Lupe Fiasco's Obama Beef

Lupe has made me a FORMER fan with his attacks on President Obama. I’m not just talking about this incident. Lupe seems to have a personal issue with Obama that is regardless of facts. I’m surprised given his repeated attacks on Obama, in the media, there haven’t been many reports on his vendetta against the President (going back before he was even the Democratic nominee), false/uninformed claims, and flat out poser hypocrisy.
This interview, linked here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvsfvQT21Oo, was a hard pill to swallow for any fan of Fiasco, like myself, who had promoted this “intellectual” rapper to friends and family. Not only does he contradict himself in the video by proclaiming to end racism we have to stop teaching history, only to later in the video protest those condemning the use of the “N” word by claiming it’s a part of his history and wondering how can they take that from him, but he goes on to further embarrass himself. Lupe makes the case for a drug dealer being a role model in the community. It doesn’t stop there. He then says that a dope dealer would sit down and have a conversation with Barrack Obama and crush him. He says the dope dealer would ask Obama “Yo dawg what are you doing?” and that Obama would trip over his words spewing a bunch of golbedy-gook unable to respond. This was a serious blow to Fiasco fans who saw him as an alternative to the dumb-it-down, misogynistic, gang-bang touting, drug dealer supporting, lowest common denominator appealing, mainstream rap heard too frequently in our communities. According to Lupe, a dope dealer is someone to be looked up to, who would actually have the audacity, after poisoning his own community, to ask Obama what he is doing. This dope dealer is going to school Harvard grad Obama in a debate? Dare I say if Obama did nothing it would be more positive than bringing down the community by engaging in the drug trade.
Let’s not forget his support of Hillary Clinton, and the head scratching reason he gave for it, during the primaries. Linked here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYR6pFbNWOc. Of note, in the same video he brings up the subject of George W. Bush. As outspoken as Lupe has been on American policy and particularly his proclivity for taking shots at President Obama, you would figure that with the mention of Bush he would have went all in on the man that lied us into a war to devastate a country of Muslims for the sake of oil and profit. Not so, actually. Lupe joked of Bush being an American gangster, and when pressed to criticize Bush laughed it off, stating he likes American gangsters. This isn’t the first time Lupe has given Bush a pass. In Fiasco’s Kanye West inspired track “Conflict Diamonds”, Fiasco uses this play on words to dismiss continued criticism of Bush in favor of criticizing black warlords “f&k Bush, cause there’s people doing worse on this Earth, and they’re black.” “f&*k Bush,” was a popular saying amongst Bush’s critics at the time. Lupe spins those words to mean f&*k criticizing Bush because there are worse people out there that are black who we should be talking about.
During the same primary season, fellow Chicago rapper, Rhymefest took issue with Lupe’s support for Clinton and snubbing of Obama. Fiasco stated, “"Obama doesn't really impress me like that," “It's not a shot at him but some of his agendas, the bombing of Iran and all that stuff”
At issue was Fiasco’s false assertion that Obama’s position was to bomb Iran, especially given that Obama was taking heat from the other candidates for stating as President he would be open to engaging in talks with Iran without preconditions. Also at issue was how Lupe could tout the milestone of having a woman, in Hillary, elected (Fiasco’s sole reason for supporting her) while acting oblivious to the effect the election of Obama would have on blacks. The entire interaction is compiled here
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=17899828280&topic=3482. Lupe responded to a fan calling him out on Rhymefest's criticism by mocking the beef culture fueling rap and stating he would simply call Rhymefest to squash the matter. Rhymefest responded in a post by letting everyone know that Lupe did not have his number and continuing to call Fiasco to task for the false information put out regarding Obama’s Iran policy. Lo and behold Fiasco acknowledged his ignorance with the following half apology “If it was misinformation that I received then I apologize on behalf of the source but like I said I am still going back to recheck the validity of the source..” As of this date the results of Lupe’s investigation into the validity of his “source”, like the unbelievable findings of Donald Trumps “Birther” investigation, have yet to be released.
Then there was this gym after Obama’s election
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdgjMiFaCI8. Highlights include Lupe, despite his previous sentiments, going to meet President Obama where he was playing a game of basket ball and mockingly stating, “Wow that hustler? That… That guy right there? Who just missed that lay up right there?” Another highlight included him stating how he wasn’t moved by the President’s inauguration speech… at all. What really struck me was Lupe’s continued hypocrisy. Here we have this socially positive rapper clowning the first elected black man because he doesn’t fit the profile of a hustler? Keeping in line with his baffling, two-faced, hypocrisy, Lupe seems to forget his reasons for supporting Clinton and begins to tout how important it is that a black man was elected president. In the same breath he says we should thank white people for voting for Obama and giving us this moment. Yup, that’s right. The same Lupe that supported Hillary, instead of Obama, because of the impact electing a woman would have, the same Lupe that has gone on record as being against voting, is telling us we should thank the white people that voted for Obama.
More recently we’ve had Lupe’s shot at Obama in Words I Never Said “Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say shit”, and his pouting on twitter after the death of Bin Laden, “Osama Dead!?!" "Afghan Operation done now??? Now kill poverty, wack schools, and US imperialism…” Sorry Lupe but people might just want to talk about the death of a man that admitted to killing so many people. I’ll be sure to apply the philosophy of ignoring anything that doesn’t fix poverty, broken schools, and US imperialism, when your next album comes out. What really bothered me about Lupe’s tweet was that it carried the same pouting tone as the “experts” from the Middle East who, in the aftermath of bin Laden’s death, published pieces criticizing us for being insensitive when it came to bin Laden’s burial, or whined about the fairness of his shooting, backhandedly relegating bin Laden’s atrocities by only mentioning them briefly with a single sentence, or, as with Lupe’s tweet, not at all.
Then there’s this latest move http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504943_162-20069803-10391715.html?tag=contentBody;listingLeadStories with him once again going after his favorite target President Obama and calling him the world’s biggest terrorist, while reaffirming his political inaction. Lupe’s reason for calling Obama a terrorist? He’s the President. That simple. Yet where are the examples of Lupe repeatedly targeting George W. Bush the way he has readily jumped at any chance to criticize President Obama? Indeed when it comes to Bush, Lupe seems to be giving him a pass. So bin Laden… nope let’s talk about other things. So criticizing Bush… F^&k that because there are people doing worse on this Earth (but I thought there was no one worse than the terrorist occupying the oval office?). Obama, though? Worlds biggest terrorist to be ripped at any opportunity. Wait a minute though. Didn’t Lupe use President Obama to poetically inspire a Chicago crowd to “Wake the F*^k up!” Link here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYR6pFbNWOc. Is that not Fiasco ranting how it makes no sense for Chicago to be the murder capital of The U.S.A. when we we’re about to have “the first black president, right here from Chicago,” take office? Did he not say Obama makes Chicagoans proud? Did he not say that Chicagoans are letting President Obama down? So voting for President Obama would be wrong to Lupe, but rallying one of the largest cities in America behind the worlds biggest “terrorist” is fine, as long as it helps Lupe achieve his objective? If even one of those people that heard Lupe’s speech decides to be a more proactive supporter of President Obama, by voting for him in the next election, has Lupe not essentially voted for President Obama by proxy? If Obama is a terrorist does that not make Lupe a recruiter of terrorism? Or Jay-Z for that matter, or anyone that campaigns or votes for President Obama? That’s where Lupe’s logic ends up, but I don’t think he’s really thought that deeply on it. Nor does he desire too.
I don’t think this has anything to do with President Obama’s policies or politics. Rhymefest proved Lupe’s ignorance there, and I do believe Fiasco still holds that ignorance. I don’t think he has a clue what President Obama felt, or said, one way or the other about Gaza. Much like he had no idea of his Iran policy, or Hillary’s (the candidate he supported) for that matter. In fact, can you remember a U.S. president who has had a more hostile relationship with the Prime Minister of Israel? President Obama snubbed that man and made him wait while President Obama went to go eat his dinner, after the Prime Minister traveled all the way from Israel to D.C.. Why did the president do that? Because PM Netanyahu ignored President Obama’s request for Israel to stop building settlements. Relations between the two have been icy since. Recently he unveiled his plan for peace, stating that a peace deal between Israel and Palestine should be based on pre-1968 (before the war) borders with mutually agreed land swaps. He was vilified for this by Netanyahu, Republicans, Democrats, and even Harry Reid. For those not in the know, Reid publicly rebuking Obama is like Robin publicly chastising Batman in support of Aquaman. The closest thing to a war this president has initiated has been in support of oppressed Muslims in Libya, who were already at war to overthrow admitted terrorism sponsor Ghadafi. While President Obama takes flack from both sides for this, you would figure Lupe would throw his support behind the president’s unpopular policies aiding Muslims. But as I said, I don’t think Lupe is all that clear on his policies. Whatever this “beef” is has existed before President Obama was even the Democratic nominee. Maybe there’s a perceived slight somewhere there, given President Obama’s work as a community activist and politician in the same city Fiasco is from. Maybe Lupe wanted President Obama to spend more time in his hood. Perhaps President Obama cut him off in traffic one day. Maybe Lupe does believe drug dealers should get more respect, as illogical as that is. Maybe he thinks his friend Chilly should get the props President Obama does. Lupe may come off as socially conscious, anti-drugs, in some of his songs, but check out some of his mix tape hits like Lupe the Killa. Figure out those metaphors. I don’t know where the beef originated. What I am sure of is that Lupe may not believe in voting, but he knows that with his platform he has the potential to affect the votes of a lot more people than just himself. He knows that repeating labels such as terrorist, that racist elements on the right have used to paint the president as not one of us, will generate media attention. He knows this, and he does it for a reason. But if down the line Lupe needs to use the President’s name and image to push his own agenda, expect that he will do that. Such is the hypocrisy of Lupe Fiasco.