Yesterday, Lupe Fiasco dropped a new track from his forthcoming Tetsuo + Youth LP, "Adoration of the Magi," which featured a very jazzy beat from L.A. producer DJ Dahi—a beat that, as it turns out, isn't exactly new.
Above, you'll find streams of "Adoration of the Magi" and Philly rapper GrandeMarshall's "Ellie Fox," from his 2012 mixtape 800. "Ellie Fox" was also produced by DJ Dahi, and the corresponding beats for both songs are very similar—like, close to identical. This wasn't lost on GrandeMarshall:
it sounds like the same beat because it is. but guess what I'm in the studio working on? new shit. so don't trip if I ain't.
— PULLUP S THOMPSON (@GrandeMarshall) January 5, 2015
pic.twitter.com/savVNdoNV4
— PULLUP S THOMPSON (@GrandeMarshall) January 5, 2015
worry about niggas claiming Muslim faith and eating fried bologna
— PULLUP S THOMPSON (@GrandeMarshall) January 5, 2015
Lupe didn't take kindly to the fried bologna tweet, and things escalated from there:
“@GrandeMarshall: worry about niggas claiming Muslim faith and eating fried bologna"
Watch it bruh,..
— Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) January 5, 2015
Don't sneak diss...you got an issue holla at Dahi... @GrandeMarshall
— Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) January 5, 2015
@LupeFiasco ain't nobody sneak dissing I call it like I see it
— PULLUP S THOMPSON (@GrandeMarshall) January 5, 2015
now I dissed a nigga for stating the truth I put a song two years ago with Dahi that you rapped on today plain and simple
— PULLUP S THOMPSON (@GrandeMarshall) January 5, 2015
if anybody feelings hurt that's wassap that's what the truth does it hurts stop frauding
— PULLUP S THOMPSON (@GrandeMarshall) January 5, 2015
Lupe attempted to reach out personally and squash the conflict offline(-ish), but Grande wasn't having it:
@LupeFiasco it ain't shit to talk about holmes you rapped on some shit I rapped first I recognize it end of story
— PULLUP S THOMPSON (@GrandeMarshall) January 5, 2015
Then, Lupe revealed that what really had him heated was the bologna joke (which, in case it wasn't apparent by now, doubled as a swipe at Lupe's commitment to his Muslim faith) before snuffing out the argument for now:
Nah bruh fuck that beat...I'm talking this pork Bologna fake Muslim fuck shit you talking @GrandeMarshall
— Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) January 5, 2015
Hahaha on some funny shit...the shit come halal and in turkey... @GrandeMarshall pic.twitter.com/pr4Fj8m5MX
— Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) January 5, 2015
PSA...No disrespect to my nigga @djdahi I love him like a brother. BUT you gotta make all my beats from SCRATCH in front of me now on hahaha
— Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) January 6, 2015
Dahi's management declined to comment to FADER on the spat, but Dahi himself took to Twitter last night post-fallout and issued his stance on the matter, once and for all:
If you bought it, its yours. If you didn't its still belongs to me....
— Dj Dahi (@DjDahi) January 6, 2015
No funny Shit, I keep it 100
— Dj Dahi (@DjDahi) January 6, 2015
UPDATE 1/6/14 4:14 p.m.: FADER reached out to GrandeMarshall with a few questions regarding the whole snafu:
Have you spoken with Dahi on what happened here? As far as what he explained to me it was something between his and Lupe's management. I respect the privacy of the conversation so I won't really go into detail. The beat was sent to me back in 2012 to a person closely involved with my music and we used it for 800, as far as what people tell me it was a pretty good song.
Has something like this happened to you before? Do you sense it's an issue that hip-hop deals with in general? It happened with another song on 800, "GODBPM." I'm not sure how that all went down and at this point I'm not stressing over it. I don't know of too many instances where this has happened to other people but I'm not losing sleep. It's older stuff I rapped on and my sound has grown since then. If sonically I'm beyond it then mentally I am as well.
Is there a silver lining to this situation? I really wasn't looking to gain anything from the get-go. I guess the bologna comment might've touched a nerve or whatever—it is what it is. Fans, people, whatever, they're tweeting that it sounds the same or the same sample, I clarified it's the same beat and moved on...I'm not sweating somebody rapping on a beat of mine from 3 years ago when I'm preparing to release music that's grown far more than what these guys are going with.
Lead photo: Chris Weeks/Getty Images