Wood Harris "The Wire" Star Supports @LupeFiasco

1:30PM ET September 24th, 2012
Contributor : Martin James 
A Rocky Williform Company

Film and television actor Wood Harris is a native of Chicago and, with roles in the 1994 2Pac Shakur vehicle Above the Rim and the acclaimed HBO series "The Wire," he has long been one of the hip hop generation's most admired character actors. Harris spoke about Chicago rappers Chief Keef and Lupe Fiasco in a recent interview, revealing his frustrations with the music industry and entertainment, as a whole.

"We have to be careful not to let the artists get dumbed down because the artists will be the missionary, the message holder, and the activist. But, now, people get famous doing something silly on TV, and they run with that ball," Harris told AllHipHop. "I'm an artist, and I'm not insulting Nene Leakes, but I think more than half of television is reality TV now. I'm friends with Mos Def, we want to talk about something. That's what's gone when Tupac is gone - there's nobody who says, 'Dear Mama,' there's nobody with his complexity as an artist. I love Lupe, that's my brother, my Chi-Town brother, but he's retiring, and he was retiring before the Chief Keef situation. And that Chief Keef situation is extremely sad. Now they can sell sad. Interscope is selling sad. I don't care what the lyrics say; I don't care for it."

"I think they might understand [the platform that they have], but what sets a precedent of understanding is money," Harris added. "And power. When you get bread like they have it, and you can get any girl, your esteem grows from material things. They don't want to see the walls fall down around what they built. It takes some braveness to pull a Lupe."

*Black Tee DaPromoter*