Lupe Fiasco Says Hottest MCs List Inspired New Mixtape

What's a surefire way to bring the best out of Lupe Fiasco? Apparently, you just ignore him. That's exactly what happened when MTV put out its much-discussed (and debated) Hottest MCs list last year and Lupe didn't make the cut. The tongue twisting wordsmith and ever-defensive challenger of the industry hit the studio and put in two days of work to create the excellent 'Enemy of the State' mixtape.

"That's y'all," said Lupe to MTV News. "Y'all at that table, and y'all forget who I am. It's like, 'That's cool. I been through this before."

Lately, Fiasco has been talking up a quality over quantity approach. He feels that too many MCs stretch themselves thin in a race to create content and stay in the public eye. For a man who puts such great emphasis on innovative lyrics and flows, it only makes sense to step out of the spotlight for a minute and develop some next level new material. According to Lupe, a new mixtape was the perfect opportunity to flex those MC muscles.

"Lasers' was almost done," Fiasco explained, citing his upcoming official LP. "I said, 'Let me go out here.' Cause I knew none of that was on 'Lasers,' just the super 'I'm the best MC' lyrical, there wasn't really room for that on this album. I was like, let me give my fans that. Let me let them know that I'm still capable of that. Let me show MTV I'm hot, too. Kept it short. I felt, if you're nice, you don't need an hour. You don't need one hour and 35 minutes. You don't need 100 freestyles every week. You need a nice demonstration of what you're capable of doing very effectively, and you step back. Leave you wanting more. Sometimes the best part of the movie is the trailer."