The buzz for rapper
Lupe Fiasco reached a fever pitch after the rapper’s highly anticipated album,
Food & Liquor, was leaked to the internet months before its summer
release.
The Chicago rapper
released a personal statement over the weekend that addressed the leak, which
may permanently shelve the album.
“Hey s**t
happens. An unmixed version of Food & Liquor got leaked yesterday
so I assume its on [file-sharing services like] Limewire and Bittorrent and
all that s**t,” the rapper stated. “Its stuff like this that makes
you wanna just be like f**k it. A lotta time and money and bulls**t went into
creating that album. Over the years I’ve had my people die, get locked up, my
company get shut down, weak a** ‘intelligent Black men’ in my own
crew turn against me and just when things are starting to look good [this happens].”
The 23-year-old
prodigy said he was in a Philadelphia studio waiting for singer Jill Scott to
record for his album when he learned of the leak. The rapper suggested that
the premature release of the album may have inadvertently denied fans the full
experience of Food & Liquor.
“If u can
find it, it is my gift to you. Enjoy! Take it as [a mixtape like] ‘Fahrenheit
1/15 Part 6: Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor’ minus Jay-Z, Pharrell [of The
Neptunes], Jill Scott, Three-6 Mafia and others,” Fiasco said.
The Atlantic Records
rapper said he doubted the album would come out, but admitted Food &
Liquor might simply be repackaged for commercial release.
“Everything
happens for a reason and God wills what He wills when He wills so I gotta take
this one and keep it moving. I’m goin’ to take some time out and refocus
on some other things for a minute-maybe my sneaker and toy stuff,” he explained.
“God-willing get back in the studio and get back to work. I hope it doesn’t
hit the streets as a bootleg, but I got this real deep feeling that it will,
so I’m writing off Food & Liquor as you know it or may have heard
it and starting over.”
In previous interviews
with AllHipHop.com, Fiasco said that he has been working on Food & Liquor
for about five years.
Atlantic Records
wasn’t available for a formal comment at press time.
