Lupe Fiasco and Kaelin Ellis announce collaborative EP HOUSE
Today, GRAMMY-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco and Orlando producer Kaelin Ellis announced their collaborative EP HOUSE, out July 24th. The announcement comes with the first single from the EP “SHOES” ft. Virgil Abloh.
The HOUSE EP came together by chance on May 5th when Lupe was tagged on Twitter in the replies of a tweet from Kaelin Ellis, a young producer. Reading “Get this to @LupeFiasco somehow,” Lupe listened, liked the beat, screen recorded Kaelin’s video, dropped it in GarageBand, freestyled over the beat, exported it in Quicktime, then tweeted the song just a few hours after he first saw the mention.
The two then began interacting over Twitter; Kaelin sent beats to Lupe, who rapped over the tracks he liked. A few weeks later they had a 5 song EP titled HOUSE, referencing that the two had created the collaborative EP locked down in their respective houses.
For the incredible album art, Lupe and Kaelin were inspired by iconic Columbia Records jazz album covers like Dave Brubeck’s Time Out and Charles Mingus’ Mingus Ah Um. The art on HOUSE features a painting of “The Glass House” painted by Peter Gellatly. Peter recently died of COVID-19 and in the album’s liner notes, his son Sky Gellatly eulogizes his father.
For the EP’s first track “HOMME MADE,” Lupe had his friend Virgil Abloh speak about the concept of a house. Abloh is also featured on the song “SHOES,” where he describes hypothetically designing the shoes that Ahmaud Arbery was wearing when he was murdered. The song “DINOSAURS” is about how we could be on the brink of another mass extinction, and “SLEDOM” is a critique of the modeling industry. The final song “LF95” is the original track Lupe recorded that set this project into motion.
This exciting EP stems from a virtual introduction that shows fans that creativity continues to blossom in quarantine.
Follow Kaelin Ellis: Twitter | Instagram | Soundcloud | Spotify
Follow Lupe Fiasco: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify
