Should artists keep their political views out of the public eye? Kendra Desrosiers writes about the latest developments in Chicago emcee, Lupe Fiasco’s timeline.

Hell hath no fury like a follower scorned. After a flurry of anti-Bush tweets from Chicago bred emcee, Lupe Fiasco, fan Robert Nalette (@detroitrobbie) unfollowed him.

In response, Lupe Fiasco retweeted the announcement and soon after, the post was nowhere to be found. Nalette deleted it.

Fiasco didn’t have to respond to Nalette’s attack, he knew several of his 250k+ followers would. And they did. Nalette was the recipient of over 100 opposing mentions that ranged from polite disagreements to racial insults. The twitter bullying presumably became too much for Nalette and he activated the private setting on his account.

Nalette’s tweet was only up for minutes, just long enough for 38 twitter users to spread the word and contribute to over 9k impressions and reach over 8.5k people according to TweetReach.

And for four hours, Nalette was a twitter celebrity. He engaged the onslaught of Lupe Fiasco fans, made his timeline public once again and found camaraderie in a handful of supporters—he even gained a few followers.

But did Nalette have a point? Should artists make public statements about their political views? In a recent Facebook study, a researcher found that one of the leading reasons a user would unfriend another user are posts on polarizing topics such as religion and politics. For artists, a web following can make the difference in album sales and reach—especially in the case of Lupe Fiasco and his web petition—so in the interest of maintaining a strong fan base, it may be advisable for a musician to remain neutral.

Preston Mann (@Preston_Schmann), a college student and self-proclaimed conservative political activist also found issue with Fiasco bringing a political agenda onto twitter. He didn’t unfollow Lupe Fiasco, but he did engage.

Lupe Fiasco sent over a dozen mentions Mann’s way, each a RT with his response included. Like Nalette, Mann was flooded with even more mentions from Fiasco followers, but this time they were civil— for the most part.

As much of Nalette and Mann’s opposition pointed out, Lupe Fiasco has always been one for controversy and has long rapped about what many consider liberal extremist views. But if you can listen to “American Terrorist” you can handle the three-dozen political tweets Fiasco posted Friday, right? Not quite.

Opposition by conservative fans to Fiasco’s liberal views are to be expected to some extent, but some followers weren’t simply opposed, but offended.

Even followers with no clear opposition to Lupe Fiasco’s views had had enough.

Without access to Lupe Fiasco’s account, it isn’t possible to quantify fluctuations in his following, butTweet Effect does offer some food for thought.

According to Tweet Effect, a website that measures the impact of twitter updates:

The Tweet Effect statistics are inconclusive but do note a drop in a handful of followers with half of Fiasco’s responses to Mann, the other half however, were marked with significant gains. Also, according to Tweet Analyzer, Lupe Fiasco’s follower gains are inconsistent and frequently fluctuates between gains of 800-900 followers to 1400-1500 daily.

Typically, artists tend to see a consistent average in follower growth when external events like mixtape releases don’t come into play. Interestingly enough, before J. Cole (213,631) released his mixtape Friday Night Lights on Nov. 12, he and Fiasco (267,585) had comparable follower growth despite the fact that J. Cole has never released an album, is a considerably less popular artist and hardly tweets—something to think about.

Some think Lupe Fiasco hinders himself, especially on twitter and in the digital space. Sabotaging his own career by battling media outlets that help keep him afloat, reneging on project release promises, andcriticizing his record label, Atlantic.  Others consider Fiasco the underdog. Despite setbacks, Fiasco’s fan base remains intact, political agenda and all.

The issue of whether artists should maintain neutrality is heavily debated and the impact of taking a stance on polarizing issues has only been measured anecdotally.  Until we can quantify, there’s no telling.

At the end of Lupe Fiasco’s tweet rant this much was clear; if the left had an extreme, Tea Party equivalent, it’d be called Lasers with Wasulu at the helm and fans on deck.

-@SincerelyJane

This post was republished from social media and hip-hop blog, BornIn88.com, courtesy of the author.

What started off as a joke via twitter will mark the first leg of Lupe Fiasco’s “building minds faster” effort as the Chicago emcee starts a book club.

Fiasco tweeted “Chris Hedges’ Empire Of Illusion check-in. Who picked it up? Gettin’ my “Lupe Winfrey’s Rules 2 Rule Book Club” on! Hahaha…” and once a fan responded that he would join Lupe Fiasco’s book club, Fiasco took the idea and ran with it.

This week’s book is Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle by Chris Hedges. Fiasco is giving club members of #TheReaders a week to read a book and at the end of the week he’ll hold a Ustream chat to discuss the book. This may be a step in the right direction for Fiasco as he tries to strengthen the relationship with his fans in the time leading to the release of his forthcoming album, LASERS as well as expand their minds.

- Letese’ Clark

Twitter has played host to many rap beefs and quarrels—remember 9^th Wonder and Phonte of Little Brother?— and this time rapper, Lupe Fiasco has bumped heads with popular rap blog, Nah Right and former producer, Prolyfic.

In an effort to convince Atlantic record executives to support the immediate release of Lupe Fiasco’s album, LASERS, he started a petition— according to Fiasco it has garnered 10,000 signatures. The unorthodox tactic gained the disapproval of some members of the entertainment industry including the head of Nah Right, Eskay, and Fiasco’s former producer Prolyfic who both took to the internet to share their thoughts on Lupe’s career.

Read the rest of Prolyfic’s tweets here.

Among Lupe Fiasco’s responses was:

When posting Lupe Fiasco’s latest release, “B.M.F. (Building Minds Faster,” on Nah Right, Eskay included some choice words:

But it didn’t end there; Lupe Fiasco (@Lupefiasco), NahRight (@nahright) and Prolyfic (@prolyfthegift) took to twitter and continued to voice their opinions on their public profiles.

Here are a few highlights, check their timelines for the extensive back and forth.

Try to keep up.

25 reviews singles from Sammie, Lupe Fiasco, and Drake.

Sammie “Put It On Ya Tab”

“Put It On Ya Tab” is the 4th track from Sammie’s new EP, It’s Time and features R&B crooner Trey Songz. The song highlights Sammie’s nightlife experience, in which he buys ‘bad’ females unlimited drinks. Though the storyline is not the most complex, the song has a catchy beat and would be well received at any dance club. The song, much like a portion of the new EP, is more mature than some of his previous work and serves a reflection of his transition into the grown and sexy stage.

–Amber Ravenell

Lupe Fiasco “I’m Beaming”

The social activist and lyrically inclined Lupe Fiasco is back with his second single “I’m Beaming” off his upcoming album L.A.S.A.R.S. Fiasco produces another track to stimulate minds in addition to letting his doubters know that he is now beaming. When he states “And baby girl, what does it matter where your purse from? Your hair done, your nails did, your ass fat, but you’re dumb,” Fiasco is pressing the importance of education. The track being leaked made the rapper upset but he recently posted the link on his website www.lupefiasco.com. This track is only a sample of what the fans can expect of his upcoming album.

–Letese’ Clark

Drake “Zone”

Drake’s new single, “Zone” appeared on the Trending Topics mixtape by Evil Empire and is produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E League. On the track, Drake flaunts the lifestyle of a successful, money-making artist . The song features a mix of a jazz horns and piano creating a sound reminiscent to smooth elevator music. In the first verse Drake raps, “I got a revolutionary flow, in every scenario,” and continues in the chorus with “I’m up too high somebody come get me down down, down down.” Drake continues to convey his status as becoming one of the best rappers in the game.

–Amber Ravenell

Lupe’s back with new mixtape. Tracklist after the jump!

1. Intro (Keri Hilson: Knock You Down)
2. The National Anthem (Radiohead)
3. Turnt Up (Travis Porter)
4. Yoga Flame (Lil Wayne: Fireman)
5. Lazers (Lupe Fiasco: Shining Down)
6. Angels (Remix) (Diddy-Dirty Money)
7. So Ghetto (Jay-Z)
8. Say Somethin’ (Timbaland x Drake)
9. Thank You (Jay-Z)
10. The One (Slaughterhouse)
11. Popular Demand (Clipse)
12. Summit On The Summit (HP TV Commercial)

You can download his mixtape here

Shouts to You Heard That New!

Last week Lupe stopped by St. Alfred in Chicago for the release of his Converse sneaker. Read more for event photos.

[shouts to Highsnobiety]

I just want to start off today’s blog with this beauty…

(Photo courtesy of Kanye West’s Blog)

As most of you have probably already seen, heard or read, Kanye is going to continue on with his summer tour and this time he’s bringing along our favorite Lupe Fiasco! (I think by now we should all be over the little Fiascogate crap…and just accept the fact that regardless, he’s a great MC)

Besides the news of Kanye’s new tour, this week hasn’t been the most groundbreaking for the world of entertainment. For that reason, the theme of this week’s blog is, WTF…Mainly because, there were a lot of things this week that made me tilt my head to the side and think, huh?

Well, the boys in Diddy’s group actually having a name now. Not a good name, but a name no less; Day 26. (No that wasn’t an in text citation of when this Blog was published, that’s their actual name.) Seeing as they haven’t released information as to how or why they came up with this title, it’s up to the audience to come up with some sort of reasoning, I would but this time I am truly stumped. However, the confusion doesn’t end there. Long time anti-rap activist, Bill Cosby, has decided to come out with his own Rap Album. (Don’t Laugh) The album will be focusing on issues such as teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and black on black crime.

Next on the agenda, my favorite member of Danity Kane, D. Woods, just saddened the hell out of me this week. So, the premiere episode of Making the Band came on, and I saw her terrible Rihanna cut gone wrong wig and almost died. Then, she had the nerve to rock the same terrible style in the King Magazine photo shoot? Diddy, you really need to stop getting on Aubrey about her hair and tell D. Woods a little something, because that is just out of hand.

(Photo courtesy of SmartenUpNas.com)

Fortunately, one other thing made me smile this week. A fellow Floridian, Casely, released his first video this week. This R&B artist is from the 305 has been causing quite a stir in South Florida with his hit “Emotional.” I’m not sure if I’m giving him the benefit this week because he’s from my area or if he’s genuinely a good artist. How about you all be the judge?

“Emotional” (viral video)

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