It’s a big week for Black nerds. Ubisoft announced the next game in its long-running Assassin’s Creed series, Shadows, will feature the Black samurai Yasuke as a playable protagonist (we love Yasuke), and now, Lupe Fiasco has announced his return with the fittingly titled album, Samurai, coming June 28th via his own label, 1st And 15th. All we need now is a Ghost Dog sequel, and we’ve got the trifecta.
The first single is the title song, and comes with a simple music video well-suited to the subject, which finds Lupe posted up in various locations around his city that nod to the art and architecture of Imperial Japan. He also rocks a sweatshirt emblazoned with the word “Ishigawa,” which is Japanese for Westside (*pushes glasses up nose with one finger*), a clever reference to his hometown, with a neat tie-in to the Japanese themes.
Lupe last blessed fans with a full project in 2022 with the critically hailed Drill Music In Zion. The album title had a deep meaning for the Chicago rapper, and Samurai is no different; Lupe has long been known to be a big fan of Japanese culture, practicing the martial art iaido and incorporating references to Japanese fashion and anime into his lyrics, way before such things were considered “cool” to do.
“I sometimes get tagged by my fans as not doing personal records,” Lupe said in the press release for the album. “But I always tell people there’s me in there if you listen closely enough. This album is one of my more personal records to date. It’s not a full biography, but my personal experiences are tied up in all of my music. A lot of the records are me. Some are from the POV of a character. and some are me. The album weaves things from my life as an artist, touching on things other artists go through.”
Samurai is out 6/28 via 1st And 15th. You can watch the video above, see the tracklist below, and get more info here.
Samurai Tracklist:
01. “Samurai”
02. “Mumble Rap”
03. “Cake”
04. “Palaces”
05. “No. 1 Headband”
06. “Bigfoot”
07. “Outside”
08. “Til Eternity”
