Lupe Fiasco Weighs In On Meek Mill-Drake Beef, Ghostwriting In Hip-Hop

Lupe FiascoMeek Mill and Drake have been in the headlines all week, after the Philly rapper claimed Drizzy doesn't write his raps.
Since then, Lupe Fiasco weighed on the topic, saying ghostwriting will always be a part of hip-hop.
In an open letter addressed "to rappers from a rapper," the Chicago emcee said the topic of "Ghostwriting, or borrowing lines, or taking suggestions from the room has always been in rap and will always be in rap."
"...The point is that what pursuing the craft gives us in terms of the intangibles is something that record sales or fame could never represent," Lupe wrote. "We achieve a mastery of language and poetics that competes on the highest levels of discourse across the entirety of human history. We express ourselves creatively and attain a sense of liberation and self-esteem via this sacred mode of creation and communication."

Later, he addressed both Meek Mill and Drake by name, saying that the issue "struck a nerve" within a genre, proving that "rap is alive."
"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," Lupe wrote. "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. I remember being in Toronto at Goodfoot years ago and it was a stack of CD's on the counter and the guy behind the counter was like ‘Lupe you gotta take this CD. It's my mans mixtape.’ I didn't really pay it any mind I took it to the car and looked it over and just kind of set it aside focused on other things. I vividly remember saying ‘what kind of rap name is Drake?' The rest is history."

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