Lupe Fiasco Breaks Into Billboard Rap Charts

Chicago MC Lupe Fiasco’s debut record, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, debuted as the #1 rap album on the Billboard 200 this week. The album fell only second to Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds on the Billboard Top Hip-Hop/R&B Albums Chart and was #8 on the Billboard 200.

Fiasco began his professional music career at 19 in the rap group da Pac, which only released one single on the Epic label before breaking up. As a solo artist, Fiasco’s ascent was aided by the support of such prestigious industry figures as Jay-Z, Twista and Kanye West, who quotes Fiasco as his favorite rapper and subsequently collaborated with him on the track “Touch the Sky” on his acclaimed sophomore album, Late Registration. In turn, West helped with production duties on Food & Liquor alongside such lauded beatlayers as Needlz, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and the Neptunes. Fiasco’s debut was recognized for taking a more cerebral approach to hip hop with its introspective lyrics exploring the rapper’s Muslim faith and youth in metropolitan Chicago.

Lupe Fiasco was recently nominated for the "Breaking Woodie" award, an honor bestowed to the year’s Best Emerging Artist by MTV’s college subsidiary mtvU. The award will be presented on October 25 at New York’s Roseland Ballroom.

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