As previously reported, celebrated hip-hop producer Pete Rock went on a twitter tirade following the release of Lupe Fiasco’s new single “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)”, which consists of a beat that is a near-identical interpolation of Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s classic “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”.
The next day, it seemed as if Fiasco and Rock settled their differences over the phone, with Rock tweeting that they were going to revisit the song together and “make history.” However, during a recent interview on radio show Sway In The Morning, Fiasco states that he and his team held a very heated conference call with the producer. Rock allegedly gave his blessing for Fiasco to use the beat, despite the fact that Rock does not officially own the song due to the Tom Scott sample (despite Scott giving Rock approval to use the sample).
Fiasco then defended his stance in this situation, saying that Pete Rock is currently saving face via his twitter because he (Pete Rock) was in talks with Fiasco’s team for months before the single was released and apologized for his tirade during the phone call.
Clearly, one of these two opposing parties are not in the truth and are most likely looking for attention due to the random nature of this situation and the fact that both parties were allegedly surprised at each others actions. What do you think?
Listen to the full interview below:
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