Its crazy to see Lupe's circle leveling up in the knowledge/education department. Dee1 is attending Harvard, Lupe is teaching and doing research at MIT, Mickey Factz created an online rap course with insane list of guest rappers. Man, that rappers guild (SOSA) Lupe created has started a movement - rappers are about to make impact in academia.
Rap scholars everywhere; Bun b taught at Rice university, GZA at European Universities, including Oxford, 9th Wonder, Swizz Beatz, Z-Ro, M1, David Banner...they all taught college courses!
@Trombonebone first off, they didn't all teach college course. Some of them gave lectures at colleges and universities but few have taught full course. Second, there are a few things different about what these guys are coming with. They are coming with courses that teach how to rap, rap theory, lyricism basically full courses that fall under literature instead of cultural studies, history of culture, or influence etc. Rappers teaching courses or giving lectures isn't something new, but there are few who have done what Lupe is doing especially in top institutions. I would say what bun b did is similar to what dee1 is doing. I personally have never heard of an online rap academy like Pendulum Ink either.
@@ImInYourBrains That's actually what I mean when I said courses...should have worded it differently...the first word i typed ws lectures. I was jus pointing out how hip-hop has entered academia all over the world, which is a testament to its influence
@@dabadc word. I agree with that, but I dont believe Rap has reached the same level of cred given to it in literature as poetry and prose like shakespeare etc. I think thats what Lupe means by what he said about Academia being the only space Rap has yet to conquer. I interpreted him to mean how Rap needs to be formalized, its structures/elements clearly categorized, identified, and defined. Techniques and formulas developed and used by famous rappers need to be cemented in the knowledge base of the craft. This is what I think Lupe is trying to achieve and it is a monstrous task. He is laying the ground work for future rap scholars and I find that pretty exciting. This is not to diminish the pioneering of others that came before and entered the academic space. Even Lupe made a reference to one in his lecture (that no one caught lol).
This is hands down the greatest Lupe Fiasco interview ever! Listening to one of the greatest lyricists talk about the technology behind rap for 3 hours??? That's a straight up blessing fr fr
This means alot. Thank you!! I feel like I learned more from Lupe in 3 hours than I do in a full semester of most classes. I hope I can do even better when we talk again at the end of the school year.
Lu is the definition of a musical genius..and he really got the best fan base of all artists ..we need the science behind it all..great conversation!! 👏 thank you both for doing this
1:13:00 Lupe explaining why he's going to MIT instead of Berklee is the reason is the same reasoning that allows him to be the best of the game. His ambition is so great. Rap should win a Nobel Prize one day.
Thanks for all your detailed notes and comments! Really appreciate your close attention; Lupe deserves it and I hope to be better the next time we get to talk.
Lupe is not the best , Definitely up there but not number one. And Kendrick won a Pulitzer Prize which is pretty much a literary version of the Nobel Prize
I think Rap can speed up the processes of thinking a lot science exists in poetic harmony or either finding a new poetic language to describe a thing, be it new or old, in a smoother way. Definitely a brain tool.
After listening to Lupe's interview one of Nas's bars strike me "Wisdom be leaking out my grapefruit" from Illmatic. That's exactly what Lupe does when he speaks and raps.
Wow. Im from the Chi and Lupe is one of my favorite lyricist of all time. Dude...you killed this interview. Why? To put it simply...you listened(sounds simple but some don't know how to master that)...you were extremely prepared by having many questions to ask(and the questions were meaningful)...and you had great feedback. I had no idea I just let my phone play this for the last 2 plus hrs because it was THAT good. Feel like I was watching Tavis Smiley on channel 11 or something lol. Looking forward to part 2. Keep up the great work.
Really appreciate your comments! A lot of time was spent preparing for and editing this, instead of things like homework or research analysis (or sleeping), so its really helpful to get feedback like this. Just want to do justice to Lupe, and to anyone who spends 2+ hours to listen to this. I don't think I'm there yet, but again, deeply appreciate you saying this.
I want to deeply thank everyone for their positivity and kind feedback. It was a great honor to be able to talk and learn from Lupe, I legitimately learned more from him in 3 hours than from entire semesters of most classes, and I'm hoping I'm somewhat successful in sharing his ideas with everyone's valuable time. I will potentially be able to talk with Lupe again at the end of the academic year; if you have any topics you'd hope we can discuss or feedback from this talk that you want to share private/anonymously, see here: forms.gle/d4Y61U6Bd3MTfe4w5 or just comment below.
man! the amount of admiration i have for lupe... it's insightful and fascinating to see where rap/hip-hop is going. i can't wait for the follow-up conversation. so much to say but i'll "fourier transform" this moment! 🙏🏾❤
Hum•an (Vibration // Word) Hu•man (Vibrant // Light) In the beginning was the word; let there be light. God // Science x Science // God We might be alternating from light to dark, leaving hints (or code) behind. Math is a universal language; spirituality, simulation, singularity: one.
17:30 for anyone listening who somehow wouldn’t know what he’s referring to, his song He Say She Say features two verses that are almost the same except one is from a mother directed toward the father and the other is from the son.
SO I just started the video, I'll be taking notes while I'm watching because Lupe deserves it. But i want to say early on I hope he dives into what computational poetics means
As you know by now, no, sorry, didn't get there this time, but I will bring it up next time we talk! I will be talking in a few weeks with "Doc IT" (Lupe mentions and works with him: cmsw.mit.edu/profile/nick-montfort/) and will also try to discuss it with him.
Shout to everyone who watched the whole thing. I’ll be looking forward to the follow up episode. This was the best conversation I’ve listened to in I don’t know how long
an area worth examining is the question of how sample based rap affects consciousness physiology etc compared to midi/synth based trap etc. the organic or natural acoustics and group dynamics in records transferred into beats vs the synthesized drums and bass tones etc in modern trap... I think the lack of the former creates a level of discord and lack of group harmony in the audience.. also a lack of other stuff
Check these out if you like : www.nature.com/articles/s41587-021-01096-y www.sciencetimes.com/articles/34083/20211021/dinosaur-cloning-first-healthy-prehistoric-dna-found-perfectly-preserved-fossil.htm Trying to find time to talk with George Church or someone similar in these fields!
Lupe's discussion on DNA and RNA is somewhat flawed in the sense that the vocal component of hip hop was originally implemented for crowd control and not as a means for personal expression. The Masters of Ceremonies (MC) were there to hype the crowd but eventually started coming up with rhymes for the music. The origins of hip hop have always been complementary (DNA) since DJs played music to get people to dance and MCs said things to get people to cheer, but this applies to live settings. Even when a cypher forms you're looking at the response of other people in the cypher or the crowd that forms around the cypher. The RNA component, or single strandedness, applies to what rap has become in terms of artists recording. Concept development and writing are specific to the individual and may or may not be shared during the recording process. Artists also record a lot of songs that never get released. I think MCs get too transfixed on their words forgetting that the music is the DNA and what people connect to since they hear that first. One of the biggest knocks on Nas has always been his beat selection and I don't think breaking songs in a strip club has much to do with the lyrical content. The variety in rap has more to do with the sound signatures more than they lyrics i.e. boom bap, chopped and screwed, g funk, trap, etc.
The context of his rna/dna analogy is, put simple af - about using words in a new way, repeatedly. He's explicitly talking about sentence forming, so your point is misplaced/moot because he's not describing rna/dna as a way to describe the entirety of hiphop music. Also, you are very right about the music signtures (the track) yet.. which influences which? (the most?) are lyrics being morphed by the beat, or is the artist finding a beat to fit the lyrics. (correlation doesn't equal causation) My pov on that is it's both, but a variety of beats is an external condition in the formation of sentences. All sentences start in the mind and his rna/dna analogy goes a good way to explain that mental process, before we look at external conditions.
@@herculesmclovin In a way your explanation proves my point. Hip Hop is not just rap, unfortunately the terms have been conflated and Lupe uses Hip Hop interchangeably with rap, like most do. If you believe the analogy doesn't fit all hip hop music, then my point isn't moot or misplaced. I understood what Lupe was saying and I believe I said this the DNA/RNA analogy works more for the individual writer and recording phase. To put it simply, DNA and RNA don't work for constantly creating something new, they are meant to create the same thing over and over again. DNA is a finished product that RNA translates and transcribes to make more DNA. RNA doesn't change DNA without DNA changing first. Please be more specific in your explanation. I've thought about this a bit today and the analogy still doesn't work when you consider what DNA is and how it works. What you're describing is mutational and the rate at which that occurs seems more RNA based than DNA.
@@herculesmclovin One more thing. Your point about what influences the music, the words or the beat? The correlation and causation in my thinking is that spoken word or poetry is not considered music, no matter how rhythmically its done. I don't see people running to release acapella albums, so ultimately the signatures influence the music.
@@KB91879 That's very insightful. Given that I don't have depth of knowledge on rna/dna and the duality between them, I will come agree with you. You seem to know what you're saying and I'm moreso playing devil's advocate here. Do have an idea for a better analogy? OhhHhh 🤔 that's an interesting point: beats ~ lyrics. I will continue to think on that one. Acapella is sound. music is sound. So it's not absurd to say that it is 'music' but yes, it's not in a conventional way.
“What role, if any, does rap play on evolution?” Oddly enough, I came into rap artistry from a prog rock/metal background. There really shouldn’t have been much reasoning to start rapping as a result of listening to Pantera except of the potential to progress one’s ability to express. In a prog rock/metal sense, percussive and melodic abilities become more and more complex while vocals seemed to remain ever-stagnant. I love rap because it’s the most challenging way to communicate, it’s multi-dimensional problem solving! Listening to you and Lupe speak makes me feel less like a rap oddity so thank you, sincerely 🙏
Awesome job getting my friend on here SuperFluid! Starting off with DNA & RNA I knew that this interview was amazing! Hope you have fun with teaching the course Lupe.
You know how people always ask that hypothetical “name 3 ppl you’d wanna hang out with and ask anything, living or dead?” Yea…I have some dead philosophers and that kinda thing…but the more I listen to him, I’d put Lupe on that list, and I feel like far deeper on so many subjects im already deep deep myself, and I don’t think I’ve ever known of anyone that I think could engage in a better conversation with than Lupe. The man is an autodidact and he’s prepped himself on all the most interesting shit I could fill a page just listing the subjects we both intersect on. And there are many great minds in hip hop, but not with the mix of skepticism, even of himself, and the hard earned confidence in his knowledge on topics he knows. That modest sensibility and curiosity that keeps him digging and deep diving everything he might hear of makes him such a great example of how to be a 21st century truth seeker, renaissance man without coming off smug at all. America or the world would be a better place if he was held up as the ideal of what hip hop artists should be, or any artists really. But we know that’s damn unlikely so I’ll take the one Lupe and be grateful
I've been in college way too long (10 years at this point) and interreacted with hundreds of professors, dozens of them leaders in their fields (to the point of being literal Nobel prize winners). Lupe is roughly a tie with 3 professors (2 physics, 1 engineering) as the most interesting, insightful, and sensible people I have ever interacted with (so far). He belongs at MIT, and I hope he agrees to a permanent position here.
@@Super_Fluid 3000 definitely does College stuff, He used to go to Harvard pretty often...but the funny thing is...It’s not unusual to see him in ordinary places around Atlanta...like pumping gas or in the Guitar Center messing around or even at a Grocery Store...he’s an international superstar but he hangs out in Whole Foods.
I'm at 9:15, Lupe's mentioned the intersection of rap and evolution and rap and speech. And it maybe tangentially reminds me of the condition (known as aphasia) where people lose their ability to speak but can still sing. So where rap fits into this spectrum (between speech and song) is an interesting question, especially in a neurological perspective, where we have to ask where rap is processed in the brain.
super interesting comment. rap really is both speech and song at the same time. every sound is somewhere between harmonic (tonal) and inharmonic (noise) - with "harmonic" sounds (flute) having more periodic components, and inharmonic sounds (cymbal) having less. we generally think of speech as inharmonic and singing as harmonic, but it's not really true - singing is just more harmonic than speech - and rappers don't "talk", they rap. as a musician i always picked up on the way rappers modulate their voice to form musical phrases - there's real "lines" of "melody" even when a rapper isn't actually singing. but then by the same token, a rapper's voice is inharmonic enough for it to be a sort of percussion instrument. if you go listen to Ghostface - One i think both the percussion and melody aspects are on full display.
That’s a shame and makes no sense to me but to each their own. There are sooo many artists similar to lupe in terms of their intelligence and mastery in the craft
@@ngould2420 the message on top of that plays a big part. If hip hop had stats Lupe would be the most well rounded IMO. After watching the genre over 33 years, overall I'd say it's a net negative in society
Hiphop or rap music is a byproduct of the society that comes it comes from. There are others like black thought, k ring, sa roc. etc. who are on a similar wavelength and you should check them out. Underground rap is still pretty fire 🔥 on dsp.
@@jman1562001 Then you should check out Aesop Rock, Lupe himself believes that he is the greatest lyricist alive and that he is even better than him. Check this video out if you have time: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-p01lG66MWbA.html
For conceptual framework of advanced scientific and mathematical audible sound field theory one could also become learned on 2 of our greatest contemporary scholars K rino and Beast 1333. Pioneers is the field. I wouldn't lead you astray. May your discourse remain unfettered.
Thanks for this amazing interview, it's a blessing to be able to listen to this man speak about the high art of rap and how it links to other scientific fields. Looking forward to the next parts!
Just so you know @super_fluid I watch this video over and over again. It's filled with so many gems and inspiration for me. Thank you for doing this interview.
Hey @dashaunsimmons, for months now I've been buried deep in difficult technical research and unable to produce anything for this channel, which has really made me sad. Its awesome to read comments like yours; I'm looking forward to being able to put out more (hopefully useful) things here in the near future.
This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen! I’ve been following Lupe’s career as a professor at MIT and I’m truly inspired. I don’t know how likely seeing him teach in person would be, but this amazing interview gives me insight on how amazing his classes must be! I cannot wait for the follow up! 🔥👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I'm not sure! He is teaching in the spring 2023 semester, and I believe exact logistics are still being fleshed out. I will post an update if I find any more information
