Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 01/21/2013 at 9:14 AM Videos

The Popdust Files: inauguration, lupe fiasco

Someone in President Obama’s event-planning committee must’ve been very casually aware of who Lupe Fiasco was when they invited him to perform at the 44th’s second Inauguration Concert. “Oh, that guy who did ‘Kick, Push’ and that ‘Superstar’ song? And he’s from Chicago, right? Oh, sure, invite him along, he’ll be great.” They must not have done their deep background research and found that polite radio singles aside, Lupe is now at best an eccentric, conscious rap rebel, and at worst a straight-up crazy person.

If they had, maybe Lupe wouldn’t have been allowed to take the stage at Hamilton Live yesterday, where he allegedly performed a 30-minute version of anti-war song “Words I Never Said”—which, incidentally, also includes lyrics lambasting the President, Lupe claiming “That’s why I ain’t vote for him.” When security asked the controversial rapper to move on to a different song and he respectfully refused, he was forcibly removed from the stage. A series of tweets from The Cable writer Josh Rogin help explain the incident:

Lupe Fiasco just got thrown off stage here at the Hamilton Live after he went on an anti-Obama diatribe mid set.

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) January 21, 2013

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

Well, it sounds like Lupe. Hope Mindless Behavior’s set at the Kids’ Concert was less contentious. Here’s video:

[Huffington Post]