By Damien Scott
Illustrations by Reas
Photographs by Matt Doyle
Styling by Anoma Ya Whittaker

To hear him tell it, Lupe Fiasco is the most unusual rapper in the game. And sure, a 26-year-old Muslim who raps about vinyl toy robots and Goyard luggage is left of center, but the Chicagoan fits in perfectly with a new generation of fans who are discovering that Lupe is the closest thing it has to a hip-hop “everyman” (Sorry, Yeezy). Do a cross-reference of rap fans today, and chances are you’ll find a kid who has no dreams of moving weight, likes video games, and lusts after the newest graphic tees and limited-edition kicks.

It took those fans a little time to catch Lupe’s drift, though. His debut album, the Jay-Z executive-produced Food & Liquor, was a Grammy-nominated flop that left most people scratching their fitteds—but since then, Lupe has gone from the geeky skateboarder who was Kanye’s mans-an-’em to an international style icon who’s embraced by everyone from X-Gamers to ex-cons. Mr. Gold Watch sat down with Complex and hipped us to everything from his Fall of Rome clothing line to how he dumbs it down. This ain’t no time where the usual is suitable, so pay attention.

Your fans have a perception of you as this well-read scholar.

Lupe Fiasco: No, no, I’m a dummy. I’m Discovery Channel smart, for real. My real learning and education came from my mother and my father, them teaching me to be interested in thinking. My mother would pull me inside, and we would discuss Middle East politics when I was 12, 13.

So when you have a song like “Dumb It Down,” does that seem contradictory? It seemed like you were trying to reach a certain…demographic, right?

Lupe Fiasco: The dumb-ass niggas in the hood.

So you think that was the best way to talk to them?

Lupe Fiasco: [Laughs.]

Because I’ve heard people who are “dumb- ass niggas in the hood” be like, “I feel like he’s talking down to me,” like, “Why not just be on some Tupac shit and go straight at me?”

Lupe Fiasco: Tupac went over people’s heads, too.

But Tupac was basically like, “Black people, you’re in trouble.” Like A, B, C, D. Your shit was, like, Ichabod Crane and—

Lupe Fiasco: Well, this is what people don’t understand: On the original beat, the hook was saying “Space, space, space, space travelin’. ” And so I’m fittin’ to just rap the deepest raps that I can think about. My A&R was like, “Nah, the hook is weak. Put another hook on it.” So we was in the studio like, “Aight, aight, we need to dumb it down…hey hey hey, that’s it, ‘dumb it down.’ ” It wasn’t as contrived as people may think.

The first album was dope, but you had a lot of people in the hood like, “Yo, this motherfucker is on some smarty-arty shit. I’m not really tryin’ to fuck with it.” But now it seems you kind of crossed over into both worlds.

Lupe Fiasco: That’s because of “Superstar.”

So more people know you, but I remember you saying that you’re three albums and out—is that still the case?

Lupe Fiasco: I’ll keep performing, you know? I doubt if I’ll make any more albums.

Rapping is your passion, but you’re gonna stop after one more album?

Lupe Fiasco: I don’t understand who wrote the rules, you know what I’m sayin’? Because Jay-Z had 12 albums or LL had 12 albums? Why would people want to question my passion?

Because if people stop, it’s usually because they don’t want to do it anymore, because they lost their love of it.

Lupe Fiasco: Usually. Now how unusual am I? Like, real talk. How unusual? I’m the most unusual rapper in the rapping business.

You’re one of them.

Lupe Fiasco: And I’m not even talking about “Yo, this dude just wore a bathrobe,” I’m talking about “He looks like this lame-ass nerd nigga, but he carries himself like he’s this fly-ass, gangsta nigga. This nigga did a song about robots, dog.”

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