Lupe Fiasco Encourages Teens; Blasts Chicago High Schools

(AllHipHop News) Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco was in his hometown over the weekend, to inspire hundreds of young black males who graduated from high school.

The rapper appeared at the “2013 Mass Black Male Graduation and Transition to Manhood” ceremony.

The event was held yesterday (June 29), at Chicago State University.

Lupe Fiasco was on hand to help recognize the African-American males from Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, for graduating from high school.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lupe did not mince his words to the young graduates.

“Congratulations, you have graduated from one of the most terrible, substandard school systems in the entire world,” Lupe Fiasco told the teens. “You have just spent the last 12 years receiving one of the worst educations on earth. You are at least four, five steps behind people in other countries that are younger than you.”

The rapper’s comments were not off-base, since Chicago’s Public school system has the highest dropout rate for Black males.

According to stats, 1 in 8 students drop out of the CPS system, while only 3 out of 100 will continue their education to receive a Bachelor’s degree.

Lupe, who also donated $100 to each of the 150 graduates who attended the ceremony, stressed the importance of the young males’ manhood.

“For young black men, it is one the last things that we have and one of the last things that we can control,” Lupe Fiasco said. “Manhood is connected to humanity.”

Saturday’s ceremony was sponsored by the Black Star Project, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the continuing education of Black males.