Lupe Fiasco doesn't really care what anybody else thinks. He's been given a bit of a side-eye throughout his career and though he earned obvious respect from Food and Liquor, his music has rubbed some people the wrong way. Is he too conscious? Does he overdo it? Is he preaching? It doesn't really matter. Lu keeps doing his thing.
This weekend, that included an extended version of "Words I Never Said" in which he directly criticizes President Obama (specifically: "Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say sh*t"). This might have been fine ordinarily, but he was headlining an inauguration event. The sponsors were not pleased and when Lupe refused to move on from the song for about 30 minutes, he was removed from the stage.
The removal brings up a lot of questions: Were Lupe's first ammendment rights violated? Do political messages have a place in music anymore (Follow up: How/why did they lose their spot?)? Was Lupe simply attention-grabbing? Did aliens take over his body?
The sponsors are the only ones with answers so far. Naturally, they took the cover-our-ass-by-any-means-possible route.
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.