I had known for about a week and a half that I would be interviewing Lupe Fiasco. I was excited even though there were a few moments when I thought it might not happen. (hours before the interview he tweeted he was still in Atlanta and was refusing to go through the body scanner) My prep for the interview wasn't really much different from what I do for any other artist. (that part is a secret) But one thing I quickly realized was that I wasn't going to spend this interview talking about his album production or what he thought about Soulja Boy and 50 Cent working together. (someone actually asked him that) Lupe Fiasco and his fans deserve more. I go the sociopolitical route.

It's the day of the interview and I'm still writing questions. (Seriously) I wrap up just in time to learn that Lupe is in the building. I walk down and see him hanging outside the studio and I say, "I didn't realize you were this tall". To which he replies, "It's the boots man." We go into studio 10 and its filled with the heads of the cities Hip Hop blogs and a handful of excited Lupe fans.

At that point we have about 3 minutes before kick off. Lupe finds his way to our Grand Piano and starts playing and singing. (Good thing he's a rapper first) We make our way to where the interview is going to happen. WBEZ's Richard Steele joins us and we get situated. With about 30 seconds to go I call audible. I ask Adam Yoffe to tell the studio 11 engineer to skip the track we had planned on playing and to go straight to the interview after the station I.D. After all, why keep Lupe and his fans waiting.

Its show time! I do a quick intro and we begin. First question. "Lupe, what food do you eat to be better at Hip Hop?' Sike, while that would've been a great question, I keet that one to myself. Actually here is a little sample of how the interview went down. This is Richard Steele asking Lupe to comment on the now infamous Kanye vs. Bush vs. Matt Lauer fiasco. No pun intended. (Well maybe a little)

Pretty cool, I know. We discussed a number of things from politics to Hip Hop as tool for mobilization. Overall, I gotta say, it was a great interview. I cant wait for you all to hear it. A few publications have already posted reviews of it online. I will tell you how it ended. This is me, "Before we go Lupe, I think you're the perfect artist to add to this, if industry rule #4080 is record company people are shady. Then Lupe, what is industry rule #4081?" He laughed and said he never knew what industry rule #4080 was.(Its a reference to a song from A Tribe Called Quest) He paused for a bit and said "Industry rule #4081 is record company people are REAL shady."

After the interview me and Lupe talked for a bit. I thanked him for the inerview and told him that we frequently play his music. He put his hands together as if he were in prayer, thanked me and said, "theres more to come." The full interview will be posted soon.

Enjoy.