When you are invited to appear at an inaugural event, it is probably wise to not bad mouth the person you are there to honor and celebrate. Lupe Fiasco chose to ignore this during his set Sunday night after he launched into a verbal attack on Obama. "I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bull***t, just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets. Rush Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist, Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say s**t. That's why I ain't vote for him, next one either, I'm a part of the problem, my problem is I'm peaceful and I believe in the people."
And with that his microphone was cut off and security pushed him off the stage.
LOl I am not a Lupe fan (tried to get into his music and just couldn't), but that's some balls. While it's clearly disrespectful, I appreciate that he seized an opportunity to speak out and took that risk.
ReplyDelete@Amber - I couldn't disagree more. He was paid entertainment for a gig. He wants to speak his mind, do it on his own time. It was dishonest, opportunistic and disrespectful. And I can't stand Obama (his policies I mean).
DeleteSeriously, why was this dimwit even invited???
ReplyDeleteLook- Lupe has NEVER been shy about expressing his opinion and this song has been around for awhile. Maybe the produces shoudla Googled his ass before booking him for a friggin Inaugural Event.
ReplyDeleteI am NOT gonna hate on him for being a pacifist. Nor for speaking his opinion.
And though I voted for Obama twice and consider myself a liberal to the core, many many liberals and "left-wingers" really feel Obama is more moderate than anything else. He has made several decisions that I have not been down with or believe was for the good of the people as a whole.
I see no real problem with what Lupe did- which was shine light on the fact that (unfortunately) Obama has done some right wing, Westward expansion, shit.
I'd still take Prez Obama over the alternative though. :O
President Obama is a right of center Reagan Republican for sure!! Because of how the system works and lack of campaign finance reform crappy candidates will always be a problem. I voted for Obama as the lesser of 2 evils. Whenever I hear someone calling him a Socialist I figure they don't like him for other reasons because it's certainly not his politics!
Delete@Portandjewel - No really, it's his politics I swear. He seems like a nice enough guy, but the things he pushes for this country make my head explode.
DeleteDamn, Secret Service is going to be all over his ass.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCareer didn't go as well as i thought it would. Reeks of desperation.
ReplyDelete@truth yeah, i had such high hopes for him :/
DeleteKane West does stupid shit like that all the time! I'm really surprised they asked Lupe Fiasco to perform. He has been saying all this for a long time.
ReplyDeleteHis views about Obama were not unknown. He previously called him one of the world' s most powerful
ReplyDeleteterrorists. But hey, great amount of PR generated, I guess.
I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to hire Lupe Fiasco for this event?
ReplyDeleteTeam Lupe. I think the organizers knew this would happen, and wanted to address the concerns of those who feel that Obama is not doing enough. Lupe is no dimwit-he's probably one of the brightest "rappers" out there.
ReplyDeleteYou know your stuff Turkish. My husband loves Lupe. He's very intelligent and very politically aware.
DeleteFiasco indeed! I'm sorry, but his music bores me to tears.
ReplyDeleteI thought he was removed because after he made his point he would not move on.
ReplyDeleteWhat a Dick; that was not the time or place
ReplyDeleteOf course they knew. Bread and circuses.
ReplyDeleteWell, it got him his 15 minutes 'cause I've never heard of this assclown, who, along with a lot of other assclowns, was oddly silent when this "war on terror" and deficit shit started about 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHe should have just sent Satcheen Littlefeather to sing in his place. That would show them all.
ReplyDeleteLupe is no dimwit, he's actually very intelligent and he's always spoken out against Obama. This is NOT the first time he's said something like this. He has also spoken out against rappers that glorify crime and violence, namely, Chief Keef. (enty wrote a story about him earlier) There is usually truth to his comments, but he doesn't always choose the right time and place to express them.
ReplyDeleteLupe is no dimwit, he's actually very intelligent and he's always spoken out against Obama. This is NOT the first time he's said something like this. He has also spoken out against rappers that glorify crime and violence, namely, Chief Keef. (enty wrote a story about him earlier) There is usually truth to his comments, but he doesn't always choose the right time and place to express them.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't an official White House event. That would have sent this over the top. It was an event by StartUp RockOn. Could have been a publicity stunt. It worked.
ReplyDelete"I ain't vote for him".
ReplyDeleteMaybe if he spoke properly and didn't sound like an uneducated fool, people would listen.
Never heard of him, but good for him for speaking his mind and for speaking up for the masses who get caught in the crossfire of all the political BS.
ReplyDeleteI assume he's big in America cos I've never heard of him. Seems like a grade A t**t though.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, his views are no secret and he has expressed them many times. That's why I'm thinking this was a set up publicity stunt. I don't follow rap at all but I know who this guy is and what he has been saying. I suppose the organizers wanted some controversy and knew this would stir things up a bit. I'm sure he agreed.
ReplyDeleteHe's right, though. This is also expressed by a number of Libertarians, who are neither "right" nor "left," but end up coming down on both sides. Penn Gillette is an example.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, his views got publicized, so it worked.
This is actually part of his song Words I Never Said. The whole song is basically a glorification of his beliefs and why he's right about everything.
ReplyDelete@Crystal, I gotta disagree. The English language is a very fluid and malleable form of communication and ones subjective use of slang and/or colloquial terms when expressing their personal opinions in a non-academic arena does not neccesitate formal standardization nor does such usage reflect ones intellectual capacity.
ReplyDeleteIt's like...whatever :)
@smiley, you're right. He was booted because he kept saying the same things over and over for thirty minutes, and, according to Rolling Stone, the audience was loudly unhappy about it.
ReplyDeleteThat really isnt a rant I would say. Thats a song called Words I Never Said which was on his Lasers album. Maybe they shouldve checked the lyrics of his set list....
ReplyDelete@goddes, lol as soon as I started hearing his "rant" I was like isn't that one of his songs? They really need to do more background on the artists they have performing if they're going to completely CENSOR them while they are merely performing their songs.
DeleteNever heard of Lupe before this so he achieved what he wanted I suppose.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of him, but he has balls for trying.
ReplyDeleteThese are lyrics to one of his songs not just ranting. Obviously someone didnt do their homework.
ReplyDelete@Dee Lurker- That's okay, we can disagree :)
ReplyDeleteIf Lupe Fiasco were a rap star standing up against Bush, many people would be cheering and saluting him.
ReplyDeleteIf he were a white Country Western star disagreeing with Obama's policies, most people would be calling him a racist.
It's only because he's African-American and doesn't wholeheartedly endorse Barack Obama that this is news at all.
Nutty you are #1 correct. I was speaking to an African American patient of line today who told me that her children consider her an Uncle Tom because she doesn't care for Obama and didn't vote for him. How sad. Reverse racism.
DeleteAshlea reverse racism is a redundant expression
DeleteLupe's just telling it like it is. Go Lupe!!
ReplyDeleteHe has bashed Obama before, so why ask him back?
ReplyDeleteSounds to me the organizers wanted publicity.
And as much as I disagree with him about Gaza, it's still freedom of speech. But that's slowly being taken away.
Oh, and Fiasco, honey, you're not peaceful, nor do you believe in people. IMO
No agenda groupie!!! We are currently listening to episode 357. Love me some Adam curry!
DeleteI like Lupe's music, but for all his grandstanding about Obama, the government, greed, all while sitting front row at Paris fashion shows and slipping luxury items into his songs, spoils the milk for me. I respect that he has his point of view, but some of his actions speak louder than his words.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of Lupe until his song focused on the misogyny in rap and how it not only forms young boys opinions about what girls are, but also young girls, came out. It didn't take terribly long to Google him and find out his stances. It wasn't the wisest move ever, but whomever booked him should've known, too
ReplyDeleteAnd the Secret Service was like kick, push, kick, push...
ReplyDeleteThe song is called " words I never said" and it speaks volumes about our government and the world we live in. Open your ears and minds, stop eating the bullshit our government feeds us.
ReplyDeleteTotally inapproiate for the occaison. I bet anything he's never voted in his life. And grinning like a fool? He knew exactly what he was doing; getting publicity. Jerk.having said that, it is america and can say what you want. I guess security deemed a risk to safety, do hustled him off. I wish i had a crew like that for when i dont like an act! Lol
ReplyDeletea schlesinger guy who was an adviser and friend of jfk wrote a great article once (cannot recall his exact name or the publication). but the crux of his opinion was this:
ReplyDelete"there are no less tolerant, censor-happy people than liberals...when someone disagrees with them or holds a contrary opinion. they wield p.c. speech control like a weapon, and will shame or exile anyone who crosses their lines of what is acceptable. for people who clothe themselves in the 1st amendment, liberals don't like it when you use your rights to state a contrary opinion."
(paraphrased, but these were the words of a historian, friend, and adviser to a liberal democrat president written in the 1990s about the scary p.c. speech hypocrisy. i don't like lupe fiasco and think it was a classless stunt, but where's the free speech?).
Serves them right for asking him to perform - why didn't they look into him first?
ReplyDeleteI think it's his most popular song. It's a good song though, at least he speaks his mind instead of being a puppet
ReplyDeleteThose are the lyrics of his song "Words I've Never Said".
ReplyDeleteAnd that song came out YEARS ago. So basically, which fucking retard didn't realize that while Lupe is black and from Chicago, that doesn't mean he necessarily supports Obama?
He's been critical of Obama for years.
Also, what happened to the first amendment? Since when can a fucking poet and artist not go on stage and criticize a President's politics?
Who? Totally inappropriate. There is a time and a place for everything, this wasn't it.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah. I'll forget who the hell he is in less than 5 minutes.
So much for freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteMadlyb Lupe's debut album in 2006 got him nominated for 3 Grammy's and a win. His sophomore album in 2007 was referred to as "one of the years best hip hop albums" by The New York Times and the first single debuted at #10 on Billboard. In 2008 he toured with Kanye, N.E.R.D and Rihanna on the Glow in the Dark tour, and his 2011 album Lasers debuted at #1 on Billboard top 200. That album also got him 3 nominations at the 2012 Grammys for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Perfomance, and Best Rap Song.
15 min of fame my ass.
I'll agree that what Lupe Fiasco did was pretty rude but it's not as if he's kept these thoughts bottled up over the years - whoever booked him to perform should have at least googled him beforehand.
ReplyDeleteNo idea who this guy is, but it's pretty sad that he's not allowed to express his views.
ReplyDeleteLet's hear it for the "Obama" regime.
Do what you're getting paid for, and shut the fuck up. Doesn't matter if what he said was on the money or not, he was paid to solely perform, not to say his piece on politics.
ReplyDeletethat's just it @Puggle, he was performing a song of his that just so happened to include those words quoted above as the lyrics. What enty quoted wasn't written as some sort of sneak attack on Obama, it's been out for a few years.
DeleteThey asked a politically charged musician to perform and they should've expected this. I see what everyone is saying about it being in bad taste but it's being reported without a lot of the facts.
But his music is his piece on politics which is why he was invited to perform it. This is exhausting!
ReplyDeleteJust like other people have said on here, he was kicked out because he would not move on to another song and the audience was getting tired of it. I llke his music and respect his view now agreeing with him is a whole different ballgame. I'm no dummy when it comes to politics and I know whom I vote for. I may not like everything that Obama is doing but damnit I still got a job and he was diffently better than his challenger.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's bad form to mouth off at the host, it does get the point across.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it's a rap song that he put out years ago.
ReplyDeleteSecond, it's one of his biggest songs. NOT performing it would be like Taylor Swift not performing Love Story.
Third, saying 'well he got paid, so he should only play music that pleases his payer' is fucking retarded. That's the exact opposite of the entire point of art and the exact opposite of the point of the 1st amendment. Go learn something about America, ffs, a land where PEOPLE are ALLOWED to criticize their government without being dragged out of the building by armed guards.
Fourth, if the crowd was so pissed off by the song, why is it in the video you can hear them CHEERING him and chanting "Lupe"? Don't ask me to believe nonsense when I can click the video link and see the crowd cheering the guy and booing the guards.
Obama isn't a philosopher king - We get to say things he doesn't agree with, even to his face, and he doesn't get to sic his guards on us for us. Where can we find a president who can face down a rapper with words and ideas and not the threat of violence?