Back in 2006 when Chicago native Lupe Fiasco released the lead single “Kick, Push” from his debut album, Food And Liquor, there weren’t many high-profile Black skateboarders. In fact, Black kids who skated — especially in the hood — were subject to ridicule and outsider status for engaging in an activity that was long held as the domain of beach-blond surf rats in Venice Beach. But Lupe was part of a vanguard of Black artists who changed that, providing representation for those outsiders and throwing open the doors of possibility for generations after.
Many of Uproxx’s panel of React Like You Know artists are part of those younger generations. For instance, Almighty Suspect thinks it “helped a lot,” while Foushee calls the song “very important to build the foundation” for young, Black skaters. However, that doesn’t mean that it made skaters of the whole hood overnight. Our newest panel members, Belly and Lakeyah, both point out their very good reasons for refusing to try it out. Lakeyah says, “The closest I ever got was a hoverboard… I have no balance.” Meanwhile, Belly reminds us that “I’ve always been big-boned my whole life — I feel like that’s a bad combination.”
Things get deep when our panel is asked about choosing between love and their careers, inspired by Lupe’s second verse boy-meets-girl narrative. Newcomer Jazz Cartier points out that “you can have room for love, opposed to half-assing it.” Meanwhile, the fashions of the video captivate Travis Thompson and Godson; Travis says “Nike SBs were everything,” while Godson marvels at Lupe’s Bathing Ape hoodie.
Watch our panel of guest rappers react to Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick, Push” video above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
