Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Kick, Push’ Prompts Belly, Lakeyah, And Other Young Rappers To Consider Skateboarding

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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.

Lupe Fiasco Announces That His Podcast With Royce Da 5’9″ Has Come To And End

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Last fall, rappers Lupe Fiasco and Royce Da 5’9″ announced that they teamed up, with help from SayWhatMedia’s Tom Frank, for a new podcast called The Lupe & Royce Show. Lupe described it as being led by “2 real geniuses.” He also added that the podcast would be “half conversation between friends, half interview show, and 100% weird.” Lupe and Royce have shared 46 episodes since then, but unfortunately, it’s coming to an end.

During an Instagram Live session, Lupe revealed that podcasting isn’t and has never been something he took too much of an interest in and that he only took part it for Frank, who is a good friend. He said that he enjoyed the experience, despite having to bring it to an end over creative differences.

“I’m not doing that no more,” Lupe said during the livestream. “But again, it’s not something that’s done out of ill will, this is something that’s been kind of building for a little bit. And again, my heart wasn’t 100% in the podcast anyway, with Royce, without Royce, by myself, on my own.” He adds, “So shoutout to everybody who tuned into the podcast, really appreciate it… But yeah man, that’s probably the end of an era. And just kind of moving on to other things.”

You can watch Lupe’s livestream in the video above the revisit most recent episode of The Lupe & Royce Show here.

Lupe Fiasco Tries His Hand At Kali Uchis’ ‘Telepatia’ In A New Remix

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It’s been a little while since Lupe Fiasco delivered a full-length project to his fans. His last album came back in 2018 with Drogas Wave and while three years isn’t an unusual amount of time to wait for a new project, supports of the rapper would certainly love a new effort from him. Until that time comes, they’ll have to enjoy his sporadic drops like his latest release.

Lupe takes on Kali Uchis’ “Telepatia” in a new remix. The track is a highlight effort from the singer’s sophomore album, Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios), and on the remix, Lupe lays a couple of verses over the track’s colorful and breezy production. The song is not the first remix that Lupe has dropped in remix months. At the end of last year, he shared a triumphant freestyle titled “Mobb Deep,” which saw him rapping over Beanie Siegel’s 2001 song, “Nothing Like It.” He premiered the new track during a room on the audio-based social media app, Clubhouse.

Prior to the freestyle over “Nothing Like It,” Lupe dropped his double-sided Tape Tape EP with producer Soundtrakk. Before that, he dropped his “BBQ Chicken Freestyle” and his House EP with Florida producer Kaelin Ellis.

Outside of music, Lupe launched the first season of The Lupe & Royce Show, his joint podcast with fellow rapper Royce Da 5’9.” The duo announced the show last fall and described it as “half conversation between friends, half interview show, and 100% weird.”

You can hear the remix in the video above.

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