Lupe Fiasco Feeds Hundreds In Chicago

Payless Grocery is a corner store that has recently begun stocking fresh produce. Often these kinds of stores are the main grocers in communities like Englewood. But tension bubbles up around these stores because some of the businesses focus too much on junk food and liquor.

It’s an issue Lupe is sensitive to — his first album was called Food & Liquor. Changing that paradigm is what brought him out to Payless on Tuesday afternoon.

“It may seem like it’s insignificant, but you never know who’s going to walk away with something and what’s the best way to put it but juxtapose it next to the thing, which is the most visited thing in the community, which is the corner store,” Lupe said.

Lupe is Muslim and giving to charity is a tenet of the religion. During Ramadan, people who have enough food for their own families are also asked to provide food or other donations to help out the needy.

The Inner City Muslim Action Network is behind the campaign, called “Muslim Run,”  to hold corner stores accountable for selling more nutritious food. Fifteen stores like Payless have signed a letter of intent to be aesthetically pleasing, offer healthier snacks and limit alcohol.

IMAN organizer Shamar Hemphill says corner stores have been selling unhealthy food in black communities for decades.

“This has been practiced for over 40 years. It’s a domino effect if other stores see stores begin to change the aesthetics, remove products that aren’t selling,” Hemphill said.

The owner of Payless says the fruit has been flying off the shelves.