I gotta send highest props to the students at University of Central Florida. I performed there in like April, and they somehow found it in their hearts to have me back again just half a year later! The UCF folks said I was the first API performing artist ever to be brought to campus by students. And now I’m privileged to be the second ever too - along with my mellows Bao Phi and Kiwi. Florida folks, catch us tomorrow - meaning Wednesday, October 17 - at 7P in the Cape Florida Room at UCF.

I always had this stereotype in my head that Orlando would be an all-Disney town, like I went to college in Amherst, and during the summers, when college students weren’t there, the entire city was basically a huge farm and half a strip mall. It was and still is so dominated by college students, it doesn’t really seem to have an identity outside of being a college town. So I assumed Orlando must be similarly dominated by Disney shit.

Turns out I’m an idiot, because the folks I met there were some of the realest, most enjoyable folks I’ve been able to spend time with in a while. In fact, the only thing Disney about my trip was meeting a dude who was an extra in “Pirates of the Caribbean 3.” (I see you Scott.) No pretense or nothing, and they treated me like one of the family. Maybe it’s a southern thing…

After my set, we were supposed to do a large group discussion, but what happened was way better. We took some time to chop it up about some issues facing API communities, but there was also a spur-of-the-moment open mic with folks just getting up and sharing their creative works and I’m hoping there’s gonna be a similar energy tomorrow.

Sometimes I get caught up in work and organizing and community and life, that I forget how much I love this shit. And sometimes folks ask if it’s a rush being on stage, but f-ck a rush. I like connecting with folks, however it goes down. I dig the conversations after the show as much as I dig the actual performance, maybe more. So much thanks and love to all those students who bust their collective ass to bring performers like me, Bao, and Kiwizzo to their campuses. There literally would be no reason to do this if not for yall.

See you tomorrow Florida!

First off, let me say the name “Lupe-gate” is ridiculous. I’ve never understood the practice of putting the word “gate” after other words to denote that the subject is a scandal. The Watergate is the name of an actual hotel, but Lupe-gate isn’t the name of anything. There is also a much more natural name for this situation, and that would be The LupeFiasco. Read on for more unsolicited opinions.

For those who aren’t hip hop nerds, here’s what went down. At the live taping of the fourth annual Hip Hop Honors Award show in New York City, rap artists Pharrell and Lupe Fiasco were performing a cover of the dope-ass golden era hip hop song “Electric Relaxation” by A Tribe Called Quest. Lupe was an awkward choice, because although he seems one of the natural modern-day heirs to Tribe’s abdicated throne, he has stated in the past that not only has he never listened to a Tribe album, he wasn’t interested in the idea of doing so, and probably never would. Now, I know a lot of skinny-jeaned hipsters and dudes who think BIG was the most influential rapper of all time will leap to Lupe’s defense on this, and they got a point. Just because something is part of the hip hop lexicon, should it be required listening? Does a playwright need to read Hamlet to craft innovative work? Does a golfer need to study Jack Nicklaus’s swing to elevate his or her game? I guess the answer is no, at least, no not necessarily. So as much as Lupe’s “I will not fucks with Tribe” attitude rubs me the wrong way, it’s not automatic grounds for dismissal.

But then everything else happened. We should have got a clue when Lupe said in an interview that he was listening to a lot of Johnny Cash. (I don’t begrudge that per se, because Johnny Cash was like the Muhammad Ali of country music, and listening to the Muhammad Ali of anything is probably the right thing to do.) The same guy who refused to listen to his hip hop ancestors – stylistically, aesthetically, sonically, there would be no Lupe without Tribe – because he grew up listening to only gangsta rap, was now listening to Johnny Cash? He wouldn’t go out of his way to learn about some legends in his own field, but would bump Johnny Cash in Chicago projects?

So when Lupe messed up Phife’s lines during the Hip Hop Honors show, it was unfortunate. Truth be told, it wasn’t much of a mistake. He messed up the order of some words in the first line, then later he botched a couplet, laughed to cover it up, and got right back on track. No harm, no foul. I used to listen to Tribe nonstop and I still don’t know what the hell Q-Tip is saying on the hook on that song. (”Relax yourself girl, reset clear”…?) So messing up is forgivable, even if Lupe has shown a little bit of snark when talking about them in the past, you know, shit happens.

But of course it didn’t end there. (more…)