Lupe Fiasco Congratulates Chicago Grads For Passing “The Most Substandard School System In The Entire World”

It’s almost unbelievable the way Lupe Fiasco bites his tongue for no one when it comes to issues that he feels need a voice. The controversial Chicago rapper once again raised eyebrows with his statements to some recent high school graduates, telling them they just matriculated through “the most terrible” school system on earth, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Over the weekend, Fiasco served as keynote speaker at an event labeled “Mass Black Male Graduation and Transition to Manhood” at Chicago State University. While speaking to the 150 graduates who were assembled, Lupe decided to keep it real with the former students about what he perceives as the harsh reality of the current state of the school system in the Chi. “Congratulations, you have graduated from one of the most terrible, substandard school systems in the entire world,” Lupe told the recent graduates. “You have just spent the last 12 years receiving one of the worst educations on earth. You are at least four, five steps behind people in other countries that are younger than you.”

Presumably meant to be motivation to let the young men know they must work harder now that they have completed public school, he continued, “Transition to manhood is the most important thing that's going on right now. The caps and the gowns and your tassels and your honorary blah blah blahs don't mean nothing. That's just dress. That's just some clothes. Meaningless clothes, too, because they have no real purpose in life. They don't keep you warm. What do they do? They just represent to someone else that you've achieved something. But then when you look back at it, what have you achieved?”

After the harsh dose of reality, Lupe also pledged to donate $100 to each graduate in attendance. The event was also attended by politicians and area bigwigs, some of whom agreed with Lupe's assessment and message. Phillip Jackson, the executive director of the Black Star Project, called Lupe’s earful, “exactly what the young people needed.”