Lupe Fiasco
American rapper (born 1982)
Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( LOO-pay), is an American rapper, singer, record producer and music educator. Born and raised in Chicago, he gained mainstream recognition for his guest appearance on Kanye West's 2006 single "Touch the Sky," which peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100. He also formed the rock band Japanese Cartoon in 2008, for which he serves as lead vocalist.
Fiasco developed an interest in hip-hop in his teens, after initially disliking the genre for its use of vulgarity and misogyny. 19-year-old Fiasco adopted his current stage name, began recording songs in his father's basement, and joined a short-lived hip-hop group called Da Pak. During his tenures at two major labels, Fiasco met American rapper Jay-Z, who led him to sign with Atlantic Records. The label released Fiasco's debut studio album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (2006), which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200 and was nominated for four Grammy Awards. Its first single, "Kick, Push," marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist, while its third, "Daydreamin'" (featuring Jill Scott), won Best Urban/Alternative Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
His second album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool (2007), was met with continued acclaim and preceded by his first Billboard Hot 100-top 40 hit, "Superstar" (featuring Matthew Santos). After a two-year delay, his third album, Lasers (2011), yielded his furthest commercial success—becoming his first to debut atop the Billboard 200—although critical reception was mixed.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q310116. VIAF identifies the subject as 310077. The Library of Congress control number is no2006109172. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 2006, 2008 and 2007.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lupe Fiasco” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.