One of the more interesting rap debates in 2012 was the situation between Lupe Fiasco and legendary producer Pete Rock.
When Lupe dropped his latest song, “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free),” the first single off his upcoming Food & Liquor 2 album, Pete was publicly upset because the rapper had sampled CL Smooth and Pete Rock’s iconic “T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You).”
VIDEO: Lupe Fiasco “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)”
Lupe was on Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex Show last night to elaborate fully on how the song came about.
DETAILS: And The Saga Continues! Lupe Fiasco Says Issue With Pete Rock Is NOT Resolved
Lupe claims that initially he wanted to rap over the actual instrumental. Lupe found that he couldn’t clear the sample because they’re portions of the record that never got cleared. So Lupe had the song’s producers, Simonsayz & B-Side, recreate the song as best as possible.
However, before all of that, Lupe claims, the rapper’s people approached Pete about the song, and he gave them his blessing, even though he refused to work on it, due to the personal nature of the track:
“His initial thing was, he had an a emotional attachment to the record, but ‘Lupe’s my man. If Lupe want to rock with it then cool. And here’s the sample information, because you’re going to have to clear it with Warner. Lupe has my blessing.'”
Of course, as history tells us, when the song dropped Pete had a different reaction, blasting the rapper all over Twitter.
Lupe also talked about the conversation they had the next day. Everything wasn’t all cheery, but things eventually got cleared, and Pete admitted that how he reacted was wrong.
Lupe asked him to come out and just admit that he talked to Lupe’s people before the record dropped, Pete refused claiming, “I’m going to look crazy.”
Now, this is only coming from Lupe. So it’s interesting to see what Pete has to say.
SOURCE: InFlexWeTrust
