RENAISSANCE MAN

Leon Battista Alberti, an renowned Italian architect of the 15th century is credited with coining the phrase “Renaissance man”, someone who “can do all things if they will.” Defined loosely, it is a universal character whose talents, interests, and knowledge covers a wide range of ideas, topics and information. While the title has become somewhat flat in modern times with the democratization of genius in the digital age, it is one that Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known as Lupe Fiasco, can lay rightful claim to. A quick study of his creative work, not simply his music, but also his fashion, design, and academic pursuits, presents an individual that couldn’t simply be defined as “rapper” or even “artist”. Throughout Hip-Hop there is a long lineage of eclectic and bizarre characters. From Kanye to Ghostface (Hell the entire WU), to Lauryn Hill, DOOM (R.I.P.), Cardi B and 3 Stacks to name a small few; the culture and music of Hip-Hop has long been a place where uniquely gifted, imaginative wordsmiths and talents leave indelible marks through their musical contributions, but also their philosophy and personality (that often starts with or is filtered of course through the music we love).

Lupe came into our awareness in the midst of the apex for millennials, a generation very much steeped in the lessons of the past who came of age at the beginning of the digital era. Unlike any generation before, they had an ability to access, distribute and curate large amounts of information, and experiences that are unprecedented in human history. Lupe’s emergence also coincided with possibly the apex of HipHop’s commercial and cultural viability. By the mid-aughts; rap music had established itself as the pre-dominate commercial music, and the culture itself long established as the younger generation’s modus operandi for style and communication. Lupe is amongst the generation of Hip-Hop heads who sit at the way point of Hip-Hop’s rise to relevance and its commodification into cultural Americana.

Lupe’s career also spans some of the most important moments in American History, a post 9-11 world, the second Iraq war, the housing bubble, the Bush, Obama and Trump years as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. Alongside his love of manga, Eastern culture and philosophy and obscure references, Lupe’s concerns around equality and justice for oppressed people, the conversations he directly wishes to have with the black community and his critiques of capitalism show someone deeply affected by the state of the world. An overarching idea that much of Lupe’s music loops back to are his concerns and observations of the conscience of the world in which we live. What is most powerful about his work is that he asks more questions than he gives answers. Possibly, on a casual listen, one could think Lupe is delivering a sermon of respectability politics or delving into a spiral of contradictions, but listen closer and you hear the pondering of an artist who is just as confused and searching for the reasons as any of us. Throughout his career and within his catalog, we witness the demons and villains that he grapples with, and in turn, what he sees those around him dealing with as well.

Lupe, the person, also represents a particular black figure that rarely is discussed. A young black man with an active and substantial relationship with his father despite being raised in a “single parent” home by his mother. A young black figure in the hood who was exposed to a myriad of influences, not just banging, sex and violence.

The popular tropes of black life, in particular, urban black life, simply don’t apply to Lupe, even in his personal life he defies the conventional. Lupe’s emergence wasn’t as much an anomaly as it was an inevitability, nor was it new. Artists such as Outkast, Tribe, Black Star, even NaS had backgrounds that were similar, in family structure as well as influences. Lupe is an example of the black body not being a monolith and what happens when that presence finds and holds a platform to express the multitude of ideas that encompass their experience.

Fiasco’s body of work is vast. In addition to seven full length studio albums, he’s also released six official mixtapes. For the sake of brevity, the focus will be on his seven studio albums, as they represent the core of Lupe’s output and where both the lay fan, as well as the fanatic know him. Lupe’s prolific output relative to his peers also further cements his status as a true renaissance man. A rare artist who can’t be confined or defined by one aspect of who he is and what he’s experienced.

mikal amin lee