Lupe's Rolling Stone Interview: Not Giving A F*ck, Not Doing Interviews Any More, Inspirations ETC.

[Bawse D.Lox]

5.So your goal wasn't to indict anyone, but to argue that these are possible effects of these images and messages? A kid seeing his mom call herself a "bad bitch" may internalize that and be affected down the line by it?

Lupe:Nah, I'm not saying that, either. It's in the third verse: "This is a disclaimer, I'm not trying to teach you a lesson." I'm not trying to say this is what's going to happen, or potentially what's going to happen. Because you don't know, the characters are fictional, based on true events. I know personally what has affected me, but that's me personally. I've talked about it before and I'm not going to talk about it again. Everybody has their relationship with how things are going to affect them. It was moreso to just get you to think. Not to teach you a lesson or tell you what to do. I don't think people thought that's what it was. I think people just felt, "Oh, somebody's addressing something in hip-hop and pop culture at large. OK, what do we think about that?" Some people don't care, some people have never heard the song, some people haven't seen the video. Some people adore it and will write a dissertation about it. But at the end of the day I'm not really trying to tell you anything. I'm not trying to get you to do anything.

6.Let's talk about the rest of the album. There are live instruments on a few tracks that you did with your band. How would you describe the overall sound?

Lupe:There wasn't really a full musical arc to it. I was more caught up in the concept of the great American rap album, as opposed to sonically how it would go. I just got beats that felt good, that sounded good. There were some tracks specifically – not album-wide – like "Bitch Bad," that sounded like a beat that would be out now. Not 10 years ago, or 15 or 20 years ago. There's other records like "Around My Way," which is a remake of a record that came out 20 years ago. I can't say that there's a consistent theme throughout the album, but it's modern. That's the best way to describe it – it's a modern album with modern sounds, as opposed to it being a classic boom-bap record or a neo-soul record or a trap music record or whatever. It just sounds modern.

7.Lyrically, you have tracks that are about American history and songs described as straight-up "rappity rap." You've always been openly confident about your lyrical ability. Do you still feel competitive?

Lupe:Nah, for me it's art. I do this for the sake of myself. It's a selfish process. I don't really have any expectations from anyone for your comments or your reviews or your previews. Not to say that I won't see it, but that's not the point. I'm happy rapping a song like "Form Follows Function" for myself, the same way I can sit and watch a movie by myself or go to an art gallery by myself. Who do you listen to at the end of the day? Who do you look for to give you the thumbs up or the thumbs down about a certain thing? I don't really look to the public atmosphere for that kind of validation. I'm trying to find that validation in myself with my own art and put it on display, and if people like it, they like it. If they don't, they don't. Some stuff I don't even put out. I'll just be home, happy, creating something for myself, and then ball it up and throw it in the trash. It's less about trying to prove something or get on somebody's list or make a fan happy or make a hater mad or convert a non-believer. That's not the case for me anymore. Mixtapes, The Cool, whatever. We're done now. You get it, I get it, we're done. If you want to participate in this album, fine, if you don't, that's just as fine. I'll go on tour, go on vacation and come back next summer.

8.With previous albums, you've had a history of having trouble with leaks. How do you plan on beating the leak this time around?

Lupe:You just don't give it to anybody. You can't control it once you turn it into the label, so there's the expectation that it'll leak a week before the album comes out. That's the world we live in. But up until now, no one has a copy. As an artist, you have to strategize to make the final, for-sale product [have] more value, and more than music. When people get the physical album in their hand, it's a piece of art in itself. There's no way that the label should've let this happen. There's no way in hell that they should've let this physical CD, the way it's designed, come out. But it's out. That in itself for me makes that special. So whoever has the download, yeah, you have the music, but everyone has the music. You don't have this. You're missing out. We have to make the physical music a little more valuable instead of just having a download link and a bunch of songs you downloaded from some torrent site. People try to make the music value-less, and I don't think we're going to stop that train, but the one thing that they can't devalue are things that are in the outside world. The digital space is different, but the physical space still carries value. That gives me satisfaction. You downloaded it for free, but you're still missing out on the whole experience.

 

[Bawse D.Lox]

9.You've said James Baldwin was an inspiration for this album. What do you think about his legacy today? Why was he your muse this time around?

Lupe:I think Baldwin is overshadowed. I don't think Baldwin's in the conversation anymore. So that's why I tried to bring him back around, because he was such a powerful figure. He was a homosexual, he was an atheist, he was black, he was a writer, he was a down brother, he lived in Paris and grew up in the slums of Harlem. And he was a preacher. So he had all these things that made him Public Enemy Number One, but he was also loved and adored by the public at the same time. If you were just a card-carrying religious person, you'd shun him because he was gay. If you were a card-carrying white person, you'd shun him because he was black. And through all of that, he was smarter than anybody. He's had more of an impact for me than everybody. He's such a polarizing figure, but being so polarizing, his sense was so common. Very strong and powerful common sense about common-sense things. He challenged the notion that common sense had to be simple.

10.What is some of the source material you looked to for inspiration on this album?

Lupe:Howard Zinn's The Bomb. Steven Pimpare's A People's History of Poverty in America, which is based on Zinn's A People's History of the United States. There were a myriad of Baldwin speeches. The sample on the intro to the album is from Take This Hammer, a documentary that follows Baldwin around in the late Fifties. Now I'm reading things that back up what I was saying on the album – books like Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco.

11.So you'd say recording this album was a learning experience as well as a creative one?

Lupe:Not necessarily, because a lot of this stuff I already knew. It was more for the sake of the people who are going to say, "That's not true, where'd you get that from? You're making that up," to have some cites – an index or an appendix where I could look at you and say," This book, that book, this guy, that speech reaffirms what I'm saying." There are certain songs where I literally read a book and wrote a song about it. I needed to know the specifics. I had to read The Bomb to write a song about the nuclear weapons program.

12.We hear a lot about America on this album, but we don't hear about Chicago. On the "Hood Now" outro, you mention Kanye West being front row at fashion shows. With artists like Kanye pushing hip-hop into places it hasn't been, and Chicago still suffering in many ways, how do you feel about the city now and the music that's coming out of it?

Lupe:No comment. It's easier and safer and smarter for me to say no comment. I addressed America. Chicago is in America. These aren't site-specific. There's some examples that stand out more than others, like Pine Ridge, South Dakota or Camden, New Jersey or Detroit, that stand out physically because they're wastelands, but it's systematic. If you go through the entire country, you'll see a reflection of the same things. The same conformity, the same injustices, the same discrimination – the same happy times, the same good times. You see it all, because it's America. There's not one place that's foreign in America, if that makes any sense. When I talk about no-space-specific, I'm talking about everywhere.

 

[Bawse D.Lox]

13.On "Put Em Up," there's a line where you say, "Only Tupac is topping me now." What did you mean by that?

Lupe:I think everyone sees Tupac as an inspiration. "Tupac Back" – I didn't write that song, Rick Ross and Meek Mill wrote that song. Everybody equates themselves to who they feel is the pioneer of their thing, whether it be folk singers that look back to Bob Dylan or reggae people who look back to Bob Marley. These head figures that had a social and cultural pitch to them – not saying they were saints in any way, but within their genre they did something that transcended their genre. Everybody reveres Tupac. Tupac Shakur is a great man, a great figure, a great person. He's Martin Luther King status. The same admiration I have for Baldwin, I have for Tupac.

14.Yesterday at the session, you mentioned you had one more album after this and you were out. Are you happy right now?

Lupe:Commercially, yes. Commercially, I don't care. I don't really have any expectations.

15.But personally?

Lupeersonal, I choose to not comment on. How I feel personally I don't think is for public consumption anymore. Professionally, I'm aware I have accolades, but the commercial space is one I don't want to be in anymore. I'll still make music, but make music that is art. I think you'll slowly see that with the last record on Atlantic. You'll start seeing specks of it on Great American Rap Album, just the way we curate certain things, like the "Bitch Bad" video and the cover art. And once we really get into the rollout of the album, it'll all start to culminate on the last album, which is called Skulls. You'll see, like, "Oh, wow, he's not kidding." I'm really about to kick back and just do music for the sake of doing music, as opposed to doing music for the sake of doing an interview or shooting a video to it or having some kind of commercial incentive behind doing it.

16.So exactly what message do you want to get across or emphasize about this album or where you are right now?

Lupe:If I could control that, I'd write the interview myself. I'd write all my interviews myself if I wanted to have that type of control, but I can't.

17.I get the feeling that you're not too fond of interviews.

Lupe:These are my last interviews. We're doing a big documentary for the album, which will hopefully come out, if not the album day, hopefully a few days after – we've just got to finish it. That will be my piece de resistance about who Lupe is and what his music is, and that's it. After that, you'll have to talk to the publicist.

 

[A1000MILES]

He's an asshole by nature....

 

[L.O.S.T.]

It sounds like he is fed up with the industry. it was like talking to my 8 year old son. He disagrees with everything the interviewer said.

 

[Jabu_Rule]

I remember Lupe was at the Brooklyn Bodega years ago performing before his first album came out. Dude came out on skates singing kick push. It was leaked that summer and he asked how many people heard his album. Many hands were raised and then he said fuck yall and gloated about how Jay-Z is going to be on the official album. I thought to myself, well nigga, what makes you think they wont bootleg that? The arrogance of this negro bothered me. btw.

 

[Amotekun]

Well all I can say is that based on how I feel about this album and his next album Skulls(?) I'll move Lupe from being one of the GOAT MC's to being one of the GOAT artists of our generation.

I havent heard of someone putting this much thought and research into an album in a long time.

If the rap game were legit he'd of turned the whole industry on its head.

 

[mdot]

Wtf is the point of doing an interview if you gonna be sour.

 

[P. Town]

Dude is a lil bitch

 

[DR. JEK]

It kills me how rappers get mad that media got them twisted or whatever but when somebody ask them to clear something up about something being perceived a certain way, they talk in cryptic terms or tell people go listen to the music and the real pont of what they was tryna say. How come these music niggas cant just answer a question? All that agitation and they still leave it up to listener interpretation cuz they danced around explaining something in the interview...and listener interpretation actually gave birth to the questions they be offended by. Makes no sence. How you tellin somebody something aint that deep and people overthinking stuff and then a few questions later you admit to tryna get people to think? He's kind of a weird guy.

 

[Igot5onit]

Dude has been acting like a bitch ever since he grew out his dreads.

 

[Bawse D.Lox]

LMAO, Are Y'all Reading The Same Interview???

I Thought It Was A Dope Interview. How Many Rappers, Aside From 2Pac, Have U Ever Heard Discuss James Baldwin???

Personally, Due To These Media Ppl, Having A Way Of Twisting Words. To Get His Point Across Lupe Had To Be HEAD STRONG.

I Like That He's Not Tryna Prove Squat 2 Anybody, He Doesn't Care About Being On Your Top Ten.

He Makes Music For The Sake Of Art, He's An Artist, And He's Painting Off Inspiration.

IMO This Interview Was Very Crystal Clear.

 

[jono]

Well its obvious he's agitated, probably got a bit of a chip on his shoulder but the clarifications were necessary.

 

[sapp08_2001]

Good interview. If only more artists could decipher the bullshit and get back to the real hip hop shit we knew and loved in the beginning

 

[Rock_Well]

I never rly get that. Like, what extra value does the arrogant attitude bring? It doesn't make sense in art. Most artist i look up to who regard themselves as artist dont express themselves like that. I guess that's just when the artist start getting more industry and political-like. I always thought that was weird in HipHop how braggadocio seem to be acceptable - i can understand if on records, but in media content such as interviews also i never understood.

imagine Takashi Murakami having such a tone in their interviews. it even jdilla.

 

[sully]

I really like Lupe's music, and I understand how he's probably disenfranchised about the commercial aspect of music, but if wants people to hear his music anywhere other than the trunk of his car when he goes independent, he has to be at least a little cooperative during interviews and not shun the public a la Howard Hughes.

By being almost combative with the media in all forms, he's burning bridges that independent artists need to be successful.

He can say he wants to do it purely for the art, but the fact is, if he doesn't want to run into debt and lose whatever wealth he's accumulated from his career so far, he's going to have to play the game with interviewers and reviewers and other people that can either make or break music careers.

When magazines begin shunning him or giving him bad reviews because he keeps being an asshole when they try to interview him, he's going to do a reversal on his stance towards fan interpretations and media reports, but it might be too late.

Sometimes you just have to play the game and give a little to get what you want in return, and it seems like Lupe doesn't want to do that. Unfortunately, he's not popular enough nor have a large enough and loyal enough fan base to survive off this kind of isolatory strategy. Nor is his catalogue great enough where he can do whatever he wants and still get the airplay off the strength of his past works.

 

[checkmate3]

Somebody tell this nigga to go sit the fuck down somewhere.......matter of fact just jump off the fuckin' ledge or slit ur wrists already nigga....

 

[soul rattler]

Summary of thread responses thus far: "I/We hate individualistic people! Just smile for the camera, answer the questions so we can ignore or divert attention away from your intended message, and shut the fuck up."

 

[dalyricalbandit]

ehh dude iight never been a fan tho

 

[blackgod813]

Nowwewww I respect him he on that ...listen thats how blackpeople who really educated themselves sound ...