Rapper Lupe Fiasco's Presidential Inauguration 2013 weekend turned into a controversial incident for the hip hop star. After ranting on stage about President Obama and refusing to do another song, his performance came to an abrupt ending, with some reporting he was escorted or tossed off stage due to the crowd's displeasure with his lyrics.
A report on Jan. 21 from the LA Times indicates that Fiasco was part of a pre-inauguration concert on Sunday night, not the actual celebration on Monday. However, during his performance, Lupe's lyrics for his anti-war themed rap song "Words I Never Said" included "Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say ... . That's why I ain't vote for him, next one either." That part came right after Lupe declared, "[Rush] Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist."
Concert organizers sent an e-mail to the media regarding Fiasco's performance being cut short, which said:
"Lupe Fiasco performed at this private event, and as you may have read, he left the stage earlier than we had planned, but Lupe Fiasco was not 'kicked off stage' for an 'anti-Obama rant.' We are staunch supporters of free speech, and free political speech. This was not about his opinions. Instead, after a bizarrely repetitive, jarring performance that left the crowd vocally dissatisfied, organizers decided to move on to the next act.
The party continued as planned."
It's not the first time that Lupe Fiasco has been vocal about his dislike for President Obama either, as the rapper told CBS in a 2011 interview:
"The biggest terrorist is Obama and the United States of America. I'm trying to fight the terrorism that's actually causing the other forms of terrorism."
Lupe Fiasco has released several hip hop albums, with his latest titled "Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album" reaching as high as #5 on the U.S. Billboard charts. His previous 2011 release, "Lasers," reached #1 on the chart, with his 2006 debut album, "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor" reaching as high as #8. The anti-war song "Words I Never Said" appears on his album "Lasers" and features vocals by Skylar Grey.
Comments