Lupe Fiasco Considers Retirement After Chief Keef Spat

Lupe Fiasco has taken plenty of heat for his political opinions and the controversial lyrics they inspire, but he seemed to reach his breaking point Wednesday during a Twitter spat with fellow Chicago rapper Chief Keef. When all was said and done, Lupe told fans that he's ready to call it quits on his rap career.

To backtrack a little bit, this all began with an interview last week during which Lupe was asked about his opinion on Chief Keef, the 17-year-old rapper who saw his notoriety quadruple thanks to Kanye West and G.O.O.D. Music remixing his hit single "I Don't Like" back in April. From there Keef landed a new deal with Interscope Records, but over the past few weeks he's been earning himself a negative reputation for disrespecting established MCs.

With some concern for the alarming and increasing murder rate in his hometown, Lupe admitted that he wasn't a huge fan of the message in Keef's music. "Chief Keef scares me," Lupe said in an interview with Baltimore's 92Q. "Not him specifically, but just the culture that he represents. ... The murder rate in Chicago is skyrocketing, and you see who's doing it and perpetrating it — they all look like Chief Keef. When it comes to the point that, you know, that kids who are doing the killings, and they're kids 13 to 19 years old, and you can replicate that in New Orleans, you can replicate that in Oakland. All the kids look the same."

On Wednesday, a few days after the interview aired, Keef took to his Twitter account, directing a very hateful message at Lupe. "Lupe fiasco a hoe ass n---a And wen I see him I'ma smack him like da lil bitch he is #300," he wrote. The tweet set off a firestorm of reaction. In tweets that now seem to be deleted from Lupe's timeline, but can be seen retweeted on Keef's account, the Food & Liquor rapper tried to make peace, writing to his younger peer, "I cant go 4 that @ChiefKeef & i cant let the people i love, including you my ni--a, go 4 that either. We kings not f---ing savages and goons. i love u lil bruh @ChiefKeef... i really really do from the bottom of my f---ing heart. I know that street sh-- like the back of my hand."

The two rappers exchanged a series of tweets while fans chimed in with their own opinions, but in the end Lupe seemed defeated by it all. "My father i have spoken the truth to them yet it has only made my life in this world more troubled," he wrote. "I can bear this no longer ... i have spoken peace only 2 receive vitriol and malice in return. My brother seeks destruction my sister seeks attention paths to nothingness. i'd die for them ... but they'd probably spit on my grave ... i still will die for them ... just bury me in a place far from their reach ... Amin."

But it didn't stop there. Lupe sent fans reeling with his final messages, declaring that his upcoming album Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 might be his final release. "This album will probably be my last ... its been a pleasure to have all my fans provide so much love an inspiration for me and my family," he wrote. "But my heart is broken and i see no comfort further along this path only more pain. I cannot participate any longer in this ... My first true love was literature so i will return to that ... lupe fiasco ends here ..."

The blowup with Chief Keef comes just a few weeks after Lupe Fiasco appeared on "RapFix Live" and broke down in tears while watching 2006 footage of himself in his old Chicago neighborhood. At first it was difficult to tell what had triggered the tears until Lupe explained that he was seeing "ghosts" in the video — friends who had died or had been incarcerated, more victims of Chicago's inner city.