Lupe Fiasco Quotes & Sayings

When I started making my own music, I was more about recreating what I was hearing. I noticed that I had some control over what I was saying, and the effects that it's going to have on people. I wanted to focus more on the positive side of things, which are more in tune with my morals and ethics. — Lupe Fiasco

I'm trying to fight the terrorism that's actually causing the other forms of terrorism. You know, the root cause of terrorism is the stuff that the U.S. government allows to happen, and the foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists. And it's easy for us because it's just some oil. — 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

I want to make music as good as Radiohead, as good as Coldplay. I can make hip-hop as good as anybody. — Lupe Fiasco

360 deals are the new things of the industry. It's not about selling records; it's about selling T-shirts, getting a piece of your publishing, getting a piece of your touring, and all these other kind of properties. — Lupe Fiasco

The story of 'Lasers' is my story. I didn't have to look too far to get subject matter for this record; it was stuff that was happening to me. — 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 always saw two sides of life. I saw the dudes who would be the gangsta, big-time guys on the block, but would also be dedicated fathers. It was kind of weird to see that dual story that everybody has. — Lupe Fiasco

For me, I never wore my religion on my sleeve, you know what I'm saying? I never put myself out there as Lupe Fiasco, he's Muslim, he's from Chicago, he likes to ride a skateboard. — Lupe Fiasco

You always wrestle with depression, you always wrestle with those things, because the events and the experiences are still there, and the things that take place are still happening. — Lupe Fiasco

The biggest budget is the military budget. For what? We're fighting two wars in very small countries that have no nuclear weapons, that have no capabilities to destroy anything. They probably couldn't even get to America. — Lupe Fiasco

Just take me home where the mood is mellow
And the roses are grown
M&M's are yellow
And the light bulbs around my mirror don't flicker
Everybody gets a nice autograph picture
One for you and one for your sister
Who had to work tonight but is an avid listener
Every song's a favorite song
And mics don't feed back. — Lupe Fiasco

Takes a long time to happen so fast ...
To realize that your future is somebody else's past — Lupe Fiasco

I don't like to hear myself sing. So to get comfortable [hearing myself sing], I sang in another accent. — Lupe Fiasco

For me, I walk a line of fame and infamy. I walk the line of celebrity and non-celebrity. — Lupe Fiasco

I have a lot of fans in the Tea Party, and they disagree with me vehemently. But they're fans, so we meet and connect and talk, so I'm open to everything. — Lupe Fiasco

I got into skateboarding when I was like a shorty. It was a toy thing. — Lupe Fiasco

I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence — Lupe Fiasco

With 'Hip-Hop Saved My Life,' I attempted to make 'Kick, Push,' but for rappers. To give a real basic play-by-play of the life of a rapper before he makes it - if he ever makes it, because you can get stuck in that and be trying to make it for the rest of your life. — Lupe Fiasco

I think it is important that you have people from all different vanguards, from all different walks of society and different viewpoints to be focused on the struggle for equality and democracy. We need as many champions for the cause and as many events as possible to help keep this in focus. — 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

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

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 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

Hip-hop is just something I actually know how to do. But I always had aspirations to participate in other forms of music. — 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

The rewards we get by being those weird guys going against the grain to me are way more massive than selling a million billion records. I like climbing mountains or going on undersea dives for whales and stuff like that. — Lupe Fiasco

You would never know if you could ever be, If you never try, you would never see. — Lupe Fiasco

Chief Keef scares me. Not him specifically, but just the culture that he represents. — Lupe Fiasco

You need to think about the system that you live in and the comforts that you have. But the comforts that you have that are causing the discomforts of a massive amount of people around the world. — Lupe Fiasco

I love her (Lucifer), with all my heart. She said that she would give me greatness, status, placement above the others. — Lupe Fiasco

I was literally told for 'The Show Goes On' that I shouldn't rap too deep. I shouldn't be too lyrical. It just needs to be something easy on the eyes. Like a record company telling Picasso that we don't need these abstract interpretations of life, where people have to sit down and look at it and break it down. — Lupe Fiasco

The biggest terrorist is Obama. — Lupe Fiasco

You know what I had a problem with? The war - the war in Afghanistan. — Lupe Fiasco

I think that American presidents, that position in itself, as well as American foreign policy, it has terrorism in it. CIA agents going to overthrow certain governments - they're using terrorist tactics. They're not going in there like, 'Hey, you wanna have some cake?' — Lupe Fiasco

What I've learned is not to take anybody's advice. If you rely solely on your fans, it sets you up for the downfall
on the industry side and if you rely on what your label is saying, it will disconnect you from your fans. — 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

I was once that little boy
Terrified of the world, now I'm on a world tour — Lupe Fiasco

I don't have to work on it. I'm naturally a writer. The rapping and writing, they can go hand-in-hand - but rapping is an art that you have to practice and master, so I worked at it for a long time. — 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

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

In my fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama, and the United States of America. — Lupe Fiasco

The point of Islam is to promote peace. — Lupe Fiasco

I'm a big fan of science fiction, animation, and things of that nature. Other worlds and that type of stuff. — Lupe Fiasco

Reggae, oh man. It's the ultimate music. The positivity. The musicality. The whole cultural expressionism of it. The danceability. Just the cool factor. The melody factor. Some of it comes from a religious place. If there were a competition of who makes the best religious music, it would definitely be the Rastafarian reggae. — Lupe Fiasco

This game wears on you. It tears you down. It's perpetual motion for some people who've achieved a level of independence, like Madonna and Jay-Z - they don't need to do music anymore. But there's people who need it. And in that need, that's when it's tough and it tears you to pieces. — Lupe Fiasco

I find it somewhat liberating to jump, to dive into things that are the opposite of me. — Lupe Fiasco

Your child's future was the first to go with budget cuts. — Lupe Fiasco

When I retire, I want to step away on a positive note. What you put out into the world comes back to you. You actually change the world with what you do. I want to put some good in the world. — Lupe Fiasco

I have so many miles and I've been flying for so long that every time I fly, it's first class. It's one of those things that, if I needed to jump on a plane, and fly to Spain tomorrow, I know I could get it done. Just like that. — Lupe Fiasco

I think Romney's talking himself out of the election, to be honest. I was wondering what was gonna happen when the Republican power structure turned the money on, and then they turned on the money and nothing happened. — Lupe Fiasco

A match made in heaven set the fires in hell.. — 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

Making your moves, paying your dues, chasing the cool. — 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

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

It feels good, you know. It feels like you're out there, you know, doin' your own thing, know what I'm sayin'? It's like, people can't really compare it to anything, and that kinda feels good. It opens me up to a lot of different arenas, a lot of different type of situations, you know like Tony Hawk will call. You know what I'm sayin'? I can just image if my songs was about shootin' up, and like sellin' cocaine, I doubt Tony Hawk would be callin' you know? — Lupe Fiasco

If you're informed, you make an informed choice. You understand the quality of certain things and you understand the history of certain things. — Lupe Fiasco

I definitely want to work with Thom Yorke. I want to work with Damien Marley; there's a few international artists I wouldn't mind working with - like Massacre Children would be ill, and I still have an affinity for the U.K. hip hop scene. — Lupe Fiasco

What's the biggest commercial for aggression, sexuality and materialism? What gets pumped into these kids' heads? Taking someone else's girl, which is so laissez-faire in hip-hop, will get you killed in the streets, but it doesn't seem to be an issue when you hear it on the radio. — Lupe Fiasco

Oh yeah, I'm literally walking through my house now looking down and there are maybe, like, 15 pairs on the floor. For real. Real talk. It's just simplicity. They're something I wear every day. Before I got a deal with them, I was wearing some type of Vans all the time. I would just order them by the box, like, 10 at a time. — 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

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 don't think that politics are as complex as people like to make them seem or out to be. — Lupe Fiasco

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 don't really care about the GOPs or the Democratic Party. My point is the people, giving the people truth. — Lupe Fiasco

My mother and my father taught me to look at the actual problem, not the face of it, not the veneer of it. So for me, I was never - I was impressed that it - racially, I was impressed, right, but now in America it's about economics, and it's been about economics, and honestly, everything's been about economics since I don't want to say the beginning of time, but it's been about economics for a long while. — Lupe Fiasco

Why kill you when I can just not teach you and get the same results? — Lupe Fiasco

You ain't got to change the whole world. You just alter it a little bit and you redefine it into something beautiful. — Lupe Fiasco

I can't play any instrument for the life of me, but I know what I want to hear. — Lupe Fiasco

How can land be owned by another man. Warns one can not steal what was given as a gift. Is the sky owned by birds and the rivers owned by fish. — Lupe Fiasco

The world brought me to my knees, what have you brung you? — Lupe Fiasco

Success is a very dangerous thing and I think we have to be very careful about when we dictate what success is for somebody else. Because you don't know what it's like. — 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

It's a massive undertaking putting an album together ... It's not light weight at all. — Lupe Fiasco

Faced with the way the system does you in the 'hood sometimes, if you don't literally get out, your chances are slim. You'll definitely die mentally. You'll pretty much die physically. — 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

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

You know, my goal, once I leave the music business, is like, 'Man, Lupe didn't lead us astray.' It comes directly from Islam: leading people astray is the worst thing you could do. Especially in perpetuity; like, your music continues to go on and live without you. That risk is too great for me; I'm gonna keep it positive. — Lupe Fiasco

If you feel comfortable, and you feel happy, and successful at your job, then that's success. You define that as success, then that's success. Success is not a general thing. It's a personal thing. It's a personal attribute. — Lupe Fiasco

It's really about taking something inherently negative, and starting with the word loser, starting with something that's negative, and changing it into something that's positive, redefining it, but doing it in a certain way, how - like I would say when I look out at the world and you see it's dark and it's just overbearing and every day is depressed, depressed, depressed. What it took was to change my perspective a little bit. Not to change the world, to change my perspective. — Lupe Fiasco

I have an understanding of Queen and the way Freddie Mercury did his harmonies. I know what tablas sound like, because my father played a lot of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. — Lupe Fiasco

People say, 'If you don't vote, then you don't have a right to say anything. But nine times outta 10, I pay more taxes than they do - so even if I don't vote, I still have the right to speak out. — Lupe Fiasco

When you look out into the world and you turn on the news and it's just so dark, it's still there. But it's the battle, it's the struggle with that, and at the same time to recognize that happiness and love and all those things exist as well. — Lupe Fiasco

I don't like to degrade women, but I like pornography. — Lupe Fiasco

True terrorism, you know, weaponized fear. In defense of ourselves, we're fighting - actively fighting something else. But if you're going to fight terrorism, to me, you fight the root causes of terrorism. — Lupe Fiasco

The truth is limitless in its range, if you drop the T and look at it in reverse it could hurt. — Lupe Fiasco

My greatest enemy at one point was myself, and so now once I got over the fear of myself I don't fear any man. I never have. — 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

When you understand that your tax dollars pay for those tear gas canisters that were being fired into the crowd, and when you see that, and to know that a little bit of your fingerprint, your American DNA is a part of that, as well as those stealth bombers and that bomb that's lodged in the side of the school that has "Made in USA" on it in Gaza, and all of the unmanned drones that are blowing up weddings and things of that nature, to know that you pay for that, you really have - you don't have to do it now, but you need to think about that. — Lupe Fiasco

I have yet to see someone attack Obama over his report card. A lot of people I talk to from both sides of the fence are like, 'Well, what about this economy? What about these incidents?' There are still no answers except time, but time is the answer for everything. — 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

My problem is I'm peaceful, and I believe in the people. — Lupe Fiasco

That should be the measure of success for everyone. It's not money, it's not fame, it's not celebrity; my index of success is happiness. — Lupe Fiasco

If you want to relate me to the newer cats, let's go. Let's go line for line and bar for bar. If it's all about spitting and metaphors and MCing and lyrics and entendres, I will eat 99 percent of you dudes up. — Lupe Fiasco

If they burn a book, have no worries. The book will feel NO pain so neither should you! True destruction of the Qur'an cannot be done with fire; it is destroyed when we fail to remember & practice its lessons in our daily lives. If this occurs, then it is ANOTHER fire that you should truly be concerned about! — Lupe Fiasco

Obama came in and gave $700 billion to the bankers off the top as opposed to giving $700 billion to the poor. — Lupe Fiasco

Just listening to Pac, ain't gon' make it stop
A rebel in your thoughts, ain't gon' make it halt
If you don't become an actor, you'll never be a factor — 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 do this for the sake of myself. It's a selfish process. I don't really have any expectations from anyone for your comments or your reviews or your previews. — Lupe Fiasco