<strong>Wasalu Muhammad Jaco</strong> (born February 16, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is a Grammy Award-winning American hip-hop artist and producer. He first became known to the mainstream hip-hop community in 2005 when he appeared on <a target='_blank' href="http://www.last.fm/music/Kanye+West" class="bbcode_artist">Kanye West</a>'s album <em>Late Registration</em> on the track &quot;Touch the Sky.&quot; In 2006 Lupe released his debut album, <a target='_blank' title="Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's Food &amp; Liquor" href="http://www.last.fm/music/Lupe+Fiasco/Lupe%2BFiasco%2527s%2BFood%2B%2526%2BLiquor" class="bbcode_album">Lupe Fiasco's Food &amp; Liquor</a> on <a target='_blank' href="http://www.last.fm/label/Atlantic+Records" class="bbcode_label">Atlantic Records</a>, and in December 2007 he released his second full length album, <a target='_blank' title="Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's The Cool" href="http://www.last.fm/music/Lupe+Fiasco/Lupe+Fiasco%27s+The+Cool" class="bbcode_album">Lupe Fiasco's The Cool</a>. His next studio album, entitled <em>Lasers</em>, was released on March 8th 2011 after a protest against Atlantic's decision not to release it. Lupe has previously been on label <a target='_blank' href="http://www.last.fm/label/Epic" class="bbcode_label">Epic</a> with his group <a target='_blank' href="http://www.last.fm/music/Da+Pak" class="bbcode_artist">Da Pak</a> and then signed a solo deal with <a target='_blank' href="http://www.last.fm/label/Arista" class="bbcode_label">Arista</a>. His years at Arista only led to the 2003 promo single &quot;<a target='_blank' title="Lupe Fiasco &ndash; Pop Pop" href="http://www.last.fm/music/Lupe+Fiasco/_/Pop+Pop" class="bbcode_track">Pop Pop</a>&quot; as well as guest appearances on singles from Tha' Rayne (2002's &quot;Kiss Me&quot; and 2003's &quot;Didn't You Know&quot;) and K Fox (2003's &quot;This Life&quot;), then Arista folded in 2004 and Lupe was signed to <a target='_blank' href="http://www.last.fm/label/Atlantic+Records" class="bbcode_label">Atlantic Records</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.