In an open letter addressed “to rappers from a rapper,” Chicago, Illinois lyricist Lupe Fiasco offered his thoughts on the debacle between Meek Mill and Drake. Earlier this week, Meek called out Drake for allegedly not writing his own raps.
Lupe posted his open letter in two separate uploads to his Instagram profile, yesterday (July 22).
In his open letter, the Windy City wordsmith stated that “Ghostwriting, or borrowing lines, or taking suggestions from the room has always been in rap and will always be in rap.”
Lupe later went on to address the art of lyricism and spoke on the “sense of liberation and self-esteem” that can be obtained by expressing oneself through rap.
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“…The point is that what pursuing the craft gives us in terms of the intangibles is something that record sales or fame could never represent,” Lupe Fiasco wrote. “We achieve a mastery of language and poetics that competes on the highest levels of discourse across the entirety of human history. We express ourselves creatively and attain a sense of liberation and self-esteem via this sacred mode of creation and communication.”
The rapper addressed both Meek and Drake by name in the second part of his open letter. He stated that Meek calling out Drake over the authenticity of his raps “struck a nerve” in Hip Hop.
Lupe also recalled receiving Drake’s mixtape while in Toronto years ago, before the singer/rapper reached fame.
“Meek Mill struck a nerve accusing Drake of having a ghostwriter and the entire rap world reacted on all sides of the fence because rap is alive,” the rapper wrote. “It’s active and it feels. Its rules and traditions are vibrant and responsive. I enjoy both these brothers music and find inspiration and appreciation from both of them. I remember being in Toronto at Goodfoot years ago and it was a stack of CD’s on the counter and the guy behind the counter was like ‘Lupe you gotta take this CD. It’s my mans mixtape.’ I didn’t really pay it any mind I took it to the car and looked it over and just kind of set it aside focused on other things. I vividly remember saying ‘what kind of rap name is Drake?’ The rest is history.”
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