A lot of rappers have responded to Meek Mill's twitter rant, and now Lupe Fiasco has added his two cents. Lupe, known for his lyricism, penned a two-part letter on his Instagram page called "The Haunting," where he discusses the idea of ghostwriting and borrowing ideas/suggestions from other artists. He also delves into the difficulty of having commercial success as a rapper.
He starts off the letter, "Ghostwriting, or borrowing lines, or taking suggestions from the room has always been in rap and will always be in rap. It is nothing to go crazy over or be offended about unless you are someone who postures him or herself on the importance of authenticity and tries to portray that quality to your fans or the public at large."
He goes on to say that, "Rapping is not an easy thing to do. It's takes years of work and trial and error to master some of its finer points. Respect from other MC's comes in many formats. Sales, live performances, realness etc but the one thing that is the most important is the raps themselves at least in the eyes of other serious rappers."
In the second part of his letter, he points the finger at the radio for hurting the art form, "Modern Radio and the commercial realm of music has injured rap. It set up ambiguous rules and systems for success that don't take into consideration the quality and skill of the rappers craft. It redefined rap as just being a beat driven hook with some words in between and an entire generation has surrendered to chasing the format instead of chasing the art form."
He addresses the Meek/Drake issue directly when saying, "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. 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."
Check out both of his Instagram posts below. As you may have seen, Meek shouted out Drake last night during "The Pinkprint" tour, apparently trying to quell the beef.
