LUPE FIASCO PREMIERES NEW SINGLE AND MARTIAL ARTS DOCU-SERIES “BEAT N’ PATH” GLOBALLY (@LupeFiasco)

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Lupe Fiasco drops new single, Air China, to mark glob­al première of docu-series, “Beat n Path.”

Hong Kong based pro­duc­tion out­fit Stu­dio SV is excited to announce that their docu-series, BEAT N’ PATH, which fol­lows Lupe Fiasco, a Grammy award win­ning rap­per from Chica­go, as he embarks on a cross-cul­tur­al jour­ney across China to live out his oth­er pas­sion — mar­tial arts, launched today, July 1, 2019, at lupefiascobnp.com

Dir­ec­ted by Simon Yin and pro­duced by Stu­dio SV, BEAT N’ PATH aims to nur­ture cross-cul­tur­al con­ver­sa­tions about Chinese cul­ture, hip hop all through the lens of Fiasco’s unique jour­ney of self-dis­cov­ery as he deep dives into his child­hood passion.


BEAT N’ PATH kicks off by set­ting the scene: Lupe’s fath­er was a mar­tial arts mas­ter, open­ing up mar­tial arts schools in Chica­go in the 80’s and 90’s to share his know­ledge and pas­sion with Chica­go youth.


Reflect­ing on his child­hood, Lupe explains: “Before the music, it was all about the mar­tial arts. I trained in the mar­tial arts with my fath­er since I was about 3 years old and it’s always been a pas­sion of mine. Little hints of it pop up here and there in my music, but for the most part, my fans nev­er really saw my mar­tial arts side. They only know me for being a musi­cian and a rap­per. Hope­fully this show will intro­duce people to that side of me.


Fast for­ward to Lupe in Beijing on a sunny day as he makes his way to pro­du­cer Jeff Kung’s maze-like music stu­dio. The pair chat, start­ing off with China’s hip hop scene, mis­per­cep­tions about Chinese people and cul­ture and even­tu­ally, Lupe’s back­story about his love for mar­tial arts, which was a res­ult of the para­mount influ­ence of his father.


BEAT N’ PATH goes on to fea­ture Lupe’s encoun­ters with wushu Grand­mas­ters, the chal­lenges he faces to fur­ther hone his craft through rig­or­ous phys­ic­al and men­tal train­ing, and his jour­ney as he con­tin­ues to learn about the leg­acy of Chinese mar­tial arts in his­tor­ic spaces.


To ear­mark the debut of this docu-series, Fiasco released a new singleAir China, on July 1, 2019. The song is inspired by the rapper’s travels through­out China and is now avail­able along with a cor­res­pond­ing music video which takes the view­er along for the (lit­er­al) ride as he boards a flight to China, seam­lessly weav­ing the world of the music video and BEAT N’ PATH together.


The series car­ries on the import­ant mis­sion of Stu­dio SV, a pro­duc­tion out­fit based in Hong Kong, which pro­duces enter­tain­ment con­tent that nur­tures cross cul­tur­al con­ver­sa­tions for glob­al audi­ences. BEAT N’ PATH reflects Lupe’s out­spoken nature, curi­os­ity and the sig­ni­fic­ant cul­tur­al, polit­ic­al and social shifts that are hap­pen­ing in the world today.


Released in 2018 in Asia to crit­ic­al acclaim (the show won Best Dir­ec­tion at the Asi­an Academy Cre­at­ive Awards in HK), the docu-series has been re-format­ted and edited for digit­al con­sump­tion glob­ally, and debuts with 9 epis­odes in addi­tion to the nev­er-before-seen Air China music video. 

 

Pro­ceeds from the e‑commerce shop at Lupefiascobnp.com will bene­fit Rebuild Found­a­tion, a plat­form for art, cul­tur­al devel­op­ment, and neigh­bor­hood trans­form­a­tion. Rebuild Found­a­tion focuses on pro­jects that sup­port artists and strengthen com­munit­ies by provid­ing free arts pro­gram­ming, cre­at­ing new cul­tur­al amen­it­ies, and devel­op­ing afford­able hous­ing, stu­dio, and live-work space. Rebuild Foundation’s mis­sion is to demon­strate the impact of innov­at­ive, ambi­tious and entre­pren­eur­i­al arts and cul­tur­al ini­ti­at­ives and their work is informed by three core val­ues: black people mat­ter, black spaces mat­ter, and black objects mat­ter. Rebuild Found­a­tion lever­ages the power and poten­tial of com­munit­ies, build­ings, and objects that oth­ers have writ­ten off. Foun­ded and led by artist Theast­er Gates, Rebuild is part of a net­work of sis­ter organ­iz­a­tions that col­lab­or­ate to extend the social engage­ment of Gates’ stu­dio prac­tice to the South Side of Chica­go and beyond.

 

BEAT N’ PATH and the Air China premiered today at Lupefiascobnp.com


#Beat­N­Path 

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

About Rishma

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless.