Kendrick Lamar’s ambitious 2017 release Damn pushed the West Coast rapper to new heights. The album pushed over 600k units in the first week, and generated three top 15 singles. The project caused the conversation to move from Lamar being the best technical lyricist, to the best rapper period. But even with the praise, apparently some aren’t willing to jump on the Lamar train.
Lupe Fiasco at one point was in the shoes previously worn by Lamar. Fiasco had the hearts of hip-hop heads, but not of the general music consumer. A try at gaining that trust, his 2011 release Lasers, pushed Fiasco a step back in his career direction. But the past couple days, it appears Fiasco isn’t liking that Lamar did what he could never do: crossover.
First, Lupe implied that Lamar had copied certain elements of Fiasco’s persona into his career. Now, in a series of deleted tweets, Fiasco explained why he believes Lamar isn’t a top-tier lyricist.
Per XXLmag.com.
“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. His overall lyrics are good, his stories phenomenal, but punchline entendre lyrically I don’t see it.”
“I’ve never been destroyed,” Lupe responded. “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.”
While Fiasco was being objective, it isn’t the norm for someone to criticize Lamar. It will be interesting to see if Lamar does respond, though. To see a glimpse of what Lupe Fiasco said, check out the images below.
