Lupe Fiasco Dropping Mixtape on Thanksgiving

Chicago MC Lupe Fiasco took a break from the spotlight this year, but he's about to become a lot more visible. Lupe is currently preparing his highly anticipated third album, 'Lasers,' along with two new mixtapes, one of which is scheduled to drop on Thanksgiving.

"The last six months, it's been like, 'I gotta really, really go out there and show that I'm nicer than all of them," Lupe explained of the rap industry and his record label, Atlantic. "It's like, 'All right, so be it. If it takes three more albums to do it, then so be it. That's what I got left with Atlantic. Three more after 'Lasers.' I'm already done with two. The mixtape is coming Thanksgiving. It'll be another mixtape after that and an album after that. It's really to get that status and lock it in and [and have people] be like, 'Look at this positive dude, the underdog. The positive one who came and murdered all these dudes. And he's there, and he's good."

In the interim, between 'Lasers' and Lupe's previous album, 'The Cool,' a new crop of rappers took the lane he forged to mainstream success and stardom, from Wale and Kid Cudi to Drake. Lupe doesn't seem too concerned about the young competition, though; he's excited to reclaim his role as hip-hop's outsider hero. "I'm finnin' to house every single mode and arena I can get into," Lupe continued. "If y'all had somewhere where it's live performances, I'm finnin to have the best live performances. If it's mixtapes, I'm finnin' to have the best mixtapes. If it's albums again, it's gonna be the best verse. If it's the best dressed, I'm going hard as well."

Though his mixtape, which drops in less than a week, is not yet titled, he's cool about that, too. "I got four days to figure it out," he said. "I've been dabbling with some names." While Lupe will rework current and popular beats for the mixtape, he's saving all of the work he did over original production for his next album. "Why waste it?" he says of the material. "I still got my plan. I'm not finnin' to diverge off my plan and my career and how I wanna roll my music out." Lupe's 'Lasers' is currently scheduled for a Dec. 15 release.