Lupe Fiasco has set the record straight on his “apology” to Kendrick Lamar after downplaying his lyrical abilities years ago.
After J. Cole’s surprise apology to Kendrick Lamar for dissing him on “7 Minute Drill” dominated social media discourse on Monday (April 8), Complex published an article called “A History of Rappers Apologizing to Kendrick Lamar.”
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Lupe Fiasco was featured in the story for once claiming K. Dot wasn’t a “top tier lyricist.”
“I’ll put it to you like this. K. Dot is not a top tier lyricist to me and my standards when it comes to punchlines and bars,” he wrote on X (then Twitter) in 2018. “His overall lyrics are good, his stories phenomenal, but punchline entendre lyrically I don’t see it.”
Oh, wow. Lupe Fiasco implying someone else "overrated" is ironic. In any case, I agree with him: Kendrick Lamar is probably the most overrated rapper in the history of rap, even moreso than Eminem. And "Control" was try-hard and gained traction only because of the name dropping. pic.twitter.com/iY4I9O0mjy
— Vıɴ (@___Vin) January 7, 2018
He added: “Also the only issue that the world thinks I have with K. Dot and I actually do is that I think his ‘Control’ verse was wack and super overhyped to be a verse claiming you are the best rapper. It was very weird. I was told it was just bait, but still.”
Lupe later apologized for his comments, saying in an Instagram video: “Maybe I should have just left it alone. Even though my impetus was the ‘Control’ verse. I mean, you put yourself out there like that, so you opened yourself up to critique.
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“I apologize for even engaging and talking about n-ggas’ careers. I’ll never do that shit again.”
The Chicago rapper caught wind of the Complex article and took issue with his inclusion, claiming that he wasn’t actually apologizing to Kendrick per se.
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“Relax yo… I wasn’t apologizing to him lol,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “I was sorry about the entire shindig because it was such a waste of time and energy in something that had nothing to do with me.”
He added: “Keep my name clean… I fear no rapper of any kind or on anytime… K dot solid but y’all need to chill lol.”
Lupe went on to reveal he hasn’t even heard Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole’s respective diss songs, “Like That” and “7 Minute Drill.”
“Here’s my two cents though… I honestly haven’t listened to either record. Other than accidental little things scrolling through social media and seeing the sample of the lyrics typed on memes,” he said.
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“Other than that I’m in the dark on the whole thing…. and will remain so… next tweet… I don’t really care. Goodnight… Eid Mubarak.”
In response to a fan asking why he hasn’t taken the few minutes to listen to the tracks, Lupe chalked it down to a “moment of clarity.”
“I thought would like the Sam Altman or the head of Blackstone (not the gang) jump off a conference call to listen to two n-ggas dissing each other on the internet? And I had a moment of clarity that we care too much about things that don’t mean anything… with all due respect,” he wrote.
Lupe Fiasco further explained that he commented on the Complex article because he didn’t want people to have a misconception about his character.
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“I honestly am only doing this because I don’t want any of these overzealous people with phones to get it twisted off some misinterpreted article that it’s soft, sweet and fearful on this side and catch ya boy lackin IRL and get removed from consciousness over Hip Hop lol,” he said.
