Hip-hop MC Lupe Fiasco [ tickets ] will hit the road in January to support his forthcoming sophomore album, "Lupe Fiasco's The Cool," which hits stores next week.

The Chicago-born rapper will kick off the headlining run Jan. 10 in Chicago, following a pair of remaining December shows: Dec. 10 in New York City and Dec. 27 in Honolulu. The 18-city trek will run through early February. Dates are below.

Fiasco extends the popular formula of his debut album, last year's "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor," to this year's effort, using several characters to tell tales of the "damaging influences and corrupt allure of post-millennial Urban America," according to a press release. The Muslim rapper gets help on the new disc from Snoop Dogg and production input from Sountrakk, UNKLE, Chris & Drop, and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump.

"Well, I was born Muslim, so Islam plays a part in my life and everything I do, to a certain extent," Fiasco told rap website allhiphop.com last year. "I'm not like the poster boy for Islam ... I still got my flaws and stuff like that, so I don't really wear that on my sleeve ... I don't go to clubs, I don't drink, I don't smoke, you know like my whole--the whole groupie situation is shut down."

The video for the first single from the new album, "Superstar," is streaming at Fiasco's YouTube artist page.