Lupe Fiasco Responds to Pete Rock’s Twitter Tirade

On Monday (May 21), Lupe Fiasco dropped “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free),” which samples Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s 1992 hip-hop classic, “T.R.O.Y.” Rock wasn’t too happy about that, as he ripped into Lupe with a Twitter tirade, making it known that the Chi-town rapper shouldn’t have dared touch an iconic record like that.

Tuesday morning (May 22), during an interview with WGCI’s Tony Sculfield and The Morning Riot in his hometown of Chicago, Lupe responded with shock and surprise over Pete’s reaction.

“That was a little unexpected seeing that because we had already reached out to him,” Lupe said. “Yeah, [we reached out to him] to get his blessings. We wouldn’t had did it if [not]. Especially what it means to him and what it represents for him and how deep and how personal the record is for him.

“At the same time too, Heavy D passing and all that stuff, we tried to be as sensitive as possible with it and make sure we represented correctly,” added Lupe, who was referring to fallen rap legend Heavy D, who Pete Rock counted as a first cousin.

In addition, Lupe took the time on Tuesday to remind fans that he isn’t the first rapper to rhyme over “T.R.O.Y.” Mann’s, J.R. Rotem-produced “Reminisce” sampled the classic, as did the remixed version of the song which featured Journalist, Mr. Cheeks and Pete Rock and CL Smooth themselves.

Lupe claimed that he plans on falling back from the situation entirely.

“The friends and family is dealing with that,” Lupe added. “They the ones who put it together. The people who initially reached out to them from my camp to his camp, I guess they was on the phone [Monday] night, trying to figure out what was going on.  I’m kind of a third party. It was a shock to me and it was kind of best to fall back.”

This all comes after Pete Rock blasted Lupe for touching “T.R.O.Y.”

“No disrespect to lupe fiasco and i like him alot but TROY should be left alone. Feel so violated,the beat is next to my heart and was made Outta anguish and pain. When it's like that it should not be touched by no one,” Pete tweeted yesterday after he heard “Around My Way.” “I'm not flattered @ all. Dat sh-- is wack, and the producer should be ashamed of his f--kin self. Smh.”

Lupe did tweet out a YouTube link to the original Pete Rock and CL Smooth video with the hash tag “#20YearsLaterStillTheBest” on Tuesday.—Mark Lelinwalla