Lupe Fiasco’s woes over the direction of his thought-provoking catalog have returned, causing the artist to announce his departure from music.
His announcement via Twitter Tuesday (Dec. 13) comes a day after the release of “N.E.R.D.,” an unmastered track which took aim at the alleged ambiguous disses made by J. Cole on the tracks “Everybody Dies” and “Falso Prophets.” Rapping over the “Everybody Dies” beat (that mirrors an inception of A Tribe Called Quest and Minne Ripperton samples), Lupe also addresses his qualms with industry heads who take full control over the talent. The line “Artist gettin’ robbed for their publishing, By dirty Jewish execs that think his alms from the covenant” was met with criticism for it’s reported anti-Semitic tone.
The rapper denied being anti-semitic and claimed the track was briefly taken off Soundcloud for promoting “hate speech.” We’re not sure if it was the misinterpretation listeners had of “N.E.R.D.,” but the rapper has decided not to release the albums Drogas, Drogas Light and Skulls. All of the projects were reported for a 2016 release but were pushed back to January 2017.
Sadly the remainder of his “N.E.R.D.” bars “I’ll retire when I’m tired, that’s a Firestone death.” have seemingly come to fruition. Lupe told fans recently that Drogas Light and Drogas are completed but are currently awaiting clearance and mixing approval. Maybe there’s hope that the rapper will drop them with the time is right. We’re not saying goodbye just yet.