It's been close to a decade since Lupe Fiasco first broke out in the mainstream world. The song that propelled him to success was "Kick, Push" off his first album, Food & Liquor. The skateboarding themed record was instrumental in bridging the gap between the sport and the hip hop culture. During his interview with Skee Live, Lupe spoke on the backlash he received for the record, and also, how he helped rap embrace the skating culture with his song.

“There was some very insecure skaters, Tony Hawk not being one of them, fortunately, who just felt like I was trying to encroach on their territory when I really did the song as a tribute for a skate shop,” Lupe Fiasco said during his interview with Skee Live. "It was never 'posed to be a single, never meant to be a single. It was for a skate shop called Uprise for a skate DVD and then it just took a life of its own…But when you’re the first through the wall, you always get a little bloody. Then it paves the way for the Lil Wayne’s and the other people to kind of come in and capitalize on the culture even 10 times more than I did. From there all the way up until now, I always try and make things that I’m personally attached to, that have a personal vibration with me that I feel are real and honest and wherever that takes me. So whether that’s skateboarding or having a grandmother that passed away from cancer and homies that are fighting it right now to make a song like ‘Mission,’ it’s all in the same boat.”

As of late, Lupe Fiasco has had his hands full. The Chi-Town native is on the verge of releasing his newest project Tetsuo & Youth, while also serving as the Music Director for the U.S. National Soccer Team.

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