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Lupe Fiasco Talks Consciousness, Cursing in Music

Fiasco sits down with Peter Bailey of Nite Cap to discuss rappers in 2012.

Lupe Fiasco was the latest guest on Peter Bailey's late night NBC interview show Nite Cap, and the enigmatic rapper from Chicago held forth on what it means to be a "conscious" rapper in 2012. Lupe expressed his belief that the roles of conscious and non-conscious artists aren't as clear cut as some people make them out to be.
"I don't really look at the industry in those terms as black and white, consciousness or not," he said. "Everybody do they piece and do they part. A lot of the most ignorant music that people make sometimes, [those artists] can amass a fortune and then turn around and write a check and write away the ills of the community they grew up in.... I'm not saying that that happens or doesn't happen, but it's definitely a possibility. So I can't really judge too quickly."
Later in the interview, Lupe explains cursing in his rhymes and why he's decided to use curse words "on purpose."
"There's a certain power in a curse word," he said. "Sometimes people won't listen until you cuss at them. Or the only way you can express yourself honestly and raw [is to curse]."
Check out the full interview over at Rap Radar.

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 (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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