Monday, April 17, 2006

Lupe Fiasco Speaks On 'Food & Liquor' Being Leaked To Internet

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.