Lupe Fiasco Cleverly Announces Tour Dates With New Song “Tickets”

Lupe Fiasco is always thinking outside of the box. The rapper has been drawing critical praise for his new album Samurai, and he’s keeping the momentum going with a tour. Lupe dropped the tour dates in a way that fans have never seen before, though. The rapper decided to drop a new song called “Tickets,” which details how much fun fans are going to have on tour. Lupe even gets specific with what songs he’s going to play, and how fans are going to post videos on social media.

It’s an extremely clever exercise, and one that only a rapper of Lupe Fiasco’s caliber could pull off. He even drops the names of some of his most beloved (and polarizing) albums. “Scary hours, but I ain’t got no stage fright. We gon’ party parts of Cool, also keep it Wave-like,” he raps. “And you gonna get some food—Lasers what they ain’t like. But that ain’t right.” The song has a smooth instrumental and Lupe’s trademark flow. Basically, it’s a bonus track meant to get fans excited for when the rapper rolls through to their town. By that metric, it gets the job done.

The artwork for the single is the one sheet with all the tour dates. Lupe Fiasco also uploaded the dates to his Instagram, which starts in New York and runs all the way through to Los Angeles. Tickets are available for purchase on lupefiasco.com/shows, and “Tickets” is available on IG and YouTube. It’s nice seeing the rapper make headlines for his musical ingenuity, rather than his outspoken opinion. Lupe has been really opposed to Kendrick Lamar in the recent Dot vs. Drake battle, and has made it known. He dismissed the claim that he dislikes the Compton rapper, but continues to voice his support for Drake. He even said the 6 God was a better rapper.

More recently, Lupe Fiasco urged Drake to purchase a share of JAY-Z’s album Reasonable Doubt. “@champagnepapi will keep it safe for generations to come,” the rapper wrote on Instagram. “This is grail and influenced an innumerable amount of rappers… Let Drake make an offer so he can put in where it needs to be.” The 1996 album is known for being one of Kendrick Lamar’s all-time favorites, so many fans viewed this as yet another dig against the Compton legend.