In the past, he has been critical of everyone from his record company to Barack Obama. This summer, he fretted over the rising murder rate in Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods and how it was spilling over into the music of rising rap stars such as Chief Keef and Lil Reese. Keef in turn lashed out at Fiasco.
But it would be a mistake, Fiasco says, to interpret his new album as a critique and commentary on recent events. The subject is America in all its contradictions, but it’s about looking deeper than Keef’s recent music or the president’s policy on the Middle East.
“The bulk of this album speaks to how America hasn’t changed,” he says. “The great turning points in history, we romanticize them too much. The general arc of the way society works hasn’t changed in terms of racism, class bias, oppression, happiness, joy, displacement, urban decay and urban renewal for decades. There are certain things we have to address, but have not really addressed for decades, really — youth violence in the city, for one. The same cycle of violence keeps happening in Oakland, Detroit, Miami, Houston, Chicago.”
