Lupe Fiasco Bids Final Farewell To Mixtapes, "There Will Be No More"

Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco has decided to retire from the mixtape game, revealing his decision to put a halt to any music released through the underground circuit.

While Fiasco is no longer aiming to drop mixtapes, the rapper did provide fans with an update on his forthcoming Lasers follow-up.

"We got a long, illustrious career on the mixtape circuit, right? Some pretty groundbreaking things on those mixtapes, right?," Lupe told a crowd of Portland fans during a recent concert. "So, in light of that history of amazing, lyrical feats and superb wordsmith-ness, I am sad to say tonight that there will be no more Lupe Fiasco mixtapes. Second piece of announcements. ... Food & Liquor 2 is done. Release date? I don't know. Let's just say -- July. The only thing that's holding Food & Liquor 2 up -- is whether or not it's gonna be a double CD or not." (The LupE.N.D. Blog)

Back in 2010, Fiasco blamed the rise of online hackers for nixing mixtape releases.

"I was plotting on doing the follow-up to [Enemy of the State: A Love Story]," Lupe said in an interview. "Simply because [it] was short. And I felt like it was space to do another one. I was gonna do another one called Friend to the People, but I started to get wind that people had songs they shouldn't have had. I was like, 'This is just gonna open the floodgates if I come out with another record. I know these dudes are threatening to leak records and do crazy stuff.' Sometimes I feel there may be too much Lupe music out there -- whether it be old stuff or new stuff or freestyles. I don't want to have a ton of music sitting out. I made the decision to fall back from it and really focus on the climb. We were a couple of weeks away from doing that." (MTV)

A couple of months ago, the acclaimed rapper revealed issues with Atlantic Records, his long-time label, still existed.

"The 'Lupe [Fiasco's Food & Liquor II]' album is [coming out] hopefully. It's not on me," he reveals. "It's not done yet. I'm waiting on my record company, ain't nothing changed. Same business, it's on them." While he waits on his label, Fiasco is gearing up to go back out on the road. "We got a big tour coming up in Australia in April, and we got a couple things sprinkled through the top part of the year," he states. "Nothing real crazy, we're going to wait until the album drops to really go hard." (The Boom Box)

In April, the Chicago artist discussed his problems with the renowned label.

"They still can't understand me. They still don't get it. They still don't understand that, even without a hit record, Lupe Fiasco will be just as relevant and just as successful as the dude with the hit record. They just don't get that." (XXL Mag)