Lupe Fiasco clears up the speculation he was talking about Drake and Kendrick Lamar in a recent conversation about hip-hop gatekeepers.
Lupe Fiasco Sets the Record Straight
On Sunday (July 21), Lupe engaged in an X Spaces discussion about hip-hop with fans. During the talk, the Chicago lyricist spoke on gatekeeping in hip-hop.
“If you want to start who is in and who is out, a process which I don’t agree with, and I think is bullsh*t, if you want to do that you should have a degree,” he said below. “You should have a PhD in hip-hop. If you ain’t got that, then I don’t think that you are qualified to and have the right to speak on of hip-hop. Just because you can rap, and you’ve sold a bunch of records, I don’t think at this point, and it’s to the point now that it is visceral, and it’s to the point where people are making decisions on it, and it’s hurting people and building up other people that it shouldn’t just be based on some ni**a at a podcast.”
He continued, “It should be stewarded by people who know what the f**k they are talking about very very deeply and can write a book about it. But I’m being biased. I don’t agree with the process anyway. I don’t think we should be choosing who comes in and out and making decisions on that sh*t anyway.”
Lupe later denied any misunderstanding that has an issue with Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
“I’ve never said I don’t like [Kendrick Lamar],” Lupe added after heaping praise on K-Dot’s artistry. “Because even if I don’t like all his songs, or listen to all his songs—the same thing with Drake—I understand their impact to the culture. For me, it’s us first.”
He also admitted to admiring the creative team Kendrick was surrounded by at Top Dawg Entertainment.
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Lupe Clears the Air on X
On Monday (July 22), Lupe also had to clear the air on X, formerly known as Twitter, after one person commented that Lu was talking about Drake and Kendrick Lamar in the gatekeeping convo.
“I never said that,” the rapper replied. “We were not talking about any artist in particular at all during that part. People who did not listen to the entire conversation took that part only and ran with and reposted it as us talking about Drake & Dot.”
Lupe also defended and clarified his comments on having a Ph.D to gatekeep in hip-hop.
“Thanx but Never really said that either,” he added. “I said IF you want to be a person who gets to decide who is allowed in hiphop and who is not then you should have a PHD in HipHop. If the person you are trying to kick out of hip hop knows more than you about hip hop then thats not fair.”
Last week, Lupe, who recently dropped his new album, Samurai, also made headlines for suggesting Drake buy Dame Dash’s one-third share of Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt album.
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Check out Lupe’s conversations with fans on X Spaces and his X responses below.
Listen to Lupe Fiasco Hip-Hop Convo on X Spaces
See Lupe Fiasco Clear Up Speculation on X
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