Lupe Fiasco did not just announced that he is quitting rap, but also that he is canceling his upcoming album and its all over some anti-Semitic lyrics on his new single “N.E.R.D.” freestyle.
The track sparked some controversy almost immediately after its release earlier this week with some lyrics aimed at rapper J. Cole. But the was only the beginning of the backlash for Lupe from some quarters of hip hop. The lyrics in question does raised some eyebrows and one can understand why some demographic of rap would take offense.
“Artist gettin’ robbed for their publishing / By dirty Jewish execs that think his alms from the covenant / I’ll retire when I’m tired, that’s a Firestone death Easy to say when nobody’s there, like a microphone check,” Lupe Fiasco raps on the single.
After the criticisms mount on Twitter it seems the Chicago rapper snapped and tweeted that he is quitting rap music and will not release his upcoming album. Perhaps shelving his album and announcing his retirement is a bit too harsh but his fans didn’t seem to care and continues to heavily criticized his lyrics. SoundCloud also briefly pulled the song from its platform presumably over the backlash due to the lyrics but the music streaming platform has since back pedal and make the song available again. Can’t blame SoundCloud for the later move, stay out of that fight unless you don’t have a choice.
“Noted. I just find it odd that the fact they these executives stealing from artists is not the outrage and hasn’t been mentioned yet,” Fiasco wrote on Twitter as he struggles to defend himself from the mounting backlash. “Getting beat up for telling the trusth is not how I plan on spending the rest of life.”
Seems a lot of Lupe Fiasco’s frustration is with Atlantic Records because after that rant against his fans he went on another calling names this time. The Anti-Defamation league is also turning up the heat on the rapper by releasing a statement addressing those very same lyrics.
“The lyrics about artists being robbed by ‘dirty Jewish execs’ are offensive,” the statement reads. “These lyrics reinforce the anti-Semitic myth of Jewish control of the music industry, a stereotype that has been exploited in recent years by well-known hatemongers.”
