Lupe Says Label Holding Him Hostage

Lupe’s new album Lasers, drops next Tuesday. But he told the Chicago Sun Times that he felt his label Atlantic Records was holding him hostage.

“I was specifically told” — Fiasco chuckled — “‘Don’t rap too deep on this record.’” He laughed some more. “That was a specific order from the top. ‘You’re rapping too fast or too slow, or it’s too complex.’ …

There are consequences and combat that comes from that process and the eventual compromise. With me, though, I’m not writing about someone else. I’m writing about me. This is my life. It’s very personal for me. So for somebody to kind of put their fingers in that and play with that, it becomes more damaging.”

“I am a hostage,” Fiasco said. “I gave them what they wanted. If I didn’t, at the end of the day the album wasn’t coming out.”

Later, Atlantic responded to the claim with this: “We fully support Lupe and the release of ‘Lasers.’”