Lupe Fiasco "Lasers" Concept Series: The Show Goes On

It feels like forever since I worked on my concept illustration series for Lasers. It seemed like I lacked the inspiration or that certain spark to start a new one. Not too long ago Lupe Fiasco came out and called Barack Obama a terrorist. Actually the biggest terrorist. Bill O'Reilly called Lupe a pinhead for speaking against Barack. This whole situation is a little funny and sad at the same time. Lupe is one of my top three MC's and usually I agree with his opinions. He is a highly intelligent individual. (I actually met him twice.) In regards to this I disagree with him. I won't go into that but I have various reasons for that.

Also Bill O'Reilly seems to be against anything and everything that's not right wing. That includes Hip Hop, and President Obama. The fact that he is in a way defending Barack is hilarious. Since when does he support our president? That's what I ask myself. It seems to me that he's saying "Only I get to insult President Obama." Fiasco was on The O'Reilly factor and I was just embarrassed for Lupe. O'Reilly steamrolled him. Lupe is no politician. It seems to me he bit off way more than he could chew.

All of this led me to create my current piece. Lasers has put Lupe in a position were he's much more mainstream. It's clearly not his best album but It's certainly catapulted him. He's in the public eye but remains a conscious artist. I wanted to create a piece to represent Lupe the Activist, the Pop Star, and the MC. The Show Goes On is the perfect track to convey this with. This became the new lead single for Lasers after Shinning Down and I'm Beamin' flopped. Lupe's content was conscious but the lyrics were watered down for mainstream consumption. It was important that my viewers knew that this was Lupe's opinion and not mine.

That's when the idea to create a mock Flipboard cover came in. This would distance myself from the controversy and put me in a position similar to a news reporter. Also Flipboard is where I get a large chunk of my news. The piece was created on my iPad. I've lost track on how many hours I put in thinking this up and illustrating but it was worth it.