Lupe Fiasco is known for his outspoken stance on political and social issues, something which he says he'll be stepping back from on his upcoming new album Tetsuo & Youth. The rapper, who recently announced it was #TetsuoSeason, shed more light on the upcoming album which, according to Lupe, will sound more like his pre-Food & Liquor days.
During an interview with Houston radio station 97.9 The Box, Lupe denied that this album will be a "party album" nonetheless it will be "ratchet." Although there seems to have been rumors that Lupe would be making a party album, he quickly puts those to rest, but does confirm the LP will be without politics.
"It ain’t gonna be a party album…I did like the first interview for the album I think it was either with Rolling Stone or Billboard and just told them like, you know, on purpose there’s no politics on the record," said Lupe. "I feel like people—I’ve said what I had to say and people replied how they had to reply. So, now it’s just music…It’s just more just like at a certain point you get tired of it. You know what I’m saying? You get tired of trying to like get people to see things from a different way or a different perspective. And it’s kinda like the lack of response what was more like ‘Oh well, forget it. Let’s just go get money then.’"
He went on to describe the album is 90% done and that the sound is ratchet (via HHDX).
"We like 90 percent done with it. And everything that I got thus far is super good. But it’s ratchet. It’s ratchet ratchetness on there. But it ain’t nothing new for me…My early records before I got known, you know what I’m saying, before Food & Liquor, when I was first coming up…What I was talking about back then was like ratchet, street, hood, ‘let’s do it’ kinda pieces. And it was like I made the decision not to put that on Front Street initially."
"Some of it's ratchet, not all of it," Lupe added. "Then going back to like songs like "Old School Love" the first single, which is like heartfelt. There's still a certain level of seriousness in it, because it's not just me trying to re-create "Superstar" or "Show Goes On." I'm talking to one of the homies in Chicago, like a little 16-year old killer."
Check out Lupe's full interview below, where he discusses violence in Chicago and more.