Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco (born February 16, 1982 in Chicago , Illinois ; real name Wasalu Muhammad Jaco ) is an American rapper .
Life
family
Lupe Fiasco is the youngest child in the Jaco family. He has four brothers and five sisters. His father, a member of the Black Panther Party , was a successful African drummers and karate teacher , his mother a gourmet - cook . Fiasco grew up with his Muslim family in his native Chicago , where hip-hop greats like Common , Rhymefest , Kanye West and Twista grew up. Lupe started rapping in 8th grade. However, he did not really take the matter seriously until he turned 17. Fiasco's father died in 2007.
Starts at Epic and Arista Records
In 2000, the then 18-year-old and his 4-person crew Da Park received a record deal with Epic . However, since the success of the first single with Da Park failed to materialize, the group broke up again.
After that, LA Reid signed Fiasco as a solo artist from Arista Records . At the time, Lupe made several guest appearances. Among other things on the singles Kiss Me (2002) and Didn't You Know (2003) by Tha 'Rayne and later K Fox' This Life (2004). In October 2003 he released the song Coulda Been , several mixtapes followed. It also achieved a lot of popularity on the internet . However, he did not make a breakthrough.
Atlantic Records
In 2004, the record contract with Arista Records ran out. Lupe Fiasco, however, was immediately signed up again by Atlantic Records . Jay-Z was working on his long players The Blueprint and The Black Album and was looking for a suitable successor. For this reason he offered Fiasco a recording contract with Roc-A-Fella Records (now Def Jam ). Lupe turned down the offer because he was just starting his own label with his friends , which was called 1st & 15th Entertainment (F&F). Jay-Z offered his support and actively helped with Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor's solo debut .
With Kanye West he wrote the song Touch the Sky , which was released in April 2006. Then the single Kick, Push was released. East Coast rapper Fabolous and West Coast rapper The Game offered Fiasco guest appearances.
In 2006, Brian "Busy" Dachowski from Atlantic Records offered Lupe and his colleague Dusean Bishop G to take over a radio show from FNF Radio . The station is aimed mainly at students. In Lupe's show, hip-hop and Fiasco's own songs were played. Various discussions on politics , music , sport and entertainment were also broadcast.
At the same time, the label Atlantic Records discontinued the already sparse advertising measures for the album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor , as the album did not seem to make the breakthrough in the charts. Nevertheless, the Grammy Awards committee nominated the album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor and the single Kick, Push 2007 for “Best Rap Album” or “Best Rap Solo Performance” and “Best Rap Song”.
The single Daydreamin ' , which was created together with R&B singer Jill Scott , was only released in late 2006 and was therefore only nominated for the 2008 Grammy Awards . It won in the category Best Urban / Alternative Performance . However, the song was internationally more successful than in the US charts .
Surname
At the beginning of his rap career he still appeared under the name "Lu", which can be traced back to the last syllable of his first name. At an unknown point in time, he asked a friend whose first name was Lupe to use his name. This is how the first part of his artist name came about. The second part, "Fiasco" comes from Nas ' album The Firm . The first track there is called Firm Fiasco . Fiasco liked "Lupe" and so he wrote the name "Lupe Fiasco" on paper on a trial basis and decided to keep it.
The second album
On December 18, 2007 (USA) and March 7, 2008 (Germany) Fiasco's second studio album Lupe Fiasco's the Cool was released . It did not bring him great success, but it was able to build on his debut. He also achieved an international hit with the song Superstar , with the support of folk rock singer Matthew Santos , which made it into the top 10 in the USA and Great Britain.
After The Cool , Fiasco initially announced that it would only release one album. As a reason for his exit, he gave the low commercial success of his debut album. His last album should be titled LupE.ND and contain three CDs . The title is a combination of the name Lupe , on the other hand represents and END, which should on the one hand represent end of his career, the first letter of each name of the three parts of the album: The first disc should e very where hot, the second N owhere and the third D own Here .
comeback
In February 2009 Fiasco retired from his career and announced further albums.
In the USA he then got two top ten albums. He released his fifth studio album Tetsuo & Youth in January 2015. He was assisted in the recording process by Guy Sebastian , rapper Ab-Soul , violin player Rosy Timms and soul singer Nikki Jean, among others . For Single Deliver contributed Ty Dolla Sign at some Additional vocals.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 2006 | Food & Liquor | - | - | - |
UK31 (3 weeks) UK |
US8 (13 weeks) US |
First published: September 19, 2006
|
| 2007 | The cool | - | - |
CH93 (1 week) CH |
UK7th  (5 weeks)UK |
US14th  (28 weeks)US |
First published: December 18, 2007
|
| 2011 | Lasers | - | - | - |
UK25 (2 weeks) UK |
US1 (25 weeks)US |
First published: March 7, 2011
|
| 2012 | Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 | - | - | - |
UK60 (1 week) UK |
US5 (7 weeks) US |
First published: September 25, 2012
|
| 2015 | Tetsuo & Youth | - | - | - |
UK58 (1 week) UK |
US14 (4 weeks) US |
First published: January 20, 2015
|
| 2017 | Drogas Light | - | - | - | - |
US28 (2 weeks) US |
First published: February 10, 2017
|
| 2018 | Drogas Wave | - | - | - | - |
US60 (1 week) US |
First published: September 21, 2018
|
Mix tapes
| year | title | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Fahrenheit 1/15 Part I: The Truth Is Among Us | First published: 2006 |
| Fahrenheit 1/15 Part II: Revenge of the Nerds | First published: 2006 | |
| Fahrenheit 1/15 Part III: A Rhyming Ape | First published: 2006 | |
| 2009 | Enemy of the State: A Love Story | First published: November 26, 2009 |
| 2011 | Friend of the People: I Fight Evil | First published: November 24, 2011 |
| 2015 | Pharaoh Height 2/30 | First published: August 29, 2015 |
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2006 | Kick Push Food & Liquor |
- | - | - |
UK27 (7 weeks) UK |
US78 (5 weeks) US |
First published: April 18, 2006
|
| Daydreamin ' Food & Liquor |
- |
AT69 (2 weeks) AT |
CH82 (2 weeks) CH |
UK25 (7 weeks) UK |
- |
First release: September 11, 2006
feat. Jill Scott |
|
| 2007 | Superstar The Cool |
DE39 (8 weeks) DE |
AT55 (8 weeks) AT |
CH42 (12 weeks) CH |
UK4th (18 weeks)UK |
US10  (20 weeks)US |
First release: September 25, 2007
feat. Matthew Santos |
| 2009 | Shining Down Lasers |
- | - | - | - |
US93 (1 week) US |
First release: July 7th, 2009
feat. Matthew Santos |
| 2010 | The Show Goes On Lasers |
- | - | - |
UK49 (5 weeks) UK |
US9 × 3
(33 weeks)US |
First published: October 26, 2010
|
| 2011 |
Words I Never Said Lasers |
- | - | - | - |
US89 (1 week) US |
First published: February 8th, 2011
feat. Skylar Gray |
| Beautiful Lasers (2 Ways) Lasers |
- | - | - | - |
US70 (1 week) US |
First published: March 8, 2011
feat. MDMA |
|
| Out of My Head Lasers |
- | - | - | - |
US40 (17 weeks) US |
First published: May 22, 2011
feat. Trey Songz |
|
| 2012 | Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free) Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 |
- | - | - | - |
US76 (1 week) US |
First published: May 21, 2012
|
| Lamborghini Angels Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 |
- | - | - | - |
US92 (1 week) US |
First published: August 2012
|
|
| Battle Scars Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 |
- | - | - | - |
US71 (20 weeks)US |
First published: August 10, 2012
with Guy Sebastian |
|
| 2013 | Old school love | - | - | - | - |
US93 (5 weeks) US |
First published: October 14, 2013
feat. Ed Sheeran |
As a guest musician
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2006 | Touch the Sky Late Registration |
DE97 (2 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK6th (15 weeks)UK |
US42 (9 weeks)US |
First published: March 7, 2006
Kanye West featuring Lupe Fiasco |
Awards for music sales
|
|
Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.
| Country / Region |
silver |
gold |
platinum
|
Sales | swell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources) |
|||||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
- | - |
15 × platinum15th
|
1,050,000 | aria.com.au |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
- |
gold1
|
2 × platinum2
|
37,500 | nztop40.co.nz |
 Sweden (IFPI)
|
- |
gold1
|
- | 20,000 | sverigetopplistan.se |
|
United States (RIAA)
|
- |
3 × gold3
|
5 × platinum5
|
6,500,000 | riaa.com |
|
United Kingdom (BPI)
|
2 × silver2
|
gold1
|
- | 660,000 | bpi.co.uk |
| All in all |
2 × silver2
|
6 × gold6th
|
22 × platinum22nd
|
||
Awards
- 2006: AOL Music Award : Breaker Artist
- 2006: MTV2 Awards : Freshest MC Award
- 2008: Grammy : Best Urban / Alternative Performance for Daydreamin featuring Jill Scott
- 2009: USA Character Approved Awards : Character Approved Award for Musician
swell
- ↑ billboard.com ( Memento of February 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 23, 2009
- ↑ hiphop.de , accessed on February 23, 2009
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
Web links
- Literature by and about Lupe Fiasco in the catalog of the German National Library
- Lupe Fiasco in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Fiasco magnifying glass in the nndb (English)
- MTV (German)
- http://genius.com/artists/Lupe-fiasco
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fiasco, magnifying glass |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jaco, Wasalu Muhammad (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rapper of African descent |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 16, 1982 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago , Illinois , United States |