There’s been a serious brouhaha brewing on the ‘nets ever since great alt-rap hope Lupe Fiasco flubbed the lyrics to A Tribe Called Quest’s "Electric Relaxation" in the middle of a tribute to the group at VH1’s Hip-Hop Honors (broadcast on Monday). The actual slip-up was over in the blink of an eye; check it out below and you’ll probably wonder what the fuss is all about, if you even notice Lupe’s memory lapse at all.
For a lot of web-savvy fans, though, this relatively minor incident provided an excuse to dredge up an old point of contention. Earlier this year, Lupe caught a lot of flak for talking trash about one of Tribe’s most highly-regarded albums on a popular rap message board: "i dont know one word of Midnight Marauders and truthfully dont have the interest to go and find out," he wrote in the middle of a rambling reflection on hip-hop history. (Lupe’s fateful post has since vanished into the ether, but the full text is archived elsewhere.) Many saw this as point-blank blasphemy, and disingenuous to boot, given the major stylistic debt which Lupe’s own music seems to owe to Tribe’s work. Performing Marauders‘ "Electric Relaxation" at the VH1 tribute could have been a graceful way to make amends to those aggrieved fans. Screwing it up drove them absolutely ballistic.
Lupe only made things worse this week by firing off a confrontational, caps-lock-abusing missiveto that same message board. (He’s the guy posting as "FNF UP UP ANDAWAY"; "FNF" stands for 1st and 15th Entertainment, the label he owns.)To wit: "HAVE I LISTENED TO MM IN ITS ENTIRETY?…NO!!!…GET OFF YOURHIGH HORSES AND YOUR SACRED COWS…SOME OF YA’LL MAKE ME SICK." Cue500+ furious replies (not even counting spinoff posts) and sundrydisapproving blog items. Lupe further claimed (and reiterated in a separate interview) that he only agreed to participate in the VH1 tribute because Tribeleader Q-Tip personally asked him to…which Q-Tip himself unfortunately deniedalmost immediately. If there was any chance Lupe would win over thoseTribe fans whose feathers he’d ruffled, it’s long gone now.
So who’s in the right here? That lyrical mistake was sortaembarrassing; but mistakes happen, as Lupe argued in a lessinflammatory part of his recent post. And yes, he’s being needlesslyprovocative with his message board posts — would it really kill him tojust listen to Midnight Marauders (an eminently listenablerecord!) and apologize already? Still, it’s no fair expecting him to beless arrogant or self-contradictory than any other star just becausehe’s a so-called "conscious" rapper. But that’s just my take. Pick yoursides now! Are you on Team Tribe, Team Lupe, or (gasp) both?
Comments (1-17) of 17 Add your comment
Even tho’ you can hardly tell the flub, Lupe should put take his head out of his ass and stop dissin’ the Tribe. You just don’t eff with Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
I noticed the flub and I noticed Q-Tip giggle a bit. I was not aware of this Lupe kerfuffle, but he needs to chill and listen to the album! It is one of hip hop’s best.
Simon, you must put your editor THROUGH it when he reads your posts. I understand your frustration since “Electric Relaxation” is probably my FAVE Tribe song, like EVER, and not only do I have the Midnight Marauders cd, but I still have the cassette single of “Electric Relaxation”! BUT I HIGHLY DOUBT anymore than 1 out of 10 EW readers & or bloggers (if you’re THAT lucky) care about Lupe Fiasco or this fiasco to say the least. Seriously, I almost challenege you to go one weke without making some hip-hop related post on here. I really don’t think you can do it, although I just think it is ammusing that you keep blogging about items such as this, cause it just keeps giving me something to laugh at. Seriously can you go one week without a pointless hip-hop post? But before I sound too bitter, I will admit I did enjoy your album review of Jay-Z’s American Gangster over the weekend!! That was DEF. relevant to EW readers.
I am actually glad to see somo hip hop related posts. There aren’t enough on here to get upset about. This particular subject, however, is a little lacking. I heard about the “controversy” but it didn’t move me to care. Although Lupe is a little out of line (considering his target audience) he can be a jerk just like all of the others.
co-sign, Kizzy!
I don’t think this was a pointless post. Fiascogate is a big deal in the community, so if EW! is supposed to be about all things entertainment, then why not talk about it? And better that it’s Simon, and not someone unfamiliar with Tribe, Lupe or what’s going on.
i noticed this when i watched the show tuesday night. i kept rewinding that line, but it was so garbled, i couldn’t understand what the eff lupe said. what exactly was it?
Umm, Phil, I dare YOU to go a week without commenting on popwatch.
I thought I was the only person who was infuriated by Lupe’s flub, and this was PRIOR to me knowing that he actually brags about not having heard MM. I’ve now officially disowned Lupe. Skate away, troll, skate away.
And to Phil: Guess what EW readers care about less than Simon’s hip-hop posts? Your response to Simon’s hip-hop posts. Shut your hole if you don’t have anything of substance to contribute.
Wow, how will the world ever start spinning again?
What a complete non-story. It’s a little ridiculous to stop liking Artist A because s/he doesn’t like Artist B and even says nasty things about them.
I try & contribute thoughtful commentary to whatever PopWatch posts interest me & fortunately I’m not a pigeon-holed idiot that only caters to certain aspects of Pop culture. Do I give Simon a hard time for alot of his posts? SURE, I’ll admit that. But to those trying to tell me my opinion is sometimes out of line, I’m a 29 yr. old white gay male who grew up on a balanced diet of ALL pop culture. I preferred listening to A Tribe Called Quest instead of Barbra Stiesand. I like jeans & a t-shirt over an over-priced Italian suit. I dont have to justify myself to anyone, but I comment on Simon’s posts cause eventhough I give him a hard time, I am a white male who DOES KNOW what he is talking about MOST of the time. Thats why I throw it back at him. I try & be respectful. And I still stand by my original post, how many Popwatch readers OWN Lupe’s 1st cd (I DO.) or even care he’s putting out a new one before the end of the year? I doubt many.
And I’ve got no problem with accepting the challenge of not posting comments on PopWatch for a week. I’ve done it plenty of times. I don’t even bring a laptop or computer with me when I go away on vacations for over weeks at a time. I’d be willing to accept the challenge if Simon gave mine some thought! And to take Simon’s post one step further why not mention Lupe’s new single is a boastful ditty called “Superstar”? Surely that could have tied into this item’s egocentric center, while also promoting Lupe’s latest release, which is available on iTunes.
I love PW because of the wide spectrum of subject-matter in the posts. I lurk a lot, commment occassionally and check back a couple of times a day. If you post something I don’t care about I go on to the next item. Take a lesson, Phil.
That said, Lupe is over-rated and I don’t expect him to know hip-hop chapter and verse off the top of his head…but if he’s performing a tribute? I think I might study up.
He def does NOT got the jazz.
I thought this was a really interesting item and wish PW would post more about hip-hop. Dudes like Phil are why Message Boards get a bad wrap.
As far as Lupe goes, its utterly shocking that he would not only admit to never hearing one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time, but appear to take pride in it. As a music writer, I would never confess to sleeping on an album as essential as MM. I thought Food and Liquor was one of the best albums of last year, period, but after this, ahem, fiasco, I can’t help but lose a little respect.
Mardicus I am SO glad you decided to stone me for saying whats wrong with Message Boards. Yes, I take the ENTIRE blame! All of it! Its not like I’m a writer for a well-reknowned national magazine that wastes blog space on my job’s web-site on items whose primary basis comes from OTHER blog items on another’s web-site? WHY EVER WOULD I DO THAT WHEN I HAVE PLENTY OF ORIGINAL IDEAS WITH WHICH TO BASE MY POSTS ON INSTEAD OF HEARSAY? Oh wait…thats NOT me…thats SOMEONE else. Seriously, don’t point fingers if you can’t think rationally about something and supporting your claim. If you are a music writer, then you above all people SHOULD KNOW there is no 100% chance of knowing “FNF UP UP AND AWAY” is ACTUALLY Lupe Fiasco since DUH its a message board. It coulda been his assistant, manager or BFF. It doesn’t matter cause you don’t KNOW & neither does Simon. So to bring that argument here is a waste of time and space. It has NO credibility. If you read it in a blog, IT MUST BE TRUE. *SIGH*
Being as Tribe is my fav group of all time most of my peoples expected me to be up in arms over this lil “mishap”. But I never take any sides in any hip hop beefs. Just because people say Lupe’s music owes a lot to Tribe doesn’t mean he has to go back and listen to their music. Lupe is a breath of fresh air in the current rap climate that’s full of pop lock and droppin and supermanning that hoe. Do u Lupe.
I love Lupe so much, that I would pretty much ignore any stupid thing he does. Its what I do with Kanye, and I am a happier person for it.
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