Click on the markers to hear Lupe’s verses. The, “Love Comes Down,” remix starts 11:45 and features Jim Jones, Fabolous, Red Cafe.
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RubyHornet: Recently you’ve released various freestyles. Some sites have put them up with, ‘Lupe put this out because he’s upset he wasn’t named to the MTV Hottest Emcee List.’ Is that output of new freestyles related to the list?
Lupe Fiasco: Definitely the Emcee list. For me it was like, I guess you feel a certain way like, ‘I hope these people aren’t forgetting about me. Are they forgetting about me? Is this what the status quo is right now and I’m not in that? That’s unacceptable.’ I feel like I’m nice or nicer than all of them, and it’s not taking shots at anybody. It’s the same situation where if there’s competition and this is what it is, it’s like, ‘OK, I can do that. I can play ball with you guys.’ And if this is the criteria of what it needs to be, I can do that easily. It’s just putting myself into it. When they didn’t put me on the last list, when they first starting making the list I was really pissed because I didn’t make the list and I could understand, if I’m not the hottest dude right now, cool. But then they did an honorable mention list, and I didn’t make the honorable mention list. And I know those dudes over at MTV. It’s not like a beef or I was tripping, but it’s like, ‘come on man, what are you talking about?’ And then I just had to go on a tirade and start destroying stuff and you got “Superstar” and got all that other stuff. Put me in arenas where they say if you want to be hot, this is what it is. You have be murdering it over here, you have to have the clubs jumping like this, you have to have this over here.’ I can do that. I feel like I got enough accolades and enough of a foundation laid where I can go and do these things and my fans won’t look at it like ‘Lupe’s selling out.’ It’s more so… this is just fun for me. It’s ‘Lupe’s on parade almost.’ That kind of exclusion this time around was like, ‘oh, OK. I really have to go back in and start destroying. Really go in and just show that you won’t ever forget about me in that realm.’ I’m not a fame hog, but that’s kind of like the last competition for Hip Hop. I got massive competition. It’s like the Olympics of Hip Hop. I’m at the Grammy’s every year. Every album’s been nominated for a Grammy. On the music side I’m satisfied, but when it comes back to fun in Hip Hop, that’s the last real competition. The 5 Mics has kind of fell off, that’s not inspiration or drive anymore. That top Emcee list is, ‘OK, this is the Olympics now? This is the Final Four, the World Series.’ I’ll be there.
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Lupe Fiasco in an HP commercial is below.
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