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Why Did Lupe Fiasco Trash Obama... At an Obama Inauguration Party?

Is he a political soldier? Or did he just perform a half hour of unlistenable social commentary? Either way, the increasingly irrelevant rapper got booted at an Obama inauguration rally, potentially for overusing the word "sheeple."
Ryan Bassil
London, GB

Last night, whilst performing at an inaugural event for President Obama, Lupe Fiasco was booted off stage. Reportedly, Lupe announced that he didn’t vote for Obama in the 2012 election (big whoop!) and then spent the next 30 minutes performing an anti-war song. Awkward.

Good on him. If the reports are true then Lupe has topped Kanye and Jigga for the longest performance of one of the worst songs ever. Lasers really sucked, didn't it?

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So Lupe played one anti-war song for 30 min and said he didn't vote for Obama and eventually was told to move on to the next song.

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) January 21, 2013

Lupe refused to move to the next song so a team of security guards came on stage and told him to go.

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) January 21, 2013

But, why was he kicked off stage? Isn’t America the land of the free? It’s not the first time that Lupe has publicised his distaste toward Bammy-Barma. In an interview with Complex last year he labelled Barack a child-killer. He has a point – the President is responsible for drone attacks that kill mothers, innocent bystanders and children. But, did the promoters think about those comments before they booked him for a pro-Obama concert? Or did they just not do their research?

Obviously, if you’re going to give a political warrior a pedestal, then they’re going to preach. I’m kinda glad that Lupe did but I’m just a little confused about the thirty-minute anti-war song.

StartUp RockOn – the company behind the event – were obviously pretty confused too. They released an official statement several hours ago stating that Lupe wasn’t kicked off stage for his political views. Citing instead, “a bizarrely repetitive, jarring performance that left the crowd vocally dissatisfied organisers decided to move on to the next act.”

So, what happened to the rapper that used to kick and push through town? I’m all out for political beefing and view points. But subjecting anyone to a half hour of repetitive vitriol kinda reminds me of the fascists. Lupe, can you tone it down please?

Follow Ryan on Twitter @RyanBassil