An hour after the doors opened, a hooded-figure sauntered on to the stage of House of Blues holding his britches, but this was not the case of same hip-hop act, different name. When the jacket came off, it revealed a Transformer T-Shirt, and it became apparent that his pants were secured by a stuffed-animal that resembled Tinky Winky of the Teletubbies.

It was hip-hop’s rookie of the year, Lupe Fiasco, and he made it known that his 30-minute set before the Roots would not be a warm-up but a scorcher as he yelled the F-bomb towards President Bush during his opening song, which was originally released as a freestyle on a mix tape.

Backed by DJ Simon, Lupe did not simply bounce, or shoulder lean with mean mugs like the majority of his contemporaries; he and his hype-man brought back memories of Kid and Play while dancing in-between his lung-trying raps. Before going into “Hurt Me Soul,” Lupe said, “I know y’all still trying to get over some bad weather N’Awlins, but I want y’all to know that the sun will shine again.” The Roots performed as expected, making the house pulsate from their jazz funeral entrance to Soul Train line exit, but the news was Chi-town’s son, suggesting a bright future ahead with Tinky Winky in tow.