“What does it mean to record outside, not just rap outside like a cypher, but actually record outside with the intention of completing a full song completely written and inspired outdoors?” rapper Lupe Fiasco mused while discussing his latest project, Ghotiing (pronounced “fishing”). “What are the limitations and constraints? What do you have to prepare to go into that environment? Onlookers, insects, the weather, noise, any kind of distraction.”
En plein air rapping, as Fiasco calls it – after the school of painting that was popularized by Impressionists like Monet and Renoir – involves going to a promising location and fishing for lyrics and beats. He has been fine-turning the practice ever since he came on as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the 2022-23 academic year – ghotiing throughout MIT, in Los Angeles, and elsewhere, while also teaching it to his students. “It’s a practice that I’ve been using and playing with and working through for the past few years,” he said.
