Child Rebel Soldier, shortened CRS, was an American hip hop supergroup composed of hip hop recording artists and record producers Lupe Fiasco (child),

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

(rebel), and

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

(soldier).

History

Child Rebel Soldier was conceived alongside the song " Us Placers", which appears on

's ''

Can't Tell Me Nothing "Can't Tell Me Nothing" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his third studio album, '' Graduation'' (2007). The song contains additional vocals from Young Jeezy and Connie Mitchell. It was produced by West with DJ Toomp with West bein ...

'' (2007) mixtape, released just prior to his third studio album ''

Graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

'' (2007). Lupe Fiasco produced the song in an attempt to construct a mashup mixtape containing hip hop remakes of rock singer

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...

's solo album ''

The Eraser ''The Eraser'' is the debut solo album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 10 July 2006 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, the longtime producer for Yorke's band Radiohead. ''The Eraser'' comprises electronic ...

'', coupled with a few

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

songs. He originally wanted Kanye West and English rapper

The Streets The Streets are an English music project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner. The project has released six studio albums: ''Original Pirate Material'' (2002), ''A Grand Don't Come for Free'' (2004), ''The Hardest Way to M ...

(Mike Skinner) to appear on the mixtape's first song " Us Placers", but Skinner failed to respond while West sent the song over to

after laying down a verse. After finishing the collaboration, the trio decided to form a group, deemed by Pharrell as "Child Rebel Soldier". Their first song, "Us Placers", was listed at number 43 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. In a 2007 interview with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', Fiasco elaborated that the three had hopes to find time to construct a full-length

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, saying, "Now ur labels areworking it out. Whoever is going to pay is going to pay a whole hell of a lot. Everybody is excited, ut'Us Placers' is the only record we have". On January 29, 2008, it was announced on Kanye West's blog that the three artists would be touring later in the year together. The

Glow in the Dark Tour The Glow in the Dark Tour was a world concert tour by Kanye West featuring Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D, Santigold and Nas. It began on April 16, 2008 in Seattle, Washington and traveled to Latin America, Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia ...

, as it was called, consisted of Kanye West,

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell's

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer sta ...

band

N.E.R.D N.E.R.D. (stylized as N⋆E⋆R⋆D and N.E.R.D, a backronym of No-one Ever Really Dies) is an American hip hop and rock band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1999. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley (producer), Ted ...

. According to a Lupe Fiasco interview with sohh.com, there were plans for a CRS album in 2010. He said the trio of CRS would have three different elements to it: an album, music videos, and a third element he failed to elaborate on (speculation that what he was referring to at this point was the then unannounced "Glow in the Dark" Tour). The group was featured on the

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

to "

Everyone Nose "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)" is a song by American band N.E.R.D. It is the lead single from their third studio album ''Seeing Sounds'' and was released on May 13, 2008. Lyrically, the song delves into the i ...

" by

N.E.R.D. N.E.R.D. (stylized as N⋆E⋆R⋆D and N.E.R.D, a backronym of No-one Ever Really Dies) is an American hip hop and rock band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1999. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Reco ...

They were labeled as Child Rebel Soldier on the song instead of their separate entities. This is the second song where they use their group name. The official video for the "

" remix version was posted on Kanye West's blog on August 7, 2008. The video, directed by

Hype Williams Harold Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video director, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens, New York. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adel ...

, features CRS and

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 20 ...

Clipse Clipse, also known as The Clipse, is an American hip hop duo, chiefly active from 1994 to 2010. It consists of brothers Gene "No Malice" and Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during the group's early years, while No Mal ...

. Behind them is a green screen showing scenes from various retro video games, including ''

Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and his clan of other Ape, apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of plat ...

'', ''

Galaga is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to ''Galaxian'' (1979), Namco's first major video game hit in arcades. Controlling a starshi ...

'', and ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...

''. With Lupe Fiasco's upcoming album completed and scheduled to be released by Atlantic Records, Kanye West remains the only member currently working on their own solo LP. Despite this, on January 26 Lupe Fiasco announced that the group had finished 4 songs. The album, which was tentatively titled ''God Unwilling'', has now been shelved according to Lupe Fiasco in an interview with Las Vegas radio station Hot 97.5. In the interview he first spoke about his upcoming album, ''Lasers'', and then shot down the supposedly upcoming Child Rebel Soldier with one word when he was questioned – "nope". Lupe offered no further explanation at the time as to why the album had been placed on indefinite hold. On October 8, 2010, Kanye West released what was thought as a new Child Rebel Soldier track entitled "Don't Stop" as a part of his "

GOOD Fridays GOOD Fridays was a weekly free music release by rapper Kanye West, launched in support of his fifth studio album ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' (2010). The original intention was to release a free new song every Friday for a few months to ...

" releases. However, in an interview, Lupe announced that "Don't Stop" was actually written in 2008. On October 18, 2010, at the L.A. screening for " Runaway", which was again followed by a rather lengthy Q&A, the subject of CRS was brought up. Kanye explained that the project is on the table and will follow after the release of ''

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 22, 2010, following a period of public controversy for West. Re ...

'' and collaboration album ''Watch The Throne'' with

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

. On July 25, 2013, in response to an inquiry on Twitter, Lupe Fiasco announced that Child Rebel Soldier has been canceled.

Discography

Singles

*2007: " Us Placers" *2010: " Don't Stop!"

Guest appearances

*2008:

– ''

Seeing Sounds ''Seeing Sounds'' is the third studio album by American alternative rock band N.E.R.D released June 10, 2008 on Star Trak Entertainment and Interscope Records in the United States. After ending their contract with Virgin Records in 2005, the band ...

'': "

" (remix)

References

{{Authority control American hip hop groups African-American musical groups Hip hop supergroups Midwest hip hop groups American musical trios Musical groups established in 2007 Kanye West Pharrell Williams Musical groups disestablished in 2013