Wasalu Muhammad Jaco aka Lupe Fiasco

I first heard about Lupe Fiasco during my freshman year in high school. I was talking to one of my friends about good rappers, and somewhere in between Cassidy and Lil' Wayne, Lupe Fiasco's named popped up. Lupe who? I had never heard of this cat. He probably was just another "shoot-em-up, bang-bang" rapper like everybody else, but once I heard him on Kanye West's song, Touch The Sky, I knew he wasn't playing.

Lupe Fiasco was born and raised in the westside of Chicago in 1981. His father was an African drummer and his mother was a chef that traveled the world. He was the youngest of 9 siblings, 5 brothers and 4 sisters.

As a kid, Lupe was influenced by established rappers such as Nas and Crucial Conflict. He says that his main inspiration was Nas's album, "It Was Written". He began rapping in 8th grade and pursued it as a career when he was 17. The name Lupe Fiasco came from a mix of his last name, Wasalu, and a song written by The Firm, "Firm Fiasco". He was signed with his group, "Da Pack", on Epic Records but then signed a solo deal with Arista Records. He was dropped after CEO L.A. Reid was fired, only to be picked up by Atlantic Records in 2004.

Lupe Fiasco and his friend/hypeman Bishop G started their own radio show from the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006. His first appearance in the mainstream was on Kanye West's "Touch The Sky," and his first hit single was "Kick Push," released in 2006. Ever since then, Lupe's underground and mainstream popluarity has skyrocketed, being voted GQ's "Breakout Man of the Year" and MTV's "Best Rap Artist".

Lupe Fiasco is a guy who, instead of rapping about all the money and girls he gets, he talks about real life stuff, the allure of money, power, respect. He's a lyricist and there's a meaning to be found behind every one of his bars, in every one of his rhymes. He can lyrically turn any idea into a tangible and relatable things like trouble with drugs and teen violence. For example, he showed how following everyone else and trying to do the "cool" thing can get you into trouble in his song, "The Cool"

It was freshman year and I was starting to hear more and more about this new guy Lupe so I thought I'd give him a try. The first song I heard, Kick Push, was love at first hear and he quickly became a must on my iPod. Something about his lyrical style and the way he compared and contrasted the different ideas of hiphop was a hit with me. I soon found myself trying to find the newest Lupe and actually listening to the theories and stuff that he says.

Lupe Fiasco influenced me to be myself and do whatever I wanted to do. He made it cool to use big words and to really stand up for the world around you. He influenced a lot of my friends and me to stay on the right path, not to mess with drugs or the "cool" style of the rest of the troublemakers, and to be the people that we want to be. He helped me to realized that it's not about being like everyone else, it's about enjoying life and being what you want to be.