Lupe Fiasco Reveals His New Album "Samurai" Is Inspired By Amy Winehouse

Lupe Fiasco has revealed that his new album Samurai is a full-length tribute to one of his “favorite” artists the Chicago rapper took to X (formerly Twitter) to tell fans that the body of work is an homage to the late Amy Winehouse.“ Samurai in 5… A loving & living portrait to and of one of my favorite artists, Amy Winehouse,” he wrote. “I’ve done many portraits of people I admire over the years. Some public and some private. This one took on a life of its own and became an album. Looking forward to sharing it. Lupe Fiasco first revealed that he was working on an album inspired by Winehouse in 2020. “It’s funny how he brought that up — that’s exactly what I’m doing right now,” he said on Instagram Live. “Like, this song, it’s a whole fucking project … I’ve been working on this for like three [years], maybe, let’s call it a year.” During another Instagram Live session, Lupe shared more details about the project, explaining that it’s a concept album about Amy Winehouse becoming a battle rapper. “The story on this album, she becomes a battle rapper going around battling muthafuckas,” he said. “It’s a full story, so the whole album’s a story … Each scene in the story has its own song. Just so n-ggas ain’t confused.” The concept of the album derives from a clip from the 2015 documentary Amy, in which Winehouse leaves a voicemail for producer Salaam Remi about the battle rap-style lyrics she had been writing, calling herself a “samurai.” “Hello doll, it’s Amy,” she said. “Salaam, yeah, I keep coming out with all battle raps and it’s pouring out of me, like Wu-Tang [Clan] stuff. But really neat, very beautifully illiterated little battle raps. “So, next time you wanna come for me and have a battle rap off, I’m gonna kill you because I’m a samurai. Before you ask yourself, ‘Is she drunk? Is she high? Has she been out? What’s she been doing?’ Yeah, I’m fucked up. I’m fucked up in the head.” She added: “But I keep coming out with all this stuff all the time. All these lyrics, I don’t know why. But I realise, it’s for the next album. So come on, Sensei. Let’s do this. Love you, bye.” Lupe channeled these quotes into the hook on the title track from Samurai, rapping: “I got these/ Really neat/ Very beautifully alliterated/ Little battle raps for you.” His new album is set to be released on Friday (June 28), with frequent collaborator Soundtrakk producing the entirety of the project. 

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