I never want to be an artistic bully, and put myself above anyone else… or be more prestigious than anyone else. You like what you like, and you have to take that as you want it. – Lupe Fiasco
I do understand that America is a predominantly Christian country. A lot of morals and values are based in Christianity as opposed to Buddhism, which it’s not, or Judaism, which it’s not, or Islam, which it’s definitely not. So I’m not going to lie to myself and just be like, ‘Well you know, everybody’s equal.’ Because we’re not. – Lupe Fiasco
The party lines don’t change, that’s what makes them a party and you’d be a fool to think that just because there’s a black man in there it’s not gonna change the real foundation of the system. Especially when you look at his largest contributor to his campaign, AIG, one of the culprits in the economic meltdown itself. – Lupe Fiasco
I grew up in the ‘hood around prostitutes, drug dealers, killers, and gangbangers, but I also grew up juxtaposed: On the doorknob outside of our apartment, there was blood from some guy who got shot; but inside, there was National Geographic magazines and encyclopedias and a little library bookshelf situation. – Lupe Fiasco
Everybody has their opinion on what’s ‘real,’ and what’s they choose to listen to and their personal preference. Whether they’re 2 years old or 200 years old. And people can listen to whatever they want. – Lupe Fiasco
We’ve done shows – we’ll be in Dublin, and it will be nonstop pandemonium to the point where you think the crowd is going to implode, because they’re making so much noise and they’re so excited. – Lupe Fiasco
Sometimes I wish I never found the Internet. Sometimes I regret getting a laptop and Wi-Fi for logging into the Internet because it is such a distraction. If you have any addictive personality, the Internet will magnify it. – Lupe Fiasco
I was born Muslim, but for a large part of my life, I wasn’t necessarily raised Muslim. My father always kept everything around us, from Western philosophy to Eastern philosophy. – Lupe Fiasco
It definitely wasn’t like, ‘Hey, I’m going to steal that, and nobody’s going to know.’ The original ‘T.R.O.Y.’ came out in 1992, and it was like a 20th anniversary kind of thing. All of those intentions were there for it to be resurrecting a classic for a new generation. I tried to honor it. – Lupe Fiasco
All the big revolutions, whether it’s the Industrial Revolution, the Arab Spring, those changes happened by economic and social shifts brought about by the people’s voices, and those things weren’t voted for. Most of our changes today are brought about through technology, not by voting. – Lupe Fiasco
There is no line of demarcation between the amateurs and the pros; everyone is using the same tactics and playing in the same arenas. The only thing that separates them is radio, but the artist doesn’t control who goes to radio and who doesn’t. – Lupe Fiasco
You can’t control it once you turn it into the label, so there’s the expectation that it’ll leak a week before the album comes out. That’s the world we live in. – Lupe Fiasco
Some stuff I don’t even put out. I’ll just be home, happy, creating something for myself, and then ball it up and throw it in the trash. It’s less about trying to prove something or get on somebody’s list or make a fan happy or make a hater mad or convert a non-believer. That’s not the case for me anymore. – Lupe Fiasco
It was, ‘If you don’t do ‘The Show Goes On,’ your album’s not coming out.’ I had nothing to do with that record – nothing. I was literally told how I should rap on it. But I’m a bastard, ‘cos I’ll turn around and put it back in your face. – Lupe Fiasco
I think there’s a lot of the hip-hop crowd behind Barack Obama because he’s a black man. Honestly, I’m rooting for Hillary because race is only going to go so far. All the presidents are men at the end of the day. – Lupe Fiasco
I trust people to be human. Sometimes you do things that make amazing amounts of sense; sometimes you do things that don’t make any sense whatsoever. – Lupe Fiasco
The only person who really impressed me with making new music is Cudi. Everyone else seems to be jumping on the same music, the producer-made stuff, but the one person that’s made new music to me is Cudi. – Lupe Fiasco
Some people are the greatest people on Earth with good hearts and will get in the studio and make the most negative music in the world for the sake of success. That’s what the music business does to you. That’s what capitalism does to you. – Lupe Fiasco
I think you have to ask yourself does voting work on the level that you are trying to effectuate change; that is the conversation you must have. – Lupe Fiasco
Barack is at a level where he can’t – no matter how much he wants to or how much we want him to – he’s not going to come take out our garbage, so to speak. He can’t be the garbage man and the president. He can’t be the mayor and the alderman. He can’t fill all those roles. So I always push for local, local activity on the political scene. – Lupe Fiasco
I always preach that you have to be active as a citizen no matter what, and some people just voting as an excuse not to do anything. – Lupe Fiasco
Sometimes I do feel hopeless when I look out and scream out through my music, and I scream out through these interviews, and I scream out to people to kind of get their attention back on the things that are meaningful. There’s people dying on the streets of Chicago – young people, young men and women who are losing their lives. – Lupe Fiasco
People don’t understand that where I come from, everyone is either a convict, been in jail, been in a gang, is a hooligan of some sorts, but those are my brothers, my family and the people that I travel with. Those are the people that I roll with. – Lupe Fiasco
This nation was founded by rebels and revolutionaries, and its flags were carried across the battlefields by people who were very, very against the status quo and who questioned and criticized. – Lupe Fiasco
Before my father would open up a karate school in a particular neighborhood, he’d clean up the block – kick all the drug dealers and gang bangers off the block. My father was very clear: ‘I’ve got guns too, and I’ll kill you just as much as a rival gang would.’ And he meant it. He was a man of many facets and complexities. – Lupe Fiasco
If you are an open-minded and tolerant Muslim, you have enough knowledge to question the moves of a Christian governor or even the Ku Klux Klan. They called themselves a Christian organization, but how is that possible since Jesus didn’t do that? – Lupe Fiasco
When you start creating opinion, and you start creating difference of opinion, you’re doing something. People are actually sitting down and critiquing. A lot of the stuff people hate, they really don’t. They only look at the outer shell. They don’t really get into it. – Lupe Fiasco
There’s already been black presidents who’ve been corrupt, so it doesn’t strike me that having a black man in office means he’s going to be the Messiah. – Lupe Fiasco
I pay my taxes, but I’ve never voted and I never will vote as long as the system works the way it does. Even when Obama was running, I wanted to see a woman run! I’d rather see a woman in the White House as opposed to Obama. – Lupe Fiasco
