Lupe Fiasco Performs New Tunes at North Coast Festival

Over Labor Day weekend, Lupe Fiasco descended upon his hometown at Chicago's first-ever North Coast Music Festival and unleashed some new material off his forthcoming album 'Lasers,' which looks like it will veer towards rap-rock.

Lupe was backed by a live band for his enigmatic performance. Among the tracks with more of a rock component was the newbie 'State Run Radio' and the more recent leak 'Go to Sleep.' "I want to apologize to you all," Lupe told the crowd. "It's Ramadan," he said noting he'd been keeping with the Muslim holy month and fasting. "If I pass out while I'm up here -- somebody catch me." His machine fire delivery on songs like 'I Gotcha',' 'Kick Push,' 'Shining Down' and his cover of N.E.R.D.'s 'Everyone Nose' made it seem like he might pass out as his delivery barely left a second for him to catch his breath. Lupe also treated the audience to 'All Sabotage,' a track from his side-project Japanese Cartoon, and his nod to Radiohead's 'Kid A' bass-heavy track 'National Anthem' which he originally reworked for his 2009 'Enemy of the State: A Love Story' mixtape.

Nas and Damian Marley performed on the main stage after Lupe's set -- the plug being pulled during 'Africa Must Wake Up' due to the 10PM city curfew. Also "in the building" that evening was Louis Farrakhan, who watched from side stage.