Child Rebel Soldier | |
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Background information | |
Genres | Hip hop |
Years active | 2007–2013 |
Labels | |
Past members |
Child Rebel Soldier, shortened CRS, was an American hip hop supergroup composed of rappers Lupe Fiasco (child), Kanye West (rebel), and Pharrell Williams (soldier). [1]
Child Rebel Soldier was conceived alongside the song "Us Placers", which appears on Kanye West's Can't Tell Me Nothing (2007) mixtape, released just prior to his third studio album Graduation (2007). [2] Lupe Fiasco produced the song in an attempt to construct a mashup mixtape containing hip hop remakes of rock singer Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser , coupled with a few Radiohead songs. He originally wanted Kanye West and English rapper The Streets (Mike Skinner) to appear on the mixtape's first song "Us Placers", but Skinner failed to respond while West sent the song over to Pharrell Williams after laying down a verse. [3] After finishing the collaboration, the trio decided to form a group, deemed by Pharrell as "Child Rebel Soldier". [4] Their first song, "Us Placers", was listed at number 43 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. [5]
In a 2007 interview with Billboard , Fiasco elaborated that the three had hopes to find time to construct a full-length studio album, saying, "Now [our labels are] working it out. Whoever is going to pay is going to pay a whole hell of a lot. Everybody is excited, [but] 'Us Placers' is the only record we have". [6]
On January 29, 2008, it was announced on Kanye West's blog that the three artists would be touring later in the year together. The Glow in the Dark Tour, as it was called, consisted of Kanye West, Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell's funk rock band N.E.R.D. [7]
According to a Lupe Fiasco interview with sohh.com, there were plans for a CRS album in 2010. He said the trio of CRS would have three different elements to it: an album, music videos, and a third element he failed to elaborate on (speculation that what he was referring to at this point was the then unannounced "Glow in the Dark" Tour).
The group was featured on the remix to "Everyone Nose" by N.E.R.D. They were labeled as Child Rebel Soldier on the song instead of their separate entities. This is the second song where they use their group name. The official video for the "Everyone Nose" remix version was posted on Kanye West's blog on August 7, 2008. The video, directed by Hype Williams, features CRS and Pusha T of Clipse. Behind them is a green screen showing scenes from various retro video games, including Donkey Kong , Galaga , and Space Invaders .
With Lupe Fiasco's upcoming album completed and scheduled to be released by Atlantic Records, Kanye West remains the only member currently working on their own solo LP. Despite this, on January 26 Lupe Fiasco announced that the group had finished 4 songs. [8]
The album, which was tentatively titled God Unwilling, has now been shelved according to Lupe Fiasco in an interview with Las Vegas radio station Hot 97.5. [9] In the interview he first spoke about his upcoming album, Lasers, and then shot down the supposedly upcoming Child Rebel Soldier with one word when he was questioned – "nope". Lupe offered no further explanation at the time as to why the album had been placed on indefinite hold.
On October 8, 2010, Kanye West released what was thought as a new Child Rebel Soldier track entitled "Don't Stop" as a part of his "GOOD Fridays" releases. However, in an interview, Lupe announced that "Don't Stop" was actually written in 2008.
On October 18, 2010, at the L.A. screening for "Runaway", which was again followed by a rather lengthy Q&A, the subject of CRS was brought up. Kanye explained that the project is on the table and will follow after the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and collaboration album Watch The Throne with Jay-Z. [10]
On July 25, 2013, in response to an inquiry on Twitter, Lupe Fiasco announced that Child Rebel Soldier has been canceled. [11]
CRS may refer to:
N.E.R.D. is an American hip hop and rock band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1999. The Neptunes were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin. After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s, the duo formed the band with Shay Haley as a side project of The Neptunes in 1999. N.E.R.D.'s debut album, In Search Of..., sold 603,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also awarded the second annual Shortlist Music Prize. The band's second album, Fly or Die, sold 412,000 copies in the United States, but shipped at least 500,000 units, certifying it Gold.
Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is an American rapper and record producer. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor. He also performs as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. As an entrepreneur, Fiasco was the chief executive officer of 1st and 15th Entertainment.
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"Us Placers" is the debut song by American supergroup Child Rebel Soldier, a musical collaboration consisting of American hip-hop artists Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams. It was released as the third song on the track-listing of West's 2007 mixtape Can't Tell Me Nothing. The song was produced by Fiasco and samples the 2006 song "The Eraser" by Thom Yorke. In "Us Placers," the trio speaks on the entrapments of fame. Having been released on a free mixtape, the song did not enter the charts but became an online hit and received strong reviews from music critics.
The Glow in the Dark Tour was the third concert tour by Kanye West featuring Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D, Santigold and Nas. It began on April 16, 2008 in Seattle, Washington and traveled to Latin America, Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia through to early December. The tour featured some surprise special guest artists, including Gnarls Barkley and Jay-Z. Chris Brown also appeared at some shows to perform his remix of "Umbrella" with Rihanna, and as a dancer for N.E.R.D. For the New Zealand and Australian leg of the tour special guests Nas and New Zealand rapper Scribe replaced Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D, as N.E.R.D toured these countries separately. Vanness Wu performed as the opening act on the Asian leg of the tour and performed "Good Life" with West during the show. A book named after the tour, authored by Kanye West with photography by Nabil Elderkin, was published by Rizzoli USA in October 2009.
"Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)" is a song by American band N.E.R.D. It is the lead single from their third studio album Seeing Sounds and was released on May 13, 2008. Lyrically, the song delves into the issue of women socially snorting cocaine in bathrooms. The song was accompanied by music video, which was directed by Diane Martel. A video for the remix of the song featuring Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and Pusha T of Clipse was also filmed and directed by Hype Williams.
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