L upe causes a fiasco by taking a dive into Atlantic.... Records that is. Major label status is nothing new to this west side Chicagoan, as Lupe Fiasco has been on a music industry roller coaster since an early age. “I been in the music business maybe since I was like 18. I first started with Epic (as a group called Da Pak), then I went to Arista after that as a solo artist. Of course you know Arista folded.” Lupe continues breaking down the story behind his current Atlantic Records connection: “In the midst of me going off of Epic, me and my partner Chilly started our own company called 1st & 15th . When we first started, it was just me, I was the artist. I was supposed to go to Rocafella and Bad Boy and a bunch of other stuff just from the buzz I had built up. From there we got an artist out of New York , Stack Bundles who's signed to Desert Storm right now and then we picked up Bugz, who is now with Goon Squad. Bugz was our first producer. He brought this kid Pro who is still with us now. We got a kid named Gemini who is from Chicago, (Jeffrey Manor). Then we got a girl Shayla G who used to be with Kanye, she came on the team not too long ago. On the production side we got producers from Cali , New York and everywhere. All the artists on 1st & 15th now are from Chicago . After Arista, we were looking for a label situation, and Atlantic came up and was like yo we'll do it.”

Obviously from being a recording artist involved in his own company, Lupe Fiasco has an ear for what sounds good. He goes on to run a windy city line-up of producers he likes, “Kanye good, but I look at like No ID, the kid Pro, I always liked Traxster.” With extra emphasis Lupe adds, “To me the best producer of the city to ever come out of Chicago is Wildstyle. Wildstyle not only makes beats and had hits behind them, but he actually could sit in and work with an artist. Wildstyle is one of the greats to come out of Chicago.” With opportunities recently occurring for Chicago artists in the past year, some may wonder if Chicago is capable of becoming major label territory as a city. Lupe shares his views on this subject. “What I think Chicago fails to understand is that Chicago is not a music city. Hollywood is Hollywood for a reason. All the actors live in Hollywood ; all the movies get made in Hollywood because the film industry is in Hollywood . The music business is in New York . In New York you gonna see a thousand million rappers because Def Jam is right there, Atlantic is right there, Universal is right there. Chicago was not built like that. Chicago was not meant to be a music city. Chicago is a corporate city. That's why Boeing is downtown, that's why Def Jam is not downtown. A lot of cats here don't understand there's a certain mentality in New York that they operate on, that cats here don't have, simply because Chicago is not a music city. People got tired of New York rappers. They aren't trying to hear the lifestyle of New York because you heard it 9 million times on Jay-Z albums, on Nas albums. Now they want to know what's going on in 2005 in Chicago.”

Now with everything in motion and a sealed deal with Atlantic Records, the future looks strong for Lupe's upcoming project tentatively titled: “Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor” Beyond 1st & 15th's in-house label mates set to feature on this release, Three 6 Mafia, Mike Shinoda ( Linkin Park) are also expected to appear. Lupe also has plans to possibly have Crucial Conflict and a last minute guest spot from superstar Jay-Z. Keep your eye on Lupe as he creates a Chicago fiasco where ever he goes!

- Lupe Fiasco: Food & Liquor CD
Featuring Gemini, Shayla G
Production by Bugz, Pro, The Buchanans, Sound Trax, Mike Shinoda
Release Date: Fall



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