Apple Music

Apple Music
Founded	2015 (2015)
Founder	Jimmy Iovine
Owner(s)	Apple Inc.
Website	music.apple.com

Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. It was founded by Jimmy Iovine and launched on June 30, 2015. American rapper Lupe Fiasco was commissioned to create the original song "Galveston" for their Juneteenth: Freedom Songs playlist.

Artist Playlists

• Essentials
• Deep Cuts
• Inspired By
• Influences

A star turn on Kanye West's Late Registration album hipped the world to the talents of Lupe Fiasco. A fixture on the Chi-town scene, the rapper embraced his love of skate culture on his debut, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, while pitching himself as a socially-conscious voice for his generation. A protracted dispute with his label engulfed the release of his third project, Lasers, although the drama only served to strengthen ties with his fans as they memorably petitioned for its release.

Street-savvy, socially conscious, soulful, and a little avant-garde, Lupe refuses to be pinned down to just one lane. On "Dots & Lines," he incorporates twangy fiddle and harmonica into raps about sacred geometry, while in "The Cool," a dead man kicks open his casket to walk his old neighborhood. Fiasco even spits a guest verse about gentrification on "This City" by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump.

Lupe Fiasco's dense rap style was taken up readily by new generations. It's easy to hear his cadences in fellow West Side rapper Saba on jazzy neighborhood anthem "Westside Bound 3." Vince Staples' conscientious, grinding "Lift Me Up" shows a debt to Lupe's purposeful politics. And Kendrick Lamar's "Backseat Freestyle" demonstrates the long footprint of his freewheeling, concept-driven lyric stylings.

Listening to jazz and the Watts Prophets just as much as Nas and N.W.A., Lupe draws inspiration from all across the board. The rapper's sociopolitical storytelling gestures back to Ice Cube and Spice 1, '90s rappers who challenged the status quo, while his penchant for flipping dusty samples evokes 8Ball & MJG's silky smooth tracks. And he always shows love for his Chicago roots, including Common and early mentor Kanye West.

Biography

A brilliant lyricist with a nimble, self-assured flow, Lupe Fiasco has shaped a career with juxtapositions that have grown continually more complex and rewarding since he arrived on the scene in the mid-'00s. The Chicago rapper born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco in 1982 manages to be both a pop star and a conscious-rap cult hero, able to skate through references to Nietzche, metaphors about yoga, and the excess of hip-hop culture with an easy nonchalance. With a flea-market mixing board and a stack of used vinyl, Fiasco began creating music in his father's basement at 18, eventually finding inspiration in the thoughtful lyricism and jazz inflection of artists like Nas and The Watts Prophets. Fiasco's record deal in the early '00s was the first of many rocky major-label relationships, but the mentorship of JAY Z and an attention-grabbing verse on "Touch the Sky" from Kanye West's Late Registration made Food and Liquor one of the most hotly anticipated debuts of 2006. On that record and its 2007 follow-up, The Cool, Fiasco's verses were loaded with ideas and delivered with dexterous flourish, musing on small pleasures—like his love of skateboarding—and the impending apocalypse alike. When his third album, Lasers, was released in 2011 after a protracted label battle, the rapper's dedicated cult following was rewarded with an artistic journey that had grown increasingly cinematic and conceptually ambitious. Fiasco's layered, string-adorned 2015 release, Tetsuo & Youth, was another critical and popular triumph, filled with moments that rushed by in a glittering sweep. True to form, it was a Fiasco album with depth that revealed itself after repeated listens, emblematic of an artist who has never shied away from big ideas.

Interviews

2020

Year	Title	Video
2020	"Lupe Fiasco: 'HOUSE', Possible Nas Collaboration, and Tribute to Ahmaud Arbery"
In this installment of Rap Life, Lupe Fiasco connects with Ebro to talk about his EP 'HOUSE' and working with Virgil Abloh. He shares how the project with Virgil came to fruition, the process behind writing their track "SHOES" in honor of Ahmaud Arbery, and the status of his collaboration with Nas.

Ebro Darden	The House EP, it is five songs. Now Lupe, is this the precursor to much more music coming from you? I've heard rumblings of other things.
Lupe Fiasco	Um, big shout-out to Kaelin Ellis, my co-collaborator on the House EP. Uh, the House EP is actually an interruption of the continuation.
Ebro	Okay, okay.
Lupe	I was actually doing—you know, I'm constantly working on multiple projects, um, to various degrees of uh, success. But I was actually working on a. You know, COVID-19 hits, no more touring, um, what are we gonna do now? You know, you got a clear line of six or seven months you're gonna be sitting. And uh, it's like ah, let me just go back to start working on these records, you know. Let me go back and get up set up the studio again, you know. The studio is literally right here, it's literally right where I'm sitting. This is where I record. And, uh. You know, let me start to work on you know this Amy Winehouse project that I've always kind of dabbled in. Let me start putting flesh to that. Let me, you know, arrange Skulls which is, uh, a album I've been working on for years. Let me start to put attention to that and then other little mini things that are just kind of floating. And uh, in that process, I'm doing freestyles, just kind of doing stuff, throw it out. Did a little series called Tokyo Freeze over some of Robert Glasper's, uh, live, live sets, um, while he was in Tokyo. And I luckily give recordings of that and just chopped it up, wrap up that, throw it out for a little freestyle thing, um. So in the process of me working on what would be official projects, um, I'm still doing the regular rigmarole of freestyle, and you know, things for the fans. And in that process is where you get, you know, House, you know. In that kind of like let me take a break from recording this piece or working on this more, more official piece and do like a little freestyle. Pull a beat from here, snatch a beat from here.
Ebro	But there is a through line, here. It's not this you know you may, the way it came together may have been, uh, unorthodox in many ways for you. But in listening to the project, and the way it starts with the audio of Virgil Abloh, um. Talking about how we, uh. I guess how we perceive our house, our living, where we live, where we exist, how we exist. How we exist in space, you know. And kind of, I mean that was my interpretation of what I was hearing him say in that opening piece. And then the way it goes in "Dinosaurs" which, you know, you're. it feels like you were talking about, uh, an existence in time. And your existence in like, you know, I mean. I was and, and so I'm looking at this project called House, we're stuck in the house, we've had to redefine how we live, you know. How we exist, where we are in time, you know what I'm saying? So it's not as if. You know, you're making it sound and, and I, and I, I think I know you well enough over the years to uh, the audience to to feel as though, yeah. You know I just, it was okay, okay boom, boom I got something for that. But it isn't haphazard, it is very thoughtful, the whole project, right?
Lupe	Yeah, I mean creative process and uh, uh, actual creation are two different things. So as haphazard—
Ebro	Right.
Lupe	Or—I won't call it accidental but uh, as, as miscellaneous as the project, as the process may seem, may seem, um. The actual content itself is very powerful. It's very layered and very strong, and very intentional, um. And it came about in a way like I said instead of just doing a bunch of songs. If this is going to be a project and we're going to make it official, then let's give it a—the finish of an album. Which, for me, is giving it a a conceptual through line and then layering it, if not decorating it, making the decorations, the tree. You know? It's not like a Christmas tree and you decorate the tree. It's like the tree is the decoration, so to speak. It's fundamental to the process, it's not just an attachment, or ornament attached to it, it can be taken away.
Ebro	You know, track four, "Shoes," Virgil's uh, back on this track. Um, tell me why—you know, obviously Chicago's the the connectivity there, um. But I'm sure you and Virgil go back to the to the early days of the come-up-its of both, of you guys, you've crossed paths many many times. Um, when you went putting this together, what made you think of Virgil to put in this space?
Lupe	Um, me and Virgil been collaborating since... man, was it 2020 now? Maybe... '05, '04, like that. So I've been knowing Virgil for a long time. We always want to, always want to collaborate, right? And it was kind of like, I didn't want to jump in while he was at the heights. And he's still at his heights, right? And you know I didn't, it wasn't like "Yo Virg, give me a bunch of Jordans." Like I don't I've never received a pair of shoes from Virg, like I still don't have any shoes from Virg. Uh, I remember when Off White first rocked, I went and got some stuff and Pyrex he sent me some stuff. But when it was like, I was like yeah, I'm cool, let's do something let's. I don't want—let's collaborate in a different way. And so when the concept for, for "Shoes" came about, it immediately was like Virgil. Now's the time, you know. Let's do, let's do this and he was like "yep, let's do that" and it was literally just, you know, I was like "yeah, I need two things you know from you. I need your architect. This, this thing's called House, I just want you to talk about the ideal home," right? You being an architect like professionally trained in that, in that space. What is the ideal home and that's how you get homemade, right? It's him kind of about that and then when he came.
Ebro	And that was and so, I wasn't, I, I wasn't sure if that opening track was audio you had pulled from somewhere, or he just did that for this project.
Lupe	Yeah, he just did that for this project. So he just was like.
Ebro	Okay, that's amazing.
Lupe	Under the constraints of COVID-19. It's like, yo.
Ebro	Yeah.
Lupe	Take your phone and then just, you know, pontificate—
Ebro	Yeah.
Lupe	—subject and the second half of that piece was "Shoes," you know. It was like what does it look like to design a pair of sneakers for Ahmaud Arbery, you know? He lives do these things called resurrectives uh "Jonylah Forever," "Alan Forever." Um, even this project I'm doing with about Amy Winehouse, uh. There's, you know, bringing these entities and these people back to life or uh, interrupting their life in a certain way and then putting it on a different trajectory based off something that they reference casually. And it's like oh no, let's grab that. So you look at something like you know the life of Ahmaud Arbery and his his path. He was a rapper, you know, and in addition to that uh, you know, he had these aspirations to, to play sports. And his demise occurred in the process of him working out, you know, jogging and doing whatever. And it was like, how can we capture that moment, um, and celebrate it, you know, uh. Even though it was the the you know eventually led up to his demise, how do we capture that, memorialize that, in a very... in a very way for now, you know? More how you memorialize things in the now you know and some realize things through material product, but how can we take that material product and invest it with something, um, a certain power or a certain sentiment, uh, that is above and beyond just a casual, kind of like, "oh, you know let's just do this." But even when you look, you know, piggybacking on to like the run with the running with Ahmaud kind of campaign that kicked up and people filming themselves jogging and stuff like that it was like oh come you know a certain level of uh, memorialization. Okay, how can we complete that, how can I add to that, you know what I do beyond just you know writing a song about it "yo, let's make the shoes." You know, and so it was, it was, it was time spent trying to find the shoes that he actually wore you know. We intentionally, actively spent time looking through the footage, trying to see get a sense of what it was, um, without being too macabre about it or being too disrespectful to the memory or that. But to be accurate, you know. And then it became like you know let's design that, go.
Ebro	Any time frame, you know, I know you like to move. You know time is a time is not an element for you. But for those of us that you know those of us that are trying to keep up, you know. We like to, you know, look forward to things.
Lupe	And day-to-day the Doctor Strange time stones is what I possess. But it's uh, I mean like I said Skulls when I look at music it's, it's, it's... at least now, it's very much so when it's finished. But also with that, it's putting a little bit more energy and intention into finishing or at least on some schedule because there's other people involved. So I still, I'm still on a label, I'm still on 1st & 15th.
Ebro	That's right.
Lupe	So there's still a staff that I need to be respectful of and, and take them into consideration as well in terms of timelines and stuff like that. Um, but with that said, it's, you know, it's still. It's finished when it's finished. But the hope is, uh, to get, uh. You know not necessarily Skulls out this year, but definitely the, the kind of Amy Winehouse inspired piece hopefully be out this year. It's a, it's a longer version of house but a shorter version than you know uh—
Ebro	Drogas Wave.
Lupe	Yeah, for sure. So it's kind of kind of gets kind of sit in that LP kind of space, but it's not going to be this big extended project.
Ebro	So Lupe, is the Nas collaboration rumor true?
Lupe	We talked about the, the, the Winehouse, record right?
Ebro	That's right.
Lupe	It was like, we go in the studio. Nas has a bunch of blunts there, he's obviously ready, we're in the studio. It's like oh what are we doing, what am I stepping into, what are we finna do right now? And it was uh, it was the the conversation that we had was incredible. It was unbelievable. And then it went to okay, so what are we doing? What do you want to do?
Ebro	Right.
Lupe	You know and I told him about the Amy Winehouse piece. I was like, what is, you know, this is what I'm. This is what I'm in, you know, engaged in right now conceptually. Maybe it tickles your fancy, I don't know. Um, and... it just kind of like tapered from like okay, let's, let's see. You know, whatever. And then Nas goes on to be Nas, Lupe goes on to be Lupe. And so, that's kind of where it ends.
Ebro	So there's not a Nas-Lupe collaboration song.
Lupe	Now...
Ebro	Jumping ahead, he's like hold on, you jumping ahead.
Lupe	You asked, I, I have Nas's phone number.
Ebro	Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Lupe	So... I'm feeling myself maybe a couple... maybe it's about a month ago. And I was like, listening to some beats, just going through the concepts because I have other concepts and records that are like ridiculous. And, I was like, "yo, let's do an EP." Right? Just, I was just like you know what, let's do an EP. Life is short, COVID-19, let's do EP.
Ebro	Yeah.
Lupe	I have not heard back yet.

2022

Year	Title	Video
2022	"Lupe Fiasco: "Galveston" An Important Reminder of the Reality of Juneteenth"
Lupe Fiasco connects with Zane Lowe to discuss his track, "Galveston," which is featured on Juneteenth 2022: Freedom Songs playlist on Apple Music. Lupe Fiasco explains that "Galveston" is not a celebratory record and is very intentional in articulating that Juneteenth is an acknowledgement of a violent and painful past and a hope for the future. He shares his perspective on the holiday, as well as his thoughts on the role that rap plays in celebrating Blackness. Lupe Fiasco also extends his warmest wishes to those celebrating Juneteenth and welcomes them to enjoy his music.

Zane Lowe	Apple Music launches Juneteenth 2022: Freedom Songs. This is a, a very carefully curated and thoughtful selection of music originally created to celebrate and honor this holiday and uh, no one better than to deliver a song like "Galveston." Like one of the most important and vital voices, um, not only for equal rights, but also for what is just generally right across the board. Uh, that's Lupe Fiasco I'm talking about.
Lupe Fiasco	Good seeing you, Zane. How's things?
Zane	Things are good, man. This is a powerful piece of music, and I can't imagine it was a, a regular day in the studio or a regular assignment for you, um, you know. A subject that you're well-versed in and very aware of how was it turning that into, into, into art, into music, into a song like "Galveston"?
Lupe	I mean, songs like that are always, uh, unfortunate. You know what I'm saying? Like I find myself gonna tell a lot of, uh, ghost stories you know when you look at kind of like what's the fundamental concept behind some of the stuff that I particularly talk about. It's, it's a lot of bringing dead people back to life, um. Trying to kind of conceptualize death in certain ways and kind of work through that and figure it out. And unfortunately I'm, I'm, I'm somewhat decent at doing it, um. And I actually gotta, I actually don't mind it. You know what I'm saying, like I actually feel like there's something about you know speaking to legacy, speaking the history. But unfortunately, you know for us as Black people in America, a lot of that history is, is extremely violent. It's extremely oppressive, it's extremely demeaning, um. Even in our celebrations, you know what I'm saying? Even for, for Juneteenth, you know, the, the one kind of big federal holiday that we got you know outside of Martin King Day, is like. You know, it's, the—and it's not to uh belittle anyone else's holidays, because a lot of other people's holidays, a lot of the groups the holidays are based and kind of struggle and and celebrating, um, or remembering some type of violence in the past. But for us like Juneteenth is like you know we used the last people that they told that slavery was over. It's like they forgot to tell Black people that slavery was over, you know, in Galveston. You know, uh. And so it comes with a certain level of like uh, maybe maybe I'll speak on it, maybe I'll. Maybe I'll stop speaking right now, but you know it's unfortunate you know that we got to make songs like that. But at the same time too you know it feels good to be able to be in a position, uh, of strength and a position of power. Um, not, not truly equal, but at least we got our own footing to kind of direct, and speak to, speak and act, and have jobs of our own design. And careers of our own design and it's not kind of put together by some white folks, so. Or, or maybe, maybe, maybe not.
Zane	Many people know you for your ability to rip a mic, create incredible rap records, to be able to historic—to, to put this in in historical context even with those violent themes and the pain attached to it. It, it must feel somewhat rewarding for you as a, as an, as an artist in rap to know that rap is here to tell that story. That, that you're alive at a time when that music can tell that story and, and can, can educate people.
Lupe	For me, it's like I wish we didn't have to tell that story, you know. I wish, I wish, I wish we didn't go through some of the pressure points and the pain points, uh, that created this thing that we do you know. I'd rather be a rocket scientist, you know what I'm saying? I'd rather be a, a evolutionary biologist, you know. I'd rather be a astrophysicist, right. Like I don't want the end-all to be entertainment, basketball like that. Like that's not cool, you know? Um, so part, again, like for me. Like Galveston's not a celebratory record, you know what I'm saying, it's a ghost story.
Zane	Yeah, yeah.
Lupe	You know it's a warning to the past to like, yeah we celebrate, but I'm—and it's the funny part, I'm sure, that they knew you know I'm sure that that my ancestors who, who were at the point of, of uh, emancipation you know. And felt that shock wave of, you know, them being considered or kind of labeled as being "free" quote unquote by the federal government at that time. What were highly celebratory for a couple days, you know. But, you know, emancipation proclamation June 19th, 1865, right. Or at least when they found out in Galveston. But then guess what else gets, gets born in 1865? The Ku Klux Klan. You know I'm saying, that 1865, you feel me? So, even in the. When we get an opportunity to kind of celebrate something, or opportunity to overcome, you know they rip it from us, you know. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't die from natural causes, he got shot, you know? Malcolm X didn't die for natural causes, he got shot, you know? So even the people that we celebrated and make murals on. Man, they, they, they would snatch from us, you know, in a way to kind of bring us down. And so it's unfortunate that like we can't celebrate the 100th year birthday of Martin Luther King. Not, not on his 100th anniversary, but like he'd live to be a hundred years old. You know what I'm saying? Like, we should be celebrating that slavery only lasted two years instead of 400. You know? We should be celebrating that we got more kids, you know, going into universities than going into record labels. So for me I'll, I'll take, I'll take a certain joy in it from a technical standpoint just because it's my craft. But when you step back at a minute, it's sad, you know? The scariest, spookiest, wicked. And it's always, I use—the other people like "nah it's cool, it's fine as happy as this," and that's fine for them. But for the man in black, you know, for me it's, it's unfortunate that we got to make songs like that. And it's unfortunate that we got to do it in a form that was considered to be the lowest of the low, you know? We didn't get into the Grammys automatically. We had to wait decades and you know what I'm saying? We have to prove ourselves a hundred different times, had to die and get shot for us to sell a bunch of records. And then we had to make the goofiest, dumbest, most violent in the world to get appreciation, right. And now they're just using and abusing us, you know what I'm saying? Like pop, like posthumous album, after posthumous album, kind of hoping you die. They hoping you go to jail so we can sell more records and you quote an album from prison like that, so, you know. I still got my beefs with this coaster. I figured it out completely, but you know, such is life.
Zane	You know, it's one of the things I've always really admired. Many things I admire about you, bro, is that you think this stuff through and then when you figured out what you want to share, you do so and apologetically in a really decisive way. Regardless of how people might feel about it.
Lupe	That's what I'm saying, it's a double-edged sword, you know? So I want to make sure that we know, that we know it's both sides of the sword, right? And I operate from a place of darkness, and I operate from a place of pain, and I don't hide that, you know? And for me, sometimes, you got to shut. You got to shut that off to make records like that but then when it's over, and people start asking you questions about it, then we talk about it.
Zane	I'm so grateful that we're still here and able to connect like this. It's been too long, but. I admire you so much, man, and for so many reasons. And I'm glad I got a chance to, to, to share that with you again. And on behalf of Apple Music, you know, say thank you for contributing such a powerful and to your point, painful, uh, reminder about what the reality of Juneteenth is beyond the day and the celebration. There is a reality, and it must be remembered, and you're the right guy to remind us so.
Lupe	And just to be clear, to the folks that are celebrating Juneteenth, celebrate it to the fullest. You know, like. I-I'm just the dark dude the weirdo in the corner watching your back. But as you celebrate it, celebrate it deeply. Enjoy the playlist, enjoy the music, enjoy the festivities. Create your own festivities. It's a, it's a—again, it's a holiday that has been so undesigned for so long. You know, take the opportunity to design what Juneteenth means for you and how you choose to celebrate it for you and yours. And all are welcome, you know, it's not just a Black holiday, it's a people's holiday. A reminder of this, of, of overcoming some of the—that's in this world and we're gonna do it with style, we're gonna do it with grace, we're gonna do it with flair, but we're gonna do it with dignity and remembrance as well, so. Happy Juneteenth everybody.