IN MY ROOM
L upe
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F iasco
The globe-trotting MC
takes us inside his
suburban Chicago house
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1JEANS “These are special Levi’s from Japan called Flu, with all types of reflective doodads. I’m a big denim guy. Jeans are probably the only thing I’ll wear more than once or twice. The most expensive pair of jeans I ever had were $1, 100.”

MORE ABOUT LUPE
2REEBOK JACKET “This is from my deal with
Reebok—in the end, they only made one pair of
Lupe shoes. I wore the jacket to a Nike party. Some
of the Nike execs were there—they weren’t feeling it.”
3KANYE WEST’S 30TH BIRTHDAY INVITE
“The party was at the Louis Vuitton store in New
York. I doubt they’ll let us back, though—there was
mad theft. They left everything out on the shelves!”

4GOYARD BAG “It’s a very expensive bag [about $1,500]. There’s probably underwear, socks, deodorant in there. This is for day trips, but it’s odd because my day trips are like, ‘I’m going to London for two days, I’ll be back. I’m just gonna take the Goyard.’”

Even with the release date for his second album, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool (Atlantic), looming, the Chicago rapper is still tinkering in the studio, which happens to be in the basement of this house—one of two he owns in the Windy City. “I still need to write, record, mix about eight songs in the next eight days,” he says, laughing. As soon as he’s done, however, Lupe is likely moving out. “I’m probably going to Paris,” he says casually. We’ll expect an invite.

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5CAMOUFLAGE BOOK “This is the most comprehensive study of camouflage ever; it’s called Disruptive Pattern Material. It was written by a friend of mine, designer Hardy Blechman, who has a clothing line called Maharishi. I probably have about $10,000 worth of his clothes in a box somewhere.”

6WEE NINJA DOLL “That’s made by my homies
who have a company called Shawnimals. Now
they’re doing a video game called Ninjatown for
the Nintendo DS. I wear a miniature one on my belt.”
7SKATEBOARD DECK “This is the deck that
inspired the cover of my debut, Food & Liquor.
[The basement of this house] is the only place
I skate around here. I made holes in the walls.”
8LYRIC BOOKS “These are all my rhymes from
high school; this is one of my earliest ones. This is
gold right here, gold! I used to collect words and
phrases, like ‘butter knife,’ ‘subterranean,’ ‘psychedelic.’”
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9SWORD “My father taught me that you have to treat a sword like a person. It has a soul. That’s the [Japanese] way. Some kids were playing with my sword and disgraced it, so I bent it. It’s dead. I was gonna bury it, but I didn’t want to just put it in the Dumpster!”

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10KEEPSAKES “This is my box of memories. Here’s an old BlackBerry, my high school ID, my first checking-account card. When I got my first record deal, there was $3,000 in it. Now there’s $20 in it. I still keep it, just in case I need that $20.”

BY JOSH MODELL
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE WIGDAHL