Lupe Fiasco Talks About the Challenges of Conscious Rap

During his performance for the University of Miami’s Homecoming, the politically provocative emcee Lupe Fiasco imparted his thoughts on the hip-hop industry on NBC’s "Nitecap" with Peter Bailey.

Fiasco opens up about the duality of conscious hip-hop and the ills of the music industry. He isn’t quick to cast judgement on other hip-hop artists who don't take his same approach. "That kind of ignorant music that people make sometimes turn around and amass a fortune off that and then turn around in one check write a away the ills of their community…I can’t judge too quickly about the other side of things because I participate in that as well…so it’d be kind of hypocritical to just cast them off like that,” says the Chicago rapper.

Fiasco says hip-hop artists' motivation will set the standards for what people are willing to put up with. "Certain things you have to do for the sake of sending your little sisters to college, that’s the greater good. Sometimes the greater good mean you got to go through a lot of nonsense to get there," he says. "But I don’t really look at the industry in black or white, conscious and this or not."