Rapper Lupe Fiasco Escorted Off Stage for Anti-Obama Message: My Thoughts

What can I say; we simply need more people in America like Lupe Fiasco.  While the mass awakening of the global population has continued at a breakneck pace for the past several years, one of the things that has disappointed me most about the United States has been the lack of courage demonstrated by high profile celebrities, as well as wealthy and successful people generally, to place their own best interests on the line in order to do what is right for the country.  Most of them simply choose to pick a pet issue overseas and criticize foreign governments rather that look introspectively at the decaying carcass at home.  That is the easy way out and is simply cowardice.  Not Lupe Fiasco.  From the Washington Post:

Rapper Lupe Fiasco was escorted off stage by security during a performance at StartUp RockOn’s inauguration celebration Sunday night.

Even at an event celebrating President Obama’s second term, Lupe didn’t hesitate to criticize the president, announcing that he did not vote for him. Thirty minutes into the anti-war song, Lupe was approached by guards and taken off stage. 

It shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. In 2011, Lupe called Obama “the biggest terrorist.” On his latest album, he explained that claim, referring to drone strikes in Afghanistan. Last year he described the president as “someone who is a great speaker, but kills little children.”

I first became aware of Lupe’s outspoken views two years ago and I quoted him in my piece It’s Transitory.  It seems that it was the lyrics from the song I quoted that contributed to his removal from the stage.  The words are:

If you don’t become an actor, you’ll never be a factor
Pills with million side effects, take em when the pain’s felt
Wash them down with diet soda, killing off your brain cells
Crooked banks around the world, would gladly give a loan today
So if you ever miss a payment, they can take your home away
It’s so loud inside my head with words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets I can’t take back the words I never said

I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence
Fear is such a weak emotion that’s why I despise it
We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth
So scared of what you think of me, I’m scared of even telling you
Sometimes I’m like the only person I feel safe to tell it to
I’m locked inside a cell in me, I know there’s a jail in you
Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath inhale a few
My screams are finally getting free, my thoughts are finally yelling through

– Lupe Fiasco, “Words I Never Said”

Watch the video of him being escorted off stage:

In Liberty,
Mike

Follow me on Twitter.