was suppose to be Doom and wasnt, and Scratch Magazine article, where he sent someone else to do the interview and they called him out about it. And cant forget more recently Rock The Bells show in NYC July 29th and El Rey in LA Aug 12 where the same figure wearing a mask lip sinched his way threw the set. DOOM SAID 2 YEARS AGO IN AN INTERVIEW “the mask is the show whoever is in it is DOOM”
So quit trying to be cool and support the other hip hop artists who do great shows, and always show up to perform and you will get your moneys worth, not your money took!!
http://thekaoseffect.com/blog/?p=296
ALL I CAN SAY IS: RAP IS OUTTA CONTROL!!!
~~~
ONE OF MY BIGGEST HEROES SPEAKS:
Entertainer of the Year: Kanye West
By: John McAlley
December 20, 2007
In 2007, the man had his biggest success (and, sadly, his biggest heartbreak).
Kanye West / Photo by Alan Clarke
Kanye West is not pissed; he's just in problem-solving mode. Right now, the problem is production costs. "I want to be the No. 1 artist," he says to a member of his crew. "How am I gonna do that with muthafuckin' bad lighting?"
It's a different backstage scene from the one that has haunted West since September, when a secretly taped tirade he threw at MTV's Video Music Awards lit up YouTube and deepened his rep as a sour-grapes hothead. In his dressing room at Boston's TD Banknorth Garden arena, West forgoes scenery chewing for a bag of chips -- fuel for tonight's show. He's topping an all-star lineup at Monster Jam, a radio station event that, the night after the Red Sox win the World Series, brings 17,000 fans to a fever pitch without a single note of "Sweet Caroline."
Not that West would be above biting that Neil Diamond hit. On Graduation, the 30-year-old producer turned rapper has sampled nearly a dozen superstar and indie-chic acts -- including Elton John, Michael Jackson, kraut rockers Can, and French disco giants Daft Punk -- and spliced them into one of the year's best-selling albums, a lean, genre-leveling tour de force of hard beats and whopping pop hooks. It's a calculated departure from West's more sprawling The College Dropout (2004) and Late Registration (2005), a blatant move to go mass.
And it seems to have worked. West came out on the winning end of his release-date showdown with 50 Cent when Graduation debuted at the top of Billboard's pop chart with sales of 957,000. That same week, Graduation's first three singles -- "Can't Tell Me Nothing," "Stronger," and "Good Life" -- were dominating the Hot 100, with "Stronger," West's muscular remake of Daft Punk's 2001 "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," in the peak position (see sidebar on page 65). An international smash, "Stronger" is the triumph West hopes will help fulfill his excruciatingly earnest dream to be "the No. 1 artist." The pouty flip side of that yearning gets exposed every time he is denied another career-validating moment on TV. His fantasy of pop glory, it seems, and his underdog's craving for respect won't be complete until he hoists an Album of the Year Grammy in front of his peers and a viewing audience of millions. He has lost in that category twice.
But even less coveted prizes have eluded him. At the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, West's ambitious "Touch the Sky" video lost top honors to a scruffy clip for Justice Vs Simian's "We Are Your Friends." In reaction, West drifted onto the stage and began his now infamous "Oh, hell no" rant -- a public embarrassment he partly exorcised by parodying it this past September on Saturday Night Live.
A little too late, it turned out. Three weeks earlier, his backstage outburst at the VMAs (ten F-bombs in a minute and eight seconds) may have irreversibly damaged his relationship with the network. It was motivated, he says, not by an ongoing denial of VMA love but by MTV's decision to relegate his on-air performance to a suite far removed from the show's main stage.
Getting his fix of high fashion and fine art on Boston's Newbury Street the day of Monster Jam, the "Louis Vuitton don" is anything but crazed -- even though we first meet at the Martin Lawrence Gallery. In fact, he's unaffected enough that virtually no one on the sidewalk recognizes him, despite the five-strong posse and trailing black Suburban. He's perusing some of his favorite artists today -- Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Andy Warhol, and Takashi Murakami, the Japanese visionary who did Graduation's cover.
In the Polo store, West slips into a $700 wool-and-suede sweater. "Yo, don't buy that; you can have mine," says his perpetually texting co-manager, Don C. At a gallery up the block, West seriously considers a stunner from Warhol's Marilyn series. Price: $185,000. He's rocked, too, by Jules, an eerily familiar Robert Longo piece. "Is that the picture they used in American Psycho?! Damn!"
It's a rare few hours of relaxation in what has been a frantic week of globetrotting (a Spin photo shoot and Murakami opening in L.A. the night before, a concert in Dubai three days before that). Frantic will turn to tragic less than two weeks later, when West -- in London preparing for a series of U.K. shows -- will receive the devastating news that his 58-year-old mother, Donda West, has died, reportedly of complications from cosmetic surgery. Even casual fans know the story of Kanye's upbringing in his beloved Chicago under the care of his single-parent mom, a career academic whose dreams of success for her son got gently teased but ultimately fulfilled with the release of his three pointedly titled albums. Given the closeness of their relationship and the emotionally naked way in which West, an only child, lives every day and every thing, it's difficult to imagine how he'll get through -- except to become, well, stronger.
We talked backstage at the Garden before his world got turned upside down -- or, more accurately, when it was just a whirl of the usual Kanye-isms: enthusiasm and ambition, candor and combustibility, and a mix of bluster and uncertainty that makes him the award-show irritant most worth rooting for.
Kanye West / Photo by Alan Clarke
What's been your proudest accomplishment this year? The breadth of music on Graduation. It's my favorite album to date.
Why? I applied a lot of the things I learned on tour [in 2006] with U2 and the Rolling Stones, about songs that rock stadiums. And they worked!
Was touring with them a perspective-shifting experience? Life-changing. I thought, "Oh, this is the real thing."
How did playing to those crowds change your approach to making Graduation? I way simplified my rap style on this record. [Those crowds] were looking at me like, "I don't know what you're talking about."
By simplified, do you mean fewer words or leaner rhyme schemes? Everything. Fewer words. If you come in the room and say one thing, it better be the most powerful thing.
What else changed in your approach? Before, the music was more self-indulgent, and now it's more about everyone.
You're talking about the lyrics? I'm talking lyrics and chorus-wise -- giving them something to sing along with. Even a song like "Can't Tell Me Nothing," that's a rock chorus over straight ghetto drums.
So your goal was to make the choruses bigger? "Jesus Walks" is no slouch. And Late Registration was loaded with hooks. I wouldn't say loaded. "Gold Digger" was the biggest song on the record, and no other track had anywhere near the potential to be that big.
You made a conscious effort to shape Graduation for the next level of mainstream success? A conscious effort to take it to the next level in every form of success. More black people bought this album than any I've made.
Does that make sense to you? Uh-huh. Because I made the album blacker.
You think Graduation is blacker than The College Dropout? Way blacker. "Can't Tell Me Nothing" -- how hood is that record? "Good Life" is straight Steve Harvey, all day long. "Flashing Lights"? I never had a record that was that black. But it's white at the same time. Certain things are so good it doesn't have to be white or black. That's what Graduation is. Take "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." It's a white sample, but everything I do to it is to make it as black as possible. So I'ma make the bass as black as possible; I'ma make the lyrics as intense as possible.
Are these choices strictly artistic, or are you thinking as a marketer, too? Can you separate those roles? I can't. I'm a pop enigma. I live and breathe every element in life. I rock a bespoke suit and I go to Harold's for fried chicken. It's all these things at once, because, as a tastemaker, I find the best of everything. There's certain things that black people are the best at and certain things that white people are the best at. Whatever we as black people are the best at, I'ma go get that. Like, on Christmas I don't want any food that tastes white. And when I go to purchase a house, I don't want my credit to look black. [Laughs]
And what foods would fall into that category? White-people food? You know what it is. You never ate fried chicken and said, "This tastes white." It's America. People know the stereotypes. I play to the stereotypes. I believe in the stereotypes. And I submit to them. [Affects a black, Southern accent] "Man, black people sure can cook some chicken! And I'ma get some black chicken."
I'm trying to gauge if you're being sincere or facetious. It is what it is. A lot of things that are funny have truth in them. So my music is a mix between some good Harold's Chicken and...
A bespoke suit? A bespoke suit!
How do you find your samples -- for example, the sample of Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne" on "Champion"? One of my producers, Brian "All Day" Miller, made that track. I heard it and was overwhelmed. Me and my father's relationship is a little strained. So when I started writing on [the track], something came out of me to speak on that, but to say, in the end, that my father was a champion in my eyes, even with our ups and downs.
Your parents divorced when you were three. But in the past, you've portrayed your relationship with your father as harmonious. Where were the rough patches? I ain't gonna speak on that. But I will say that that is what got the sample cleared. I wrote a letter to [Steely Dan's] Donald Fagen and explained to him the importance of this song to me, and of expressing these feelings to my father. I think it's what made the difference in getting the sample cleared. All of these living artists -- I think they've learned to trust the Kanye brand. They know their sample is not gonna be placed with some quote-unquote booty video.
Some of the samples -- Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T." -- must not have been cheap. Could you have afforded them on the first two albums? I'll tell you one thing, as a black person: We have no problem breaking ourselves for what we want. But it's not just affording it; it's getting people to want to clear something for you.
You were only seven when Thriller peaked. Was Michael Jackson on your radar when -- [Stares incredulously] Was Michael Jackson on my radar?! I'm black. Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, and Mike Tyson. Michael Jackson is my favorite artist of all time. Every time I hit the stage, every time I write a song, every time I write a rap, every performance I do, every time I pick out an outfit, I think about Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson is synonymous with the greatest that you could possibly do in music.
Many artists would say that maintaining a healthy relationship with MTV is key to that kind of goal. Your backstage meltdown at this year's VMAs cannot have helped. I didn't have a meltdown. They call it a meltdown, but I don't know why. Somebody caught me on tape backstage. I said exactly the kind of thing that goes on backstage all the time. It was a real moment. But, I guess, as a pop star you have a responsibility to not be real anymore.
The backlash probably wouldn't have been as harsh if you hadn't erupted the year before at the MTV Europe Music Awards. The European thing is ridiculous. I was joking around. I was like, "Oh, hell no. Man, they doing it to me again. Fuck it." And it came off as if I was extremely upset.
In the YouTube clip of the incident, you do look like you're having fun with it. Duh. MSN had clips that made it look like I was bitin' this baby's head off. But backstage at the VMAs, I was upset. Not just because of the ridiculous [snubs year after year]; it was more because they made me perform in that suite and told me I didn't want to perform on the main stage. They told me Justin [Timberlake] wasn't performing on the main stage, either.
Which turned out not to be the truth. The thing is, the people at MTV know where I'm trying to go. And I feel like, "Why do you not want me to reach my full potential?" If I've got a record like "Stronger," which is blowing up all across the world, call an audible! It's like, "Yo, let's let him take over the fuckin' world the way we helped Justin take over the world." Because, at the end of the day, if Justin can charge, like, two million for a private event, I think, partially, it's because MTV helped make him the No. 1 artist. Okay, now I work my fuckin' ass off -- first to fight back from all the award-show backlashes, then to have the No. 1 song in the world. And a [hard-rocking] song like that as a black man? That is next to impossible. Yet you're gonna open the show with Britney and close with Justin?! To me, you're saying, "We don't want another Michael Jackson, we want Elvis!"
Have you talked to MTV? I tried. I had a meeting with them and we were supposed to squash it, but they never played "Good Life." I had "Good Life" as Video of the Week, and halfway into the week, they took it off and put up 50 Cent and Robin Thicke. How credible is that? I apologized to them for my spazzes. But I think it's fucked-up that I had a meeting with them and they still didn't play my video. My thing is, you gotta let me know, "Yo, by the way, Justin is performing on the main stage." And this is the thing: I love Justin. To me, he is the pinnacle. Black people like him, white people like him, girls like him, gay people like him. Do you know how hard it would be as a black artist to get to that point? [Sanguinely] I know that the right thing to do would have been to not say anything to MTV, because that's just made it harder for me. And I honestly think they felt that they were giving me a [quality] moment. But it's just so -- my biggest thing is impatience. Maybe God is saying, "It's not your time yet."
[Ed. note: According to an MTV rep, the network offered West the choice of performing in a suite or on the main stage, denies conferring with West on Timberlake's performance, and points to main-stage appearances by Rihanna and Chris Brown as evidence of MTV's color blindness.]
You've been through a lot this year. Do you have a sense of how you've changed as a person? Every year I learn more. Times are still scary, but I got to sit down with Daft Punk and Madonna, and with a lot of incredible individuals, and learn from them. I'm gonna keep making music so that ten, 20 years from now, I'll be able to be where Mick is. Where Bono is.
The 2008 Grammy nominations will have been announced by the time this story comes out. What would you like to have happen this year? Um, I want to have the most nominations of all time? I was always the kid who, when asked how much money do you want, said, "Thirty trillion dollars!"
So your mind has been on the awards. Yeah, I'm thinkin' about it. I'm thinkin' about what I would say in a speech if I did win. Because, at this point, I know there's a lot of people who know I should win.
Who do you think your Album of the Year competition is? That's what I'm saying: There is no competition! [Laughs]
And what will you do if, God forbid, you don't get nominated in the major categories? [Long pause, then a look of total vulnerability] Man! Do you think I should be worrying? I mean, really, do you think that's even possible?
http://www.spin.com/features/magazine/2007/12/0801_kanye_west/
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UNCUT WISDOM:
Please take the 20 minutes to watch this video. Then PLEASE pass it around in your e-mail and on myspace and where ever else. I also included a great poem/video that can be shared.
Please also share these gift alternatives:
http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives/index.html/
What is the Story of Stuff?
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Video Here:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
This video is not the same as the one below, please visit this site to see the video. Thank you!
And please pass it along!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHTS FROM WITHIN
http://www.voiceyourself.com/
-Woody Harrelson
Here is the embedded source code -- Change all "[]" to "<>"
http://www.voiceyourself.com/
-Woody Harrelson
POEM:
THOUGHTS FROM WITHIN
I sometimes feel like an alien creature
for which there is no earthly explanation
Sure I have human form
walking erect and opposing digits,
but my mind is upside down.
I feel like a run-on sentence
in a punctuation crazy world.
and I see the world around me
like a mad collective dream.
An endless stream of people
move like ants from the freeway
cell phones, pc's, and digital displays
"In Money We Trust,"
we'll find happiness
the prevailing attitude;
like a genetically modified irradiated Big Mac
is somehow symbolic of food.
Morality is legislated
prisons over-populated
religion is incorporated
the profit-motive has permeated all activity
we pay our government to let us park on the street
And war is the biggest money-maker of all
we all know missile envy only comes from being small.
Politicians and prostitutes
are comfortable together
I wonder if they talk about the strange change in the weather.
This government was founded by, of, and for the people
but everybody feels it
like a giant open sore
they don't represent us anymore
And blaming the President for the country's woes
is like yelling at a puppet
for the way it sings
Who's the man behind the curtain pulling the strings?
A billion people sitting watching their TV
in the room that they call living
but as for me
I see living as loving
and since there is no loving room
I sit on the grass under a tree
dreaming of the way things used to be
Pre-Industrial Revolution
which of course is before the rivers and oceans, and skies were polluted
before Parkinson's, and mad cows
and all the convoluted cacophony of bad ideas
like skyscrapers, and tree paper, and earth rapers
like Monsanto and Dupont had their way
as they continue to today.
This was Pre-us
back when the buffalo roamed
and the Indian's home
was the forest, and God was nature
and heaven was here and now
Can you imagine clean water, food, and air
living in community with animals and people who care?
Do you dare to feel responsible for every dollar you lay down
are you going to make the rich man richer
or are you going to stand your ground
You say you want a revolution
a communal evolution
to be a part of the solution
maybe I'll be seeing you around.
-Woody Harrelson
~~~
Lupe Wasulu:
The man Jay-Z called a “genius” says he’s trying to go over your head. Read this new interview closely and you might understand why.
Wasalu Muhammed Jaco has dealt with his share of pain since his heavily bootlegged debut album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor made listeners simultaneously think and bob their heads back in 2006. Within the past year, the 25-year-old Chicago native has had to cope with the death of his father, as well as watching his business partner and mentor Charles “Chilly” Patton being imprisoned on drug charges from his old hustling days. Given the hardships, it’s hardly surprising that his sophomore release, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, sees the MC embracing his darker side; embodying multiple characters and concepts that deal with death, destruction, rape and disease. Yet like Food & Liquor, the new album is still filled with the type of clever word play and fluid rhyme construction that most MCs could only dream of. In a recent conversation with XXLMAG.com, Lupe discussed quitting the industry, arguing with German philosophers and why he’s trying to go over your head.
You were obviously in a very dark place personally while you were recording this album.
Oh yeah. A lot of loss. I lost my father, I lost my business partner to prison, and I lost some friends. It was a very dark period. It still is in some aspects, but you know, I’m kind of coming out of it. But especially during the time that the album was being cooked, in my head it was a very dark kind of period.
How was it different doing this album without Chilly around?
I still talk to him, and hopefully he’ll be out this time next year, or maybe even earlier, but I lost my creative feeling. I lost the guy who checks me and can say, “That record sucks” or, “This record’s hot”. I lost that kind of direction, so I had to assume it myself. There was no way to even let him hear the music. The first time he heard “Superstar” was in his cell watching his little TV and he called me and was like “That record is crazy”. Normally I would get that feedback right off bat, so to lose that, I had to really boost my own confidence and really, really boost my cockiness just for the sake of actually completing it. I’m really the kind of guy that lacks a certain confidence and I’m always going, “I don’t think this is really that good.” I had to make up for him not being there, but it turned out pretty good.
How important is it for your name to be included in the “Best MC” conversation?
On some level, you need it to kind of get the sense of accomplishment, that pat on the back to make you feel like you’re doing good. You definitely need that sometimes. It’s not like I need it internally, it’s not like I need to hear those comments to keep going on or that I’m addicted to it, but you want to know that people are appreciating the music. If it wasn’t being appreciated, then I would want to stop doing it. I don’t need to be the greatest MC, I don’t even want to be the greatest MC. I don’t think it’s reachable. There are too many variables. The people who are called the greatest MCs is not based on any one particular critique; because of his flow, because of his charisma, his attitude; it’s not like a 360 thing where you say he’s the greatest MC because of one thing. Everyone has flaws; they may be a dope rapper but there subject matter is straight garbage or too violent or too commercial. I don’t think the title of best MC can be achieved. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.
Do you feel like you’ve at least received your “pat on the back?”
Oh yeah. Definitely. I’m still getting Grammy nominations from the first album, which is crazy to me. I’m getting a lot of kudos from a lot of different areas; not just the hip-hop scene, but from the music industry in general. When you get those kinds of things, it definitely does feel good. You know what you’re doing is being appreciated, but trust me, it wears off just as fast. Like Jay-Z saying “Lupe’s a genius.” You know, Jay-Z has been telling me that I’m a genius for years now, so just to see it in Blender Magazine, it doesn’t affect me, as he’s told me already. But everybody else is like, ”Oh my god, Lupe, look what Jay-Z said about you!”
Jay-Z also said in that interview that you go over a lot of peoples’ heads. Do you agree?
Yeah. Intentionally.
Intentionally?
I think that’s my nature to go over people’s head. I’ve sat and discussed things with people and they‘re like, “What the hell is wrong with this dude?” [Laughs]. Like I really sit down and I break down Nietzsche, that’s my favorite past time right now. I’m trying to wean myself off the internet, so right now during my spare time I sit down and really break down Nietzsche, try to prove Nietzsche wrong and people are like, “Huh? Why you not out collecting cars or something like that?” So sometimes it’s deliberate and sometimes it’s accidental. I’m like, Damn, I actually thought people would get this. It isn’t even a thing about it being complex or simple. Like people take “Kick, Push” to be something else. I had this one lady tell me that she thought “Kick, Push” was about childbirth; because the baby kicks and pushes and I was like, “Are you absolutely serious” [laughs]. It can definitely lead to things you’re saying being taken out of context.
You mentioned that you’re trying wean yourself off of the internet. Why?
My computer eats up so much of my time. I’d just be sitting on it for hours on end and I’d be thinking, Damn, I could be doing something else. I feel like the computer is kind of hindering me, like I’m literally looking at my computer now. It’s just sitting over there like “Watch me” [laughs]. I just need to get unconnected for a while. I got to disconnect, unplug and tune out just for a while. I need to get in tune what’s going on inside of me a little bit more, tune into the Internet inside of me.
In retrospect, how do you feel about the sales of Food & Liquor?
Well, we sold 400,000 worldwide, which is pretty respectable. Personally, I only expected to sell around 700,000, and if the album wouldn’t have leaked, we’d have sold 700,000 or probably even gone platinum. We actually went back and checked the numbers on the downloads, and it was astronomical. A million illegal downloads. It was like, Damn those are some heavy numbers. I mean, everybody had a copy of the illegal album. When I would be performing, and I’d ask people what they want me to perform, they would be telling me titles that were off the bootleg. Honestly though, I’m happy with it. The amount of success I’ve achieved, it’s like I sold a million records. I’ve had world tours and everything. The stuff I don’t have, I choose not to have. Like, I don’t want a Phantom. I could buy a Phantom if I wanted to, but I don’t want a Phantom. I don’t want a Maybach or 10,000 gold chains. Me not having those things is not because of a lack of success, but because I genuinely don’t want the stuff. I prefer my simple digital 50 dollar gold watch and my broken laptop. That’s me. I’ve been through gold chains, fast cars and that kind of lifestyle, but it wore off and I don’t want any of that anymore.
I guess some people get confused by who you really are. At the end of the day, what is Lupe Fiasco’s true image? What would you like to portray?
I don’t know. I guess I just want to be perceived as a cool guy. If I can become that mysterious guy to the left who dropped like three phenomenal albums and then went away into obscurity, then I’m good [laughs].
So you’re definitely only doing one more album after this?
Yeah, I’m kind of 85% sure. I love music, I love performing, I love my fans, but I don’t like recorded music. I don’t like record labels and I don’t like the industry. It’s such an unfair deal; it wears and tears on you. It’s not that I’m scared of work, but that work starts to eat away at you and you need to start to make the decision about how you’re going to proceed. At a certain point, you’re going to have to kind of concede to the darker side of doing business to really succeed or you’re going to have to make that song you really don’t feel that you should be making to achieve a certain level of success. It’s like growing up and really looking at the purpose of life and meaning of life and realizing that this is really minuscule in comparison to everything else. Recorded music is the worst, the absolute worst next to probably slavery. In a lot of respects, it can amount to just that.
What about just doing mixtapes, or releasing music independently so that you don’t have to deal with the corporate side of things?
Well, hopefully. If I can do it independently, then I would do it forever. But at the same time, I know it’s going to be tough because even that is a work in itself. That’s like a hustle and like I said before, it’s not that I’m afraid of the hustle, but it’s just that it wears on you. I’ve been doing this for eight years, from underground all the way to professional—this is my third record deal. So I’m just feeling like, Am I meant to do this forever? Maybe I need to take a break and go do something else and then possibly come back to it after, or just close the chapter altogether on music. So I’m 85% sure that I will do only three albums but there’s still that 15% of pondering. I would still always perform as long as a venue or promoter would have me.
Were you thinking about a lot about business while recording this album?
100 percent. Actually, kind of dodging some of the politics, kind of staying away from certain producers because of political and financial reasons. Then wanting to make bigger records to have more of a commercial outreach. Even The Cool itself, making it visual, was a business decision. I think when people finally see the album artwork and see how everything is going to roll out and you see the characters—like the actual “Cool,” the actual zombie “Hustler” in real life—it will push it that extra mile so people get it and it’s less cryptic. Because, you know, it is a very cryptic album. It’s built up from songs that are on other albums and mixtapes and then there are little concepts sprinkled throughout. So it has that kind of comic book feel where you have to go through the back cataloge to go forward. Only if you want to, though. It’s not an actual necessity to actually get the music and love the album specifically for what it is without digging into the back story. I just put those elements into it to give it more depth. Some people may not like the music but they may like the characters because the characters are very vivid, very cinematic and really thought-out and well done.
What are you anticipating this time in terms of Album Sales?
I don’t know. I guess [pauses]. I don’t know [laughs].
So you don’t have any target as far as what you would like to achieve?
No. Not really. You know, I would love to sell a ton of records. But if it happens, it happens and if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. I feel I’ve achieved so much just off menial sales, so just imagine what can happen if I sell a ton of records.
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LAST NIGHT WAS SIMPLY WONDERFUL. -VUNDERBAR!!!-
Going to Simon's spot was the best decision I made in weeks! I met some amazing people, specifically Elena, and had some goooood times! Spoke with some supermodels about passion and life, and they schooled me something serious! I am finding my glow :) Anyways, I really love life right now and it shows... after I did that with the brothers Chris Yoda and Dave Mills, we went back to drop off Dave and then Chris and I went to Diane's party at the Royal York, where the Woodbridge Angels were in full effect! I love them ALL: Diane, Rosemareeee, Caroline, Teresa Treesap, Frankahhhh!, Laura-che, Alexandra and all of them! They are some of the best people I've ever met, for real... and I know lots of people. Time to up those numbers, cause every day is a miracle making, heaven spreading day for me now! The world is making hell around me while I'm manifesting heaven... God is here!
love, Adhimusic
peep this awesome song, I ain't heard it in years!
It's Ok - Slimm Calhoun & Andre 3000. Classic Organized Noize music:
woo hoo!
peace to Elena and Cyne ;)
Mindbender gonna make some magic for the world to enjoy in 2008... the 1988 resurrection that no one expected!
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