Lupe Fiasco

Flavor Flav Brings His Hip-Hop Knowledge To Harvard University As Guest Lecturer + Gifts Iconic Clock

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Flavor Flav Harvard

Flavor Flav was recently a guest lecturer at Harvard University. During his guest tenure at the Ivy League, Flav lectured on hip-hop culture and history. Before stepping off campus, he donated one of his famous clocks to the university. Flavor Flav was a guest lecturer at Harvard University on April 4. He also visited the […]

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Lupe Fiasco Named Fellow At Yale University

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Lupe Fiasco is no stranger to academic honors. Last May, he was honored as an MLK Visiting Professor at MIT. Today, Lu was named a Saybrook Fellow at Yale University. This marks yet another position of prestige at one of the top schools in the world. The announcement of his new position came straight from the Saybrook Dean’s Twitter. “Prof. @LupeFiasco welcome to the Saybrook family!” he tweeted. Lu responded directly to the tweet to say how honored he was by the announcement. What this new position will entail in the day-to-day for the professor and rapper is unknown. Still, the announcement alone speaks volumes about Lu’s intellectual acumen.

Lupe Fiasco is a Chicago-born rapper, songwriter, and record producer. His debut album, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor featured his socially conscious lyrics and creative production technique. It propelled him to fame in the mid-2000s. Frequently, Lu’s music explores political issues, social justice, and personal conflict. He is known by many for his razor-sharp lyricism and complicated rhyme schemes. Throughout his career, he has continued to release critically acclaimed albums. He also makes a habit of collaborating with a wide range of artists from different genres. He has had a long and storied tenure. His academic positions serve as further proof of his mastery of rap as an art form.

Learning With Lu

Last year, Lu took to Twitter to announce his MIT course. Anyone who has followed his career should not be surprised by his intellectual endeavors. Still, teaching a course at MIT is nothing to scoff at. About the announcement, Lu tweeted, “I been holding this for a while. I’ll put together something more sophisticated later that really captures the nuance and gravity but for now I’ll just say it straight and raw: I’m going to teach Rap at MIT.”

Last December, Professor Lu did just that. The rapper taught his first course at MIT, entitled “Rap, Theory, & Practice: An Introduction”. The class is an investigation of the basic purposes, structures, and principles of rap. Surprisingly, and to the delight of many up-and-coming artists, the class was made available to everyone via Youtube. This allows those who would not otherwise have access to his teachings a way to learn from the master himself. It is yet another philanthropic move from Lu that proves he is for the people, no matter how many prestigious titles he is given.

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Steph Curry Reveals His Favorite Hip-Hop Album

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Steph Curry is easily one of the best players in the history of basketball. Overall, he is responsible for four NBA titles and a dynasty that has lasted over half a decade. Although Curry has struggled with injuries throughout this season, he hopes to carry his Golden State Warriors to the NBA Finals. They are the defending champions, and he would love to repeat, despite the odds. However, it is not going to be easy at all when you consider how the West is completely stacked this season.

Throughout his career, Curry has been eager to share his love of hip-hop. He has a deep appreciation for the genre, and he is always listening to new albums. Recently, Steph was Mistah F.A.B’s The Unc And Fab Show where he got to talk music. As you can see in the clip down below, Steph was asked about his music preferences. Specifically, they wanted to know what his all-time favorite album is. This subsequently led to Curry professing his love of Lupe Fiasco.

Steph Curry Praises Lupe

“It’s Lupe Fiasco The Cool,” Curry explained. “[I’m a] huge Lupe fan. I think that album — I don’t know how many Top 10 lists that album would come up on, but that for me, the time and place too. And he’s an amazing artist.” The Cool is an album that came out all the way back in 2007. Fifteen years later, this is still a significant album in Lupe’s career. In fact, the album recently went platinum, which is a huge designation for any artist. Regardless, it is clear that Steph Curry has pretty great taste in music.

Moving forward, Curry will likely have to find just a bit of motivation in music if he wants to get the Warriors where they want to be. This year could very well spell the end of the Warriors’ reign of terror. However, the West is for the taking, and if Curry somehow pulls off the impossible, he will be seen as a hero. Needless to say, there is a lot at stake for him and his team. Let us know what you think of his album selection, in the comments down below.

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Lupe Fiasco Calls Ja Rule His Favorite Rapper: “This Is All I Need Right Here”

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It isn’t always that we get to meet artists that were the soundtracks to our youths, but Lupe Fiasco received an opportunity. The rapper has amassed a wealth of success of his own, but when he came face to face with Ja Rule, he couldn’t contain his excitement. It looks as if the two hitmakers were able to link backstage at a concert, and the encounter was shared on Instagram.

In the clip, Lupe was like a kid meeting his idol. “This all I need right here,” he told Ja. The Murder Inc rapper was all smiles. Then, Lupe addressed the camera directly. “Listen, I grew up on Ja Rule, you feel me? I don’t give a f*ck what no motherf*cka say. Ask me who’s my favorite rapper, who I was listening to when I was coming up. Even now!

Lupe Fiasco Praises Ja Rule’s Catalog
Lupe Fiasco at ONE Musicfest held at Central Park on October 9, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Chynna Keys/VIBE via Getty Images)

“Give me Venni, Vetti, Vecci, n*gga,” Lupe continued. “Give me motherf*ckin’ Pain Is Love over anything, n*gga. I don’t give a f*ck. Give me 3:36 over anything. F*ck these n*ggas, feel me? I’m bumpin’ Ja! N*gga, f*ck you!” Lupe followed up his praise by sharing stories of his youth, listening to Ja “on repeat.” He said the New York star’s music would be “hyping me up, charging me up.”

To all of the attention, Ja Rule was in disbelief. “You know what? It’s so ill to hear…that,” he said, seemingly at a loss for words. “From a lyricist lyricist.” The mutual respect was applauded by fans who were happy to see two rappers come together with compliments and not criticism. Hip Hop has made sure that artists are receiving their flowers these days, from Verzuz appearances to Drink Champs praise.

Ja Rule Made His Mark on the Industry

Meanwhile, Ja Rule has been a busy man. He has multiple businesses that he attends to while also hitting the road. The rapper has continued to tour since his inception into the mainstream, and he doesn’t have plans to slow down anytime soon. Although he often makes headlines due to his long-standing beef with 50 Cent, Ja’s career is much more than Rap beef. His time with Murder Inc helped define an era, so fans understand why Lupe Fiasco was excited to meet him. Check out the interaction above.

Lupe Fiasco Broke Down Eminem & Kendrick Lamar Lyrics During His MIT Rap Course

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Lupe Fiasco announced in May that he was “going to teach rap at MIT.” More specifically, the multiplatinum-certified rapper is teaching at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) for the 2022-23 academic year as the recipient of an MLK Visiting Professorship, as explained in the YouTube description of his “Rap Theory & Practice: An Introduction” lecture.

“Let your conscience be free. You’re now rolling with the thugs from the MIT,” Lupe said at the beginning of the session, playing off of Jay-Z’s “Get Your Mind Right Mami” verse. “Not thugs, but you know, rappers.”

He showed the class photos of him performing during his high school talent show and performing at MIT’s 2015 SpringFest to illustrate that “rap has always been a scholastic pursuit for me.” Over 90 minutes, Lupe dove into the educational root of rap and dissected the structures of Eminem’s “Stan,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Sing About Me,” and his own “Jonylah Forever.”

According to Lupe, “Stan” is “hands-down probably Eminem’s greatest record.” He laid out how Eminem brilliantly coined the term in fan culture, which was effective because he managed to pour universal, relatable macros into the song instead of trying to force “a bunch of details.” Lupe explained why he felt compelled to write “Jonylah Forever,” inspired by the tragic true story of a six-month-old girl named Jonylah Watkins who was shot dead in Chicago in 2013. Her father was the intended target.

“Destroyed the city. I was like, I need to make that a song right now,” Lupe told the class. “And the song was about Jonylah growing up, going to school, being really smart, going to med school, becoming a doctor. … She goes to open up a free clinic in the neighborhood in which she grew up in, and then one day, she’s in the office. She hears some gunshots outside, and then she runs outside to this van and gets this little girl. Triages her, stabilizes her till the paramedics can come, and eventually, she’s saved. She doesn’t realize that she just saved herself. Repetition, repetition, repetition, power. The twist, the power of that. The surprise.”

Lupe used Lamar’s “Sing About Me” as an example of when the surprise doesn’t fix everything — contrasting how he and Eminem blatantly said their plot twists where Lamar leaned more on evocative symbolism. Lupe promised to teach his students how to use “this particular frame” to learn about “a very specific type of surprise and how to utilize it and execute it” by studying stories from the simplicity of “The Three Little Pigs” all the way to Lamar’s intricate discography.

“You can talk about whatever you want,” Lupe said. “Just has to rhyme. That’s the only thing I ask. And it has to be to a beat.”

The course, per Lupe’s slideshow, will cover “fundamental rap primes” such as surprise, rhyme, metaphor, tone, and more. The full name of the class is “CMS.S60 Special Subject: Rap Theory & Practice.” Registration has begun for the 2023 spring semester.

Watch the full 90-minute introductory video above and learn more from Lupe’s tweets below.

The Best Rap Verses of 2022

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Image via Complex Original

  • SZA, “Smoking On My Ex Pack”


  • Sauce Walka, “Dangerous Daringer”


  • Lola Brooke, “Here I Come”


  • Joey Badass, “Survivors Guilt”


  • GloRilla, “Out Loud Thinking”


  • Takeoff, “Feel the Fiyaaaah”


  • Denzel Curry, “The Ills”


  • Vince Staples, “The Beach”


  • Quelle Chris, “Nynex”


  • BabyTron, “Manute Bol”


  • billy woods, “Remorseless”


  • Freddie Gibbs, “Black Illuminati”


  • Ab-Soul, “Do Better”


  • Conway the Machine, “Stressed”


  • JID, “Kody Blu 31”


  • Benny the Butcher, “10 More Commandments”


  • Tyler, the Creator, “Cash In Cash Out”


  • Central Cee, “LA Leakers Freestyle”


  • Doechii, “Pro Freak”


  • Lupe Fiasco, “Ms Mural”


  • Pusha-T, “Just So You Remember”


  • Che Noir, “Communion”


  • 21 Savage, “Jimmy Cooks”


  • Jay-Z, “God Did”


  • Lil Wayne, “God Did”


  • Kendrick Lamar, “Mother I Sober”


  • J. Cole, “Johnny P’s Caddy”


  • Malice, “I Pray For You”


  • Drake, “Churchill Downs”


  • Cardi B, “Tomorrow 2”