Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( LOO-pay), is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor. He also performs as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. As an entrepreneur, Fiasco is the chief executive officer of 1st and 15th Entertainment.

Fiasco has since released Food & Liquor 2, as well as put work into a joint album with fellow Child Rebel Soldier & All City Chess Club member Pharrell. Prior to the album's release, he revealed that there would be no more mixtapes after "Friend Of The People: I Fight Evil" prior to Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, which was planned to be a double-disc with Part I set to release in fall 2012. Its lead single, the Simonsayz and B-Side produced track Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free), was released on May 21, which stirred controversy from an infuriated Pete Rock for using a sample from They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.). Rock said that he felt "so violated" by the use of the sample, although the original track itself used samples from Tom Scott and James Brown.  Fiasco recently collaborated with Australian singer Guy Sebastian on the single "Battle Scars". The single was recorded in Sebastian's Sydney studio when Fiasco was in Australia for Supafest, and is featured on Sebastian's album Armageddon. It debuted at number one in Australia in its first week, becoming Fiasco's first number one single. On 21 August it was announced "Battle Scars" would be included on Fiasco's fourth album, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1, and was released as the fourth single in the United States on 28 August 2012. It reached number 71 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, number 23 on the Billboard Digital Song Chart and number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Chart. The song spent 20 nonconsecutive weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, and reached platinum certification. "Battle Scars" spent six weeks at number one in Australia, and has been certified 9x platinum by ARIA. It also reached number two and double platinum in New Zealand and number two in Norway.  Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 was released on September 25, 2012. The songs "Go to Sleep" and "Bitch Bad" were also released as singles. The album received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 18 reviews. It was also nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Grammy Awards. Originally, the album was set to be released as a double-disc album, but Atlantic Records did not allow this arrangement, so the album was divided into two. It was confirmed that a Part 2 will be released in Spring 2013. Lupe has said the album showcases more of his dexterity and lyrical substance. S1 has confirmed to be producing on the album. On January 17, 2013 he canceled the plan for the release of the second part of the original double disk. He then said that he would release another studio album in 2013.

Ask a question about this article.
How long did it take to record?