what was different about your family? lupe: my mother and my father were very intelligent, and politically oriented, and active so, you know, i got book smart and street smart, you know. anthony: floyd webb is an old family friend. this is lupe s mom shirley as becomes quickly apparent, she is along with being an extraordinarily good cook and extraordinary and determined human being. man, this is so outrageously, delicious, wow. the whole time we re eating by the way people moving in and out of shirley s small apartment. the place, clearly a hub for a tightly knit community of friends and family. so what age were you when you came to chicago? shirley: i was 13. the worst thing that my family could ever done was left the south, was left mississippi, should have stayed. anthony: but this was the land of opportunity here and detroit, great cities in the north. shirley: it was, then, we
ugly fact that chicago s south side is also currently the murder capital of america. why do you think people are killing each other in such large numbers in chicago and not in new york? webb: let s be clear, it s only a few spots, it isn t the whole city. it s not the whole city. lupe: to be honest, chi-raq, is englewood. anthony: it s a pretty staggering body count. lupe: the sad part is it s been like this, right and the only reason the story now is white people looking at it. oh, that s terrible, that s been like this for 30 years. how come it wasn t terrible 30 years ago when you probably could have actually did something about it? anthony: does a hip-hop artist, have any obligation really to, to speak about anything positive or even smarter than cars, girls or where s my money? lupe: um, i guess it depends on where you come from, and do you feel the obligation to where you came from. a lot of people in the hood won t take me serious. they won t take chuck d serious,
50% surge in homicides. news anchor 3: people shot to death and at least 60 others wounded. anthony: however much you might love chicago, want to celebrate its general awesomeness, its character, its architecture, its food. there s no getting away from the ugly fact that chicago s south side is also currently the murder capital of america. why do you think people are killing each other in such large numbers in chicago and not in new york? webb: let s be clear, it s only a few spots, it isn t the whole city. it s not the whole city. lupe: to be honest, chi-raq, is englewood. anthony: it s a pretty staggering body count. lupe: the sad part is it s been like this, right and the only reason the story now is white people looking at it. oh, that s terrible, that s been like this for 30 years. how come it wasn t terrible 30 years ago when you probably could have actually did something about it? anthony: does a hip-hop artist, have any obligation really to, to speak about anythin
central. anthony: hip-hop artist extraordinaire, lupe fiasco grew up on the south and west sides of chicago, but inside his home was always an island of sanity, supportive, creative environment. what was different about your family? lupe: my mother and my father were very intelligent, and politically oriented, and active so, you know, i got book smart and street smart, you know. anthony: floyd webb is an old family friend. this is lupe s mom shirley as becomes quickly apparent, she is along with being an extraordinarily good cook and extraordinary and determined human being. man, this is so outrageously, delicious, wow. the whole time we re eating by the way people moving in and out of shirley s small apartment. the place, clearly a hub for a tightly knit community of friends and family. so what age were you when you came to chicago?