Recent rumors that Lupe Fiasco may be retiring from the rap world came as a shock in the end of 2008, but now that it is 2009 the Chicago MC is causing even more confusion. In the first few days of the New Year, MTV.com reported that Japanese Cartoon, a faux British indie-rock band, was possibly helmed by none other than Lupe Fiasco (yes, with a British accent!). According to Japanese Cartoon's MySpace page, the lead singer is really Percival Fats, but music sites like NME.com have suggested otherwise, claiming that the rapper is embarking on a new direction with the band. Japanese Cartoon did state on their MySpace that Lupe Fiasco is merely their producer and not part of the band but some media outlets are not convinced.

Lupe Fiasco was born Wasulu Muhammad Jaco but his friends began calling him Lupe in high school (his nickname from his mother was "Lu") and the "Fiasco" comes from a hip-hop song by the Firm. A native of Chicago, Lupe Fiasco was bitten by the hip-hop bug after listening to rapper Nas and first took the mic as part of the group Da Pak when he was 19. Lupe Fiasco launched a solo career when Da Pak disbanded (after signing with Epic Records and releasing a well-received single), signed with now-collapsed label Arista and released a sprinkling of critically acclaimed mixtapes. When Arista collapsed, Lupe Fiasco signed with Atlantic Records and released the smash single "Kick, Push." Fellow Windy City native Kanye West liked Fiasco's skateboard-themed single and asked him to guest on his 2006 hit single "Touch the Sky."

In 2006 Lupe Fiasco released his hotly anticipated debut album, Food & Liquor, on the heels of two successful singles and ample industry buzz about the socially conscious rapper, who integrates subjects like poverty, drug abuse and terrorism into his rhymes, leaving other rappers to focus on girls and parties. Lupe Fiasco received three Grammy nods for his debut record, including one for Best Rap Album, and garnered production form Kanye West, Jay-Z, the Neptunes and Mike Shinoda. In 2007 Fiasco unveiled his sophomore effort, the concept album The Cool, which spawned popular single "Superstar." Also in 2007, Kanye West, Pharrell and Fiasco formed hip-hop supergroup CRS and the trio took the stage on West's 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour. CRS also released the single "Us Pacers," which samples from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser.

In 2008 Lupe Fiasco announced that his upcoming triple disc LupEND may be his curtain call, although his label, Atlantic Records, has yet to confirm the rumor. Last December Fiasco told Billboard.com that the album would be his last because "END" appears on the screen when a video game is finished, although the Windy City rapper had previously explained that END stands for "everywhere," "nowhere" and "down here." "It's going to take me about two years to put [my last album] together right. I'm 85 percent sure that my next album, LupEND, will be the end-all," Fiasco told MTV.com last April. If Fiasco's production work (and possible cameo) with Japanese Cartoon is the rapper's new creative outlet, get Lupe Fiasco tickets before his rumored retirement.

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com and was written by Brent Warnken. StubHub.com is a leader in the business of selling Lupe Fiasco tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.