Pop Pop

The more I learn about Lupe Fiasco, the more I'm not sure what to think is true and what's not. I'm not saying the guy's a liar or anything. I'm just saying. Word to Henry Rollins.

Take for example the revelation, in the interview he did with Tom Breihan, that his old man had him shooting an AK-47 and cleaning M-16s at the ripe old age of four years old. I'm not saying it definitely didn't happen, because I wasn't there. But at the very least it seems a bit odd, no?

And either way, it struck me as a rather bullshit excuse for the fact that before he was Mr. I Used to Hate Hip-Hop Because I'd Prefer It If Women Weren't Exposed, he was attempting to present himself as a gun-toting crack slinger, obviously because that's what was selling at the time.

Here's the thing though: there may have been a lot more truth to "Pop Pop" than he'd like us to believe. It was revealed today that Lupe will be testifying in the trial of Charles Patton, his friend and business partner in his 1st and 15th vanity label.

Check XXL's news item for yourself:

Lupe Fiasco to Testify at Business Partner’s Drug Conspiracy Trial

Lest you assume Lupe is just testifying on this Patton guy's behalf, because the government is fucking with him because he's black or whatever, it sounds like Lupe himself is being implicated on some drug running shit right out of HBO's "The Wire."

To wit:

Former Chicago Police Lt. Robert Grapenthien recently testified that a wiretap on Patton’s recorded him setting up a drug sale for March 25, 2003. The same wiretap had previously recorded the defendant making Amtrak reservations for himself and Lupe for March 25.

Ruh roh!

The cops also found a shiteload of H in a storage unit Patton's wife was renting.

Look, as far as I'm concerned, Lupe is innocent until proven guilty. I'm into American principles, like fairness, rather than, say, just beheading a person at the whim of some religious cleric. But I think you have to admit: this one smells pretty fishy.

I mean, if 5-0 has your business partner on tape setting up a drug deal, and buying an Amtrak ticket for himself and you to the agreed meeting spot of said drug deal, and then they find a shiteload of junk in your business partner's wife's locker, how much more evidence do they need?

The interesting thing, I thought, is that the news item doesn't make clear why exactly Lupe is being brought in to testify or what he plans to say. My guess is that if this guy is sent up and Lupe isn't, people will assume Lupe was cooperating with the law, which is obviously verboten in hip-hop.

Again, I'm not suggesting Lupe Fiasco is singing anywhere other than a recording studio. I'm just saying.