Despite rumors of leaving hip-hop behind for rock, Lupe Fiasco denying that he's the frontman for a new indie rock band called Japanese Cartoon.

Over the weekend, two tracks appeared on the MySpace page for the British band, and there was speculation that Lupe was the voice heard as the lead singer.

However, via a blog post on their official MySpace (spotted by XXL), the rapper is not the man heard on the two tracks, otherwise known by the moniker Percival Fats. But, they do say Lupe is involved with the band.

"Percival Fats (born Percival Hindenburg-Fats) Is NOT Lupe Fiasco (born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco)," the blog read. "Although he is a dear friend. Lupe does finance the band, but is NOT, I REPEAT, NOT THE SINGER IN JAPANESE CARTOON. He is, however, the producer and we value his participation very much."

The rapper himself, under the internet alias "FNF Up And Away ok," also shedded some light on the situation in a post on OkayPlayer.com's forums, expressing his admiration for the group, and his involvement.

"I like those kids a lot," Lupe wrote. "Met the bass player overseas last year and their publicist/manager is a good friend from like childhood. May sign them. Not me singing though."

While the Chicago rapper isn't exactly doing the rock band thing, as rumored, he did reveal his thoughts toward hip-hop, which he doesn't feel is in the best shape at the moment.

"I feel like hip-hop is coming to sort of a... i dare say... an end??? ... (no pun intended)," he wrote later in the forum discussion. "It's not the same energy... hasn't been for a long time... just a bunch of nothing out there... take it how u may... I hope the new vanguard proves me wrong and brings back the day of substance minus the web cam video to announce its return."