According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the native Chicago rapper was the keynote speaker at what the Black Star Project, the group who organized the ceremony at Chicago State University, labeled a Mass Black Male Graduation and Transition to Manhood ceremony. Lupe gave 150 black male grads a stern reality check about the hard road ahead of them.
Congratulations, you have graduated from one of the most terrible, sub-standard school systems in the entire world, said Lupe. 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.
In recent years, Chicago has been a hotbed for controversy as the city has seen an alarming spike in murders, especially among the youth, several school closings and other blights affecting its young generation. With such a harsh environment, Lupe advised them to focus their attention inward to become great men.
Transition to manhood is the most important thing thats going on right now. The caps and the gowns and your tassels and your honorary blah blah blahs dont mean nothing. Thats just some clothes. Meaningless clothes, too, because they have no real purpose in life. What do they do? They just represent to someone else that youve achieved something. But then when you look back at it, what have you achieved?
