Hanging with 'Superstar'

If you've heard "Superstar," the excellent new single by Kanye West/Jay-Z protégé Lupe Fiasco, then you've heard Minneapolis native Matthew Santos. You probably just haven't heard of Matthew Santos.

Now living in Chicago -- when he's not on tour with Lupe -- the Jeff Buckley-like folk-rocker will return home for the holidays a little earlier than usual to perform Saturday at the Fine Line. Even with his name on the Billboard and iTunes hip-hop charts (the track is officially listed as "featuring Matthew Santos"), the best hometown homecoming gig he could get was the first of two opening slots for Jistoray.

But Santos, 24, is used to bouncing between different worlds -- whether it's from hip-hop to his own folky-rock music, or from Coachella and other festivals with Fiasco to small clubs for his own gigs.

"Culturally, I've been all over the map lately," he said by phone from Chicago. "It's been great. I think outside the box a lot easier than I used to."

Santos credits Minneapolis for initially broadening his musical horizons. A Southwest High grad, he said "I probably never would've listened to hip-hop if my friends hadn't sort of lubricated me with Atmosphere, Eyedea and the Rhymesayers stuff."

After moving to Chicago in 2001 to study music at Columbia College, he met Fiasco through a mutual friend (engineer Greg Magers). The rapper recruited Santos to sing on "American Terrorist," one of the standouts on his 2006 debut "Food & Liquor." He's back for two tracks on "The Cool," the new Fiasco record that just hit stores Tuesday.

"Superstar" is where he really shines, playing Adam Levine to Lupe's Kanye as he delivers the melodic, repetitive chorus, "If you are what you say are, a superstar/ Then have no fear, the camera's here."

"It'd be different if Lupe wasn't the kind of conscious rapper that he is. His words are powerful, and he appeals to an open-minded crowd."

Santos recently released his first full-length album, "Matters of the Bittersweet," and is working on a follow-up with veteran Chicago producer Jim Tullio (Mavis Staple, Steve Goodman). With his Buckley-like, wavering but soulful voice and a playful acoustic sound akin to Jack Johnson and Bob Schneider, there's plenty of reason to believe that Santos could land his own hit single.

Until then, he said, "It can be fun leading this sort of double life."