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Lupe Fiasco has ruffled many feathers with his podcast appearances recently. However, while sitting down with The Company Man and others for Justin Hunte’s Culture United stream, he said something that shocked some fans.
What Did Lupe Fiasco Say?
The Chicago rapper talked about lyricism in Hip Hop and made a statement about one of the all time greats.
“If you threw Nas into a list of just people who rap, he wouldn’t rank high [as a lyricist],” Lupe Fiasco said. “When you just isolate it to the fundamental part of [rapping], a lot of people don’t rank high. There’s thousands of rappers, we haven’t gotten a full account. It doesn’t take away from Nas as a lyricist, but if you compare him by punchlines, he doesn’t have a lot of punches, he don’t have bars like that. He knows that.
He also said ChinoXL had better punchlines. Naturally, the crew seemed baffled by Lupe’s assertion, especially Mickey Factz, who pushed back heavily on Lupe’s thoughts.
Later in the clip, Lupe seemed to realize the internet would light him up and he tried to clarify his statements.
“Once it’s about making a full album, it’s Nas all day,” Lupe Fiasco said. “Someone like Nas, who’s one of my heroes, I think it requires knowing when to take your foot off the gas to make something conceptual and grand mastery. It’s not about being the punchline king.”
Later in the stream, Lupe said he tried to reach out to Nas to do an EP but didn’t get a text back. Mickey Factz later reflected on Lupe’s comments, saying he felt like he pulled back on his comments about Nas near the end, remarking he’s had a tough week.
Lupe Fiasco explains why he thinks that Nas doesn't rank highly among the best lyricists in hip-hop 👀
— HotNewHipHop (@HotNewHipHop) July 2, 2026
"Remove the beat, remove everything else and just go with the words. If you threw Nas into- and you just created the list of just people who rap… He wouldn't rank high. I… pic.twitter.com/ZcxlP3zZkW
Lupe Vs. Tea Koala
In a highly contentious stream with a guy named Tea Koala Reacts, Lupe gave cred to battle rappers, but in the process, diminished Kendrick Lamar’s rapping ability.
“I said there’s hundreds [of better rappers than Kendrick] and we can name them,” Lupe said. “We can start from Rosenberg Raw all the way to muthaf***** B Magic, you wanna just start listing n*****. Let’s see how far that list get before we start naming one n**** with a record deal as the better rapper.
Earlier in the clip, Lupe said that when he says there’s 100 rappers better than Kendrick, he’s also saying there’s hundreds of rappers better than himself too.
Later in the stream, Lupe admitted that Kendrick is simply a better artist than him.
“He makes better albums, he has a better team, he has a better beat selection, he has better production.” Lupe said. “When it comes down to lyricism, no, everything else, for sure. He has more personal stories, better narratives, I don’t want to share my feelings with n**** like you,” he says. “Why the f*** would I share my personal stories with n**** who gonna talk crazy about you? I’ve said these things for years.”
The controversy stems from Lupe’s long history of talking about Kendrick, but not being acknowledged by the Multi Grammy-winning rapper.
