Lupe Fiasco Recalls Being Paid In Food, On 'When I Was 17'

Lupe Fiasco may be a man about the world now — check his past single "Paris, Tokyo" — but back when the Chicago MC was a teenager, he was only a local explorer.
"When I was 17, I worked at this restaurant that was behind my house," Lupe says during the latest episode of Lupe Fiasco may be a man about the world now — check his past single "Paris, Tokyo" — but back when the Chicago MC was a teenager, he was only a local explorer.
"When I was 17, I worked at this restaurant that was behind my house," Lupe says during the latest episode of "When I Was 17," airing at 11 a.m. Saturday on MTV. "It was literally my house, the alley, work. I used to jump over my back fence, and I was in the parking lot of my job. I was the short-order cook. It was fast food. It was really crappy. I would work 40 hours a week, and it was 60 bucks. I remember trying to get my homeys jobs there, and they would be like, 'Are you stupid? I'm not working for 60.' "
"We had better things to do than work at a restaurant," Fiasco's friend Doughboy said. "Especially when we knew how much he got paid and how long he had to be there."
The Lasers MC maintained he had a plan that his friends couldn't quit comprehend. He knew he was underpaid, but he decided he would get his due by way of his stomach, if not his wallet.
"They didn't see my vision: I didn't have to pay for any food," he said. "I ate the rest of my salary that I thought I deserved."
His plan, however, wasn't approved by management, and Lupe wasn't afraid to voice his displeasure.
" 'Well, you should pay me some more and I'll stop!' " he recalled telling his boss.
"When I Was 17" — this week featuring Jessie J, Tyrese and Lupe Fiasco — airs Saturday at 11 a.m. on MTV.
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