Lupe Fiasco in front of trees
Photo Credit: Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images
Lupe Fiasco Gave Himself 24 Hours to Record a New Album "From Scratch" — Here's What Happened
Lupe Fiasco tried to do something widely ambitious — record a new album in a 24 hour span of time.
Lupe Fiasco has been feeling inspired lately. The rapper has been dropping a lot of music. He has released freestyles over iconic songs like Jadakiss and Styles P's “We Gonna Make It” and Jay Electronica’s “Exhibit C" while enjoying a verbal back-and-forth with friendemy Royce da 5'9".
Now it looks like he wants to turn that freestyle energy into an actual album. Early Monday morning (August 9th) Lupe announced that he was going to do "an album from scratch in 24 hours." At the time he tweeted that — 3:34 AM EST — the rapper had completed one song.
He announced that he was coming with nine more.
\u201cFinna do an album from scratch in 24 hours\u2026\n\n1 song in\u2026\n\n9 to go\u2026\n\nLast time I did this Stack was alive\u2026\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628494441
A couple of hours later he tweeted "[eight] to go." Then at 8:32 AM EST he had seven songs to complete. And then he went radio silent.
\u201c8 to go\u2026\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628500430
\u201c7 to go\u2026\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628512324
At around 8:30 PM EST he started to tweet out signs that he was going though it. He sent out a number of gifs demonstrating the long odds.
\u201chttps://t.co/E1v5ovRD8o\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628554554
\u201chttps://t.co/vdg2inC1Kl\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628554569
\u201chttps://t.co/GvrnjIDwV6\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628554643
\u201chttps://t.co/7cgdVL6Ig4\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628554735
At 9:36 PM EST, Andrew Barber, founder of FakeShoreDrive, asked Lupe how many songs he had left. The answer? Five. Meaning he was only able to complete an additional two songs in the span of 13 plus hours.
\u201c5\u2026\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628567892
\u201chttps://t.co/aUY9cYzvPl\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628570579
Finally, at 1:53 AM EST Lupe Fiasco conceded defeat. He was not able to complete a 10 song album in one 24 hour stretch. In a tweet that included the poster for Another 48 Hours, Lupe wrote "Aight…I’m callin it…did some CRAZY damage but the deadline got the best of me… Learned a LOT…a veritable roller coaster of high level athletic intellectualism…"
\u201cAight\u2026I\u2019m callin it\u2026did some CRAZY damage but the deadline got the best of me\u2026\n\nLearned a LOT\u2026a veritable roller coaster of high level athletic intellectualism\u2026\n\nI\u2019ll lay it all out in a Q&A on one of my social medias\u2026stay tuned\u2026Good night \ud83d\ude2e\u200d\ud83d\udca8\u201d— \u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now! (@\u201cDRILL MUSIC IN ZION\u201d Out Now!) 1628574832
Props to Lupe for trying such an ambitious stunt.
It's been three years since Lupe has released an official album. That album was the double album epic Drogas Wave. But last year Lupe released two EPs: first there was the HOUSE EP with Kaelin Ellis, a project that came about after the two linked on Twitter. Then there was the TAPE TAPE EP, which was a reunion with his longtime collaborator Soundtrakk.
Next month, Lupe will celebrate his sophomore album, The Cool, by performing the album in its entirety at Chicago’s Riot Fest. That festival is happening September 16-18th at Douglass Park.
This story was updated on August 10th, 2021
