Lupe Fiasco has unexpectedly revived his supergroup Child Rebel Soldier by releasing a new song titled “Shrink.”
Lupe originally formed CRS with Kanye West and Pharrell, though this new track does not feature either Ye or Skateboard P.
“Shrink” prominently samples Radiohead’s Kid A track “Optimistic,” which is in keeping with the original Child Rebel Soldier ethos of rapping over beats from the iconic British rock band.
The song also doubles up as further promo for Lupe’s Samurai! Tour, which kicks off in October and comes in support of his latest album of the same name.
The release comes shortly after Lupe Fiasco announced that he would be “rebooting” Child Rebel Soldier as a solo venture without Kanye or Pharrell.
“I’m gonna reboot CRS in the next six months, maybe next year,” he said in an interview with Stereogum. “Tyler, [The Creator] has one of the CRS records. But it’s gonna go back to the original energy, which was me rapping over Radiohead beats.”
He further explained his ideas for the side project and the challenges of releasing the music commercially: “It’s this weird relationship, because it’s kind of like, do I put it out as freestyles because I’ll never be able to clear those records? I’ve always wanted to do an album with [Radiohead’s] producer, Nigel Godrich, [so] do I go work with Nigel?
“I know I’m not gonna be able to work with Radiohead and do an album with them; that shit’s pie in the sky. I’ll just go back to that original [vibe], just go back and find those dope loops and samples from Radiohead or their solo records, loop the shit up, and make little beats out of it, and crush with some dope ass lyrics.”
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He continued: “I’ll either do some loosie freestyle shit or a proper tape, get sued for it, and keep it moving. You can take those records, the ‘National Anthem’ record, ‘Us Placers,’ and ‘Animal Pharm,’ as the first three singles. You’ll probably get another five or six. We’ll see.”
Child Rebel Soldier made their debut in 2007 with the critically acclaimed single “Us Placers,” which heavily sampled Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s “The Eraser.”
Despite hopes of an album, there were only two more releases from the trio — a remix of N.E.R.D.‘s “Everyone Nose” in 2008 and “Don’t Stop!” from Ye’s 2010 G.O.O.D. Fridays series — before they disbanded in 2013, with Lupe blaming scheduling issues for the lack of progress on the project.
The Chicago native previously teased that there is a vault of unreleased music from their recording sessions.