RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING FEBRUARY 16, 2022 AS LUPE FIASCO DAY
WHEREAS, Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, also known as Lupe Fiasco, is an African American, Grammy award winning rapper, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur born and raised in Chicago in East Garfield Park and North Lawndale; and
WHEREAS, Lupe Fiasco rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor, before going on to release six more acclaimed studio albums and touring four continents; and
WHEREAS, Lupe Fiasco has received four awards and 33 nominations for various national and international awards, including the AOL Music Award, BET Award, BET Hip Hop Award, MOBO Award, MTV Video Music Award, MTV2 Award, NAACP Image Award, Soul Train Music Award, Teen Choice Award, Urban Music Award, USA's Character Approved Award, and 12 Grammy nominations, winning one Grammy for his song, Daydreamin'; and
WHEREAS, In addition to his artistic endeavors, Lupe Fiasco is also an activist, philanthropist, and community advocate, co-founding the Society of Spoken Art (SOSA), an educational guild for aspiring and established rappers, M.U.R.A.L., formerly the Lupe Fiasco Foundation, serving thousands of Chicagoans, the Neighborhood Start-Up Fund serving communities across the U.S., and Studio SV in Hong Kong; and
WHEREAS, Lupe Fiasco's efforts to spread positive and thought-provoking music helped him attain GQ's Man ofthe Year in 2006 and over five magazine covers, including Chicago's own Jet Magazine, Billboard, XXL, Complex, Source, and Fader & Dub; and
WHEREAS, Lupe Fiasco is also a dedicated advocate for a variety of issues, sitting on the advisory board for Zero Mass Water, a renewable, solar-powered initiative that seeks to democratize water, and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about the global water crisis in 2009; and
WHEREAS, Lupe Fiasco partnered with Converse and Product (Red) to create a shoe for the IHUND(RED) Project, creating the 100 Supplementaire All-Star shoes to raise money and awareness about global health disparities; and
WHEREAS, In 2013, Lupe Fiasco became creative director at Chicago-based Higi LLC, which makes health testing devices, and executive-produced the documentary "Little Bailers"; and
WHEREAS, Lupe Fiasco's contributions and achievements have been recognized by many prestigious organizations; he has been named to Crain's Chicago Business 2013 40 Under 40, named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute in 2014, and awarded the Chicagoness Award at 1871's annual Momentum Awards in 2017; and
WHEREAS, Most recently, in 2021 Lupe Fiasco launched Code Cypher along with Professor Nick Monfort highlighting the intersection of rap, computing and activism in his recent residency at the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology, and co-produced an international fashion documentary with Virgil Abloh honoring Tornado School of Martial Arts and Chicago's Martial Arts tradition in 2021; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago wishes to express its appreciation for Lupe Fiasco's significant contributions to the arts and our community on the occasion of his 40th birthday; now, therefore