CRS

ever since the glow in the dark tour, there's been a lot of speculation about the potential "supergroup" of lupe fiasco, pharrell and kanye west. looks like it's getting closer and closer to being a reality.

in a show over the weekend, lupe mentioned that the crs album is coming soon.

CRS gives each artist an identity:

child - lupe
rebel - kanye
soldier - pharrel

if you haven't already seen their first video or heard their track, us placers, from a few months ago, peep it here. the video is pretty sick.

kicked pushed

saw k'naan last night in hollywood, and it led me to look up more stuff on him and about him. real soulful dude. check this video out he did using lupe's "kick push."

but before you watch it, here's why he did it:

Kicked Pushed: Some of you may have heard or read about what happened in Sweden's Gothenburg. Where after the performance a bouncer wouldn't allow me to go backstage to collect my things, though I had my pass in hand. The story is deep, and Sol Guy (my friend and manager) ended up going to jail for the night in Sweden. And me and the band spent the night at the station waitin for him. While it was us who were disrespected and actually physically assaulted, it was also us who were betrayed, processed and reminded of the diseases in the human heart. Fortunately, we were traveling with a camera and so we have some of those people and some of the situation on camera.

Those of you who know my music know that I've never really written for leisure. And that my experiences have always been at the forefront of my music. And you must agree, rarely is life uneventful. But this one called for special presentation. So I wrote a song, using Lupe Fiasco's Kick Push instrumental. Documenting the experience we had in Sweden, I call this song... KickED PushED. We also put together a video for the song, using the ACTUAL footage from the scenario. Nothing is re created, or re enacted, everything that you see is REAL.

Enjoy it (it's hard to say that about this one)

Peace, K'naan.

mick boogie | terry urban - 2009

said by mick himself - Mick Boogie: Well... as we are gearing up to go to LA for the Grammys, Terry Urban and I thought it would be cool to honor the Grammys by doing a special remix project of our favorite Grammy nominees for 2009.

Ever wonder how Kanye would sound rapping on Kenna's song? What if The Jonas Brothers sang over some hiphop breakbeats? What if Thom Yorke sang on Lupe's "Superstar?" What if Sara Bareilles bought a sampler and not a piano? The list goes on... but the answers can be found here.

download it.

lupe: free gaza part 2

check it. here's the video from the concert mentioned below.

when he transitions into daydreamin'.... the crowd goes absolutely wild.



credits: lupE.N.D.

lupe fiasco: free gaza

hate to get political, but this is fresh.

lupe fiasco has been in melbourne, australia for a little bit doing a series of shows. all over australia, there are a number of rallies protesting to end the war crimes and corruption going on in gaza, the ongoing palestine-israel crisis. in a recent show, lupe reached out to a muslim femalein attendance holding a "free gaza" t-shirt. he took it and place it on the side of the stage and walked off. he returned topless, only to give his shirt to the girl as a way of saying thanks. he then proceeded to throw the shirt into the stands only to receive a huge ovation from the crowd.

he quieted down the crowd with a small belief that there should be peace in every country, no matter the size. timed almost to perfectly, lupe went on to perform american terrorist. before ending the show, he made a small prayer to all the children stuck in palestine and israel and hoped for them to daydream for better days, followed by a heart-wrenching performance of daydreamin'.

sometimes an artist' heart truly is translated to their music.



credits: lupE.N.D.

lupe: hip hop is dead

with all the japanese cartoon hype going on, lupe is makin sure people know that he is not doing the indie thing under the name percival fats, and that percival is a real person, born percival hindenberg fats. “I like those kids a lot,” he said on the okayplayer.com forums. “Met the bass player overseas last year and their publicist/manager is a good friend from like childhood. May sign them. Not me singing though.”

guess only time will tell. but lupe is out there right now making even more comments, talking about the general state of hip hop. “I feel like hip-hop is coming to sort of a..i dare say…an end???...no pun intened,” he explained.
”It’s not the same energy…hasn’t been for a long time…just a bunch of nothing out there…take it how u may…I hope the new vanguard proves me wrong and brings back the day of substance minus the webcam video to announce its return.”

“Not ‘end’ in the since of cease to exist,” he clarified. “But more so transform into something else so expression is more meaningful…I put question marks on it because I still question my own thoughts about the feeling. But so many “what the fuck?!?!” moments have piled up so incredibly over the last few years that it begs a rethink of the trajectory of the art form."

lupe is one of many mainstream hip-hop musicians in the past few months coming out and saying that hip hop is dead. but with only 2 full-length albums behind him, hip-hop as a whole will definitely raise an eye-brow about lupe saying such. or is this just the beginning of his transition to...indie?

lupe also goes onto talk about fresh new faces, the cool kids and anthony hamilton are in the vanguard that he speaks of, and that he hopes their thought-provoking mentality will change and shape a new way into reviving hip hop.

lastly, though no timetable was set...lupe promised that his final album will be out a lot sooner than expected, and that is no longer entitled lupEND but now going with the alias of everywhere.

credits: XXL

japanese cartoon

so word in the hip hop world is a new interesting musical taste by the name of japanese cartoon. apparently, the dig here is, it's a side project by lupe fiasco. already sounds enticing. throw in the british accent lupe flows with, his new alias as percival fats, and no longer hip hop that you would initially assume. he's in complete punk mode.

sounds a little sketchy now, right? not going to lie...the vibe he's kicking is pretty unreal.

however, lupe is saying he's not even the main singer, but rather he's producer, and a good friend of percival fats, lead singer of japanese cartoon, and that he is only financing the band.

the two tracks that are hitting the web right now are "heirplanes" and "army."

check them out via myspace, which has only been up since christmas.


credits: hypetrak