Lupe Fiasco and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announce that the GRAMMY-winning rapper will perform an on-campus concert on May 2nd with MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium. The upcoming concert marks the conclusion of MIT’s Artfinity festival, a performing and visual arts festival celebrating creativity and community at MIT that began on February 15. All 80 Artfinity events, including Lupe Fiasco’s upcoming concert, are free and open to the public.
Lupe Fiasco’s MIT concert is an element of the artist and MIT Visiting Scholar’s art project “GHOTIING MIT: Public Art,” which transforms public art into a living sonic experience—where rap and visual art intersect in real time. The Chicago native recorded 9 new songs for the art project, overseen by the MIT List Visual Arts Center, each taking inspiration from a different piece of art around MIT’s campus. Lupe recorded each piece on site, at the location of each artwork, incorporating field sounds into the recording and crafting lyrics that spontaneously respond to the scene’s unique environment. Lupe will perform 6 of these songs during his MIT concert with the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, along with songs from his decorated catalog. The project will live on as a free public art tour for visitors through the MIT List Visual Arts Center digital guide, where the public can scan a QR code and listen to Lupe’s rhymes on their phone as they walk through the campus and look at the public artworks in person.
View more information about the Artfinity Festival at artfinity.mit.edu
A collaboration between Lupe Fiasco and the MIT List Visual Arts Center, GHOTIING MIT: Public Art is a site-specific rap and field recording project that explores the relationship between rap and MIT’s public art collection. By composing and recording on-site, Lupe engages directly with the sculptures, murals, and installations across campus, using their forms, histories, and surroundings as creative catalysts. Capturing ambient sounds and crafting lyrics in response to each piece, the project transforms public art into a living sonic experience—where rap and visual art intersect in real time.
“GHOTIING” is an innovative, site-specific approach to rap creation that integrates field recording and En Plein Air composition. Pioneered by rapper & professor Lupe Fiasco at MIT, this method encourages rappers to compose and record in dynamic, real-world environments rather than within the controlled confines of a studio.
By venturing into various outdoor and public spaces—such as bustling city streets, quiet parks, transit hubs, or culturally significant landmarks—artists engage directly with their surroundings, allowing ambient sounds, atmosphere, and social context to shape their lyrical content, flow, and delivery. The process incorporates field recording techniques, capturing environmental noise and spontaneous interactions, which can serve as sonic textures or conceptual inspiration for compositions.
Much like En Plein Air painters immerse themselves in a setting to capture its essence in real time, GHOTIING encourages rappers to respond to their environment spontaneously, adapting their creative process to the unique energy of each space. This approach fosters greater improvisation, a deeper connection to place, and an expanded understanding of how setting influences artistic expression. The result is a more organic, unfiltered form of rap that exists at the intersection of soundscape, lyricism, and lived experience.
Inspired by fishing expeditions, GHOTIING (pronounced “fishing”) reimagines rap creation as a hunt for big ideas—where beats serve as bait, microphones as fishing rods, and both the object and the artist’s mind act as the body of water. By immersing themselves in different environments, rappers cast their creative lines, hoping to reel in unexpected inspiration.
On Friday, May 2, six of Fiasco’s GHOTIING compositions will premiere at Kresge Auditorium, performed by the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble (MIT FJE) and Fiasco himself. Especially arranged for this unique concert by Kevin Costello ‘21, Matthew Michalek (G), and MIT Distinguished Professor of Music, Evan Ziporyn, Fiasco’s MIT art-inspired music will burst from the stage with the support of the 25-member MIT FJE.
Pieces that will be performed in the concert and also part of the public art tour:
“Courtyard Opps Flavor” by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Guennette, 1977 Michael Heizer & Three-Piece Reclining Figure, Draped 1976 Henry Moore
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Winter 2024
“Muse Flavor” by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Birth of the Muses, 1944–50 Jacques Lipchitz
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Fall 2022 & Winter 2024
“Molecule Flavor”by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Chord, 2015 Antony Gormley
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Winter 2025
“ALL CAPS FLAVOR” by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Elmo-MIT, 1963 Dimitri Hadzi
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Summer 2022
“Sailing Flavor” by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by La Grande Voile, 1965 Alexander Calder
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Summer 2022
“Alchemist Flavor” by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Alchemist, 2010 Jaume Plensa
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Winter 2024
The pieces above plus the pieces below are part of the public art tour.
“3 Piece Flavor”by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Sacrifice III, 1949 Jacques Lipchitz, Hagar in the Desert, 1957 Jacques Lipchitz & Bather, 1923 Jacques Lipchitz
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Fall 2022
“The 3 Second Rule Flavor” by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Bars of Color within Squares (MIT), 20087 Sol LeWitt
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Winter 2025
“Funhouse Flavor”by Lupe Fiasco
Inspired by Non-Object (Plane), 2010 Anish Kapoor
Written & Recorded On Site @ MIT Winter 2025
Artfinity is a festival of the arts at MIT featuring 80 free events across the performing and visual arts, celebrating creativity and community at MIT. The festival launches with the opening of the new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building at MIT on February 15, 2025, continues with a concentration of events Feb 28-March 16, and culminates with the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts public lecture by 2025 recipient Es Devlin on May 1, 2025, and a concert by Grammy-winning rapper and Visiting Scholar Lupe Fiasco on May 2, 2025.
Artfinity features the work of MIT faculty, students, staff, and alumni, alongside guest artists from the Greater Boston area and around the world. All 80 events are open to the public, including dozens of concerts and performances plus an array of visual arts such as projections, films, installations, exhibitions, and augmented reality experiences, as well as lectures and workshops for attendees to participate in. With a wide range of visual and performing arts events open to all, Artfinity embodies MIT’s commitment to the arts and the intersection of art, science, and technology. Artfinity is an Institute-sponsored event, organized by the Office of the Arts at MIT, with faculty leads Institute Professor of Music Marcus Thompson and Professor of Art, Culture and Technology Azra Aksamija.
All official Artfinity events are free and open to the public. More at artfinity.mit.edu
