Lupe Fiasco decided to turn Child Rebel Soldier into a solo project. The lyricist discussed plans to resurrect CRS without fellow members Kanye West and Pharrell in an interview with Stereogum.
“It kept getting lost in the sauce and there was a realization that this was not gonna happen,” Lupe said regarding his CRS supergroup. “People kept putting it on me, and it’s like, ‘Hey, it ain’t me.’ Pharrell is at Louis Vuitton, Ye is in some f###### factory somewhere pumping out socks. So, I’m like f### it, I’m gonna reboot CRS in the next six months, maybe next year … but it’s gonna go back to the original energy, which was me rapping over Radiohead beats.”
CRS developed from Lupe’s idea to remake Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s album The Eraser for a mixtape. Lupe produced a song titled “Us Placers” sampling the album’s title track. He recruited Kanye and Pharrell for “Us Placers,” which became CRS’ debut single in 2007.
The supergroup fizzled out after releasing a second single called “Don’t Stop” in 2010. Years later, Lupe still wanted to bring his vision for CRS to life.
“It’s this weird relationship, because it’s kind of like, do I put it out as freestyles because I’ll never be able to clear those records?” he said. “I’ve always wanted to do an album with their producer, Nigel Godrich, [so] do I go work with Nigel? I know I’m not gonna be able to work with Radiohead and do an album with them, that s###’s pie in the sky.
“I’ll just go back to that original [vibe], just go back and find those dope loops and samples from Radiohead or their solo records, loop the s### up and make little beats out of it and crush with some dope ass lyrics. I’ll either do some loosie freestyle s### or a proper tape, get sued for it, and keep it moving. You can take those records, the ‘National Anthem’ record, ‘Us Placers’ and ‘Animal Pharm,’ as the first three singles. You’ll probably get another five or six.”
Lupe Fiasco released his latest album Samurai in June. The eight-track project was entirely produced by his longtime collaborator Soundtrakk.
