One of hip-hop’s lyrical greats, Lupe Fiasco, honors a fallen jazz and R&B luminary on his most evocative concept albums yet, Samurai. So don’t take the title at face value–this isn’t a martial arts album.
The Soundtrakk-produced LP, Lupe’s ninth, which follows his 2022 album, Drill Music In Zion, reveres late English singer-songwriter, Amy Winehouse, particularly referencing a scene from her posthumous 2015 documentary “Amy.” The segment finds Winehouse in leaving a voicemail to her longtime producer, musician Salaam Remi, likening her freshly-written material to battle raps, à la Staten Island hip-hop crew Wu-Tang Clan.
Within the motif of Samurai, listeners will find a requiem for a tortured artist, deeply influenced by Winehouse’s tragic passing in 2011. This album reflects on her struggles and celebrates her musical genius. Also present is an overlying message of self-motivation and longing relatable to any musical artist. Interpreting Winehouse as a battle rapper, Lupe turns Winehouse’s legacy into a life of its own.
“What would it be like if she was a battle rapper? She kind of mentioned it–I don’t know the full context of what was going on in her life at the time, and it’s just watching the documentary and the way they kind of placed that as she would leave voicemails for her producer,” Lupe tells BET. “That particular one just had to be related to rap. And initially it just started out as one song, ‘Samurai,’ and then it went into, ‘Well, what if she was in a battle? What would those raps sound like?’”
One year before the three-day recording process of Zion, Lupe began the early drafts of Samurai. Its titular track is an expressive tribute to Winehouse while setting the album’s tone. As Lupe tells it, Samurai intended to be a “vibey, boom-bappy joint” that it expansively masters within eight tracks.
“I admire her songwriting ability, her tone, her manipulation of different genres. I’m a fan of jazz deeper than any other genre,” says Lupe. “So being a fan of that and how she kind of put her signature on top of it and the depth at how she created has always been fascinating to me, amongst others. There’s myriad folks who I look at like that and she’s one, and that statement, the voicemail, kind of sparked and gave me some permission, to say, ‘Oh, let me pay that back with a portrait.’”
Samurai, which easily doubles as a character study of Winehouse, cuts against the grain between Lupe’s sword-sharpened lyricism and intricate, fresh-yet-throwback-esque production. While the emcee declines to preface the meaning of his new rhymes, his fans are sure to have analytical conversations about his mindset and perspective of one of the strongest vocalists of the 21st century.
“If I didn’t say that the album was inspired by Amy Winehouse, it could be inspired by anybody; it could relate or have some type of reference points from any artist in any field,” Lupe admits. “You go through some of the same trials and tribulations, some of the same thought processes, some of the same kind of creative inspirational pieces.”
The making of Samurai also saw a reunion between Fiasco and his manager, Charles “Chilly” Patton, who was incarcerated for nearly 20 years before his release in 2023. Even Patton’s son, Dakari, designed the artwork, which sees Lupe in an afro-samurai pose, a proper homecoming for Chilly, who’d previously oversaw Lupe’s projects mainly through collect calls.
“It was our first project where he was physically in the studio with me in 20 years,” Lupe shares. “He’s been around but it was always over the phone and with a certain level of latency whereas this one, he was able to be there in real time. Even though we were still going through old work, him being able to make decisions and direct things and take over the reins in terms from the album work, the sequencing, mixing, different stuff that I normally would have to take a foot in–I didn’t have to do that.”
While Lupe handled engineering, refining the production that Soundtrakk provided him, his bars pleasantly meld with each soundscape. The grimy “Mumble Rap,” could accompany a scene of Lupe–or perhaps, Winehouse–in a forest, alone, meditating on battle rap revenge. On “No. 1 Headband,” Lupe’s the life of the party as horns float melodiously across a lush arrangement. The rich piano of “‘Til Eternity” marks a strong finale, where Lupe pushes through his journey in putting pen to page. But, according to the Chicago native, Samurai almost stayed in the vault.
Karl Ray
“This was semi-not meant to be an album. It’s kind of meant just to be a singular portrait,” Lupe recalls. “If it never came out I was totally comfortable with it, but just the idea of it and putting it down was the piece, more like busy work during the pandemic versus, ‘Oh, this is an album. We need a song like this, we need a song like that.’ This one was more like, do a song, ‘Okay, do I want to continue? What would be the next song? And then what beat matches that? What’s the overall vibe?’”
While ‘samurai’ derives from the Japanese verb ‘saburau,’ defined as “to serve and look up to someone,” rather than serving commercial fanfare, Lupe wants Samurai to reach another dimension, somewhere that perhaps Winehouse is rooting for him.
“If this album never came out, I’m just as comfortable with it coming out, because, for me, it’s a homage to someone who I consider to be an important and empowering figure in the world of jazz and music in general,” says Lupe. “So I don’t know if that’s a duty or a service to the masses–my fans know what they’re going to get so I’m not even worried about them–but in terms of the craft itself, we can choose what we want to do as artists.”
With artistry in mind, Samurai remains a staple in Lupe’s canon of venerating the greats. This original work further cements the rhymer as a rap virtuoso.
“Certain work that I create, I’m just happy it exists. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everything needs to be shared or everything needs to be presented to the public,” says Lupe. So I do portraits for people all the time, whether they be fellow rappers or just folks in the [creative] space, that the world will never hear. It’s specifically me showing an appreciation for them who live in their collection in some capacity or for the work I’ve done that I feel like sharing with a very specific person.”
Lupe paints a sincere masterpiece with Samurai, reminding those that his pen is unparalleled even in a conceptual mood.
