Lupe Fiasco’s creative process is more studied than most. Now 42, the Chicago MC born Wusalu Jaco has been rapping professionally for most of his life.
His 2006 debut LP, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, is widely regarded as a modern masterpiece, and he’s spent the ensuing 18 years honing his craft and teaching it — at his Society of Spoken Arts (SOSA) and in his Rap Theory & Practice course at MIT.
His latest album, Samurai, released on short notice late last month, stems from an unusual premise: a hypothetical scenario in which Amy Winehouse is a battle rapper.
The concept isn’t entirely a figment of Lupe’s imagination; it comes from a voicemail Winehouse left for her producer, Salaam Remi, made public via Amy — the stunning 2015 documentary on the incomparable singer’s tragically brief life.
Read more on thefader.com