Lupe Fiasco pleads with Drake to help out Jay-Z
After a judge ordered American music industry mogul Dame Dash to sell his one-third share of Roc-A-Fella Records earlier this year, the New York executive has announced that his share of the legendary Jay-Z album Reasonable Doubt is also up for grabs.
The announcement has inspired some truly bizarre reactions from rappers and fans alike, with Lupe Fiasco suggesting Drake should buy a share of Jay-Z’s album.
Back in 1994, Dame Dash co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records alongside Jay-Z and Kareem Burke. The label was vital in the development of the hip-hop genre and put out some truly iconic releases over the years. Among them, Jay-Z’s 1996 album Reasonable Doubt is undoubtedly the most beloved. Inspiring future generations of hip-hop stars, the album is Jay-Z at his absolute best.
Now, though, Dash has placed his one-third share of the album on sale. Posting to Instagram, the record executive shared the cover art of the 1996 album, writing, “This shit is for sale 1/3…only real inquiries only”. Inevitably, the post drew criticism from fans, who disapproved of Dash’s apparent lack of care over such an important record.
The post amassed a colossal amount of comments, including one from Chicago-based rapper Lupe Fiasco, who was only 14-years-old when Reasonable Doubt first hit the scene. “[Drake] will keep it safe for generations to come,” he wrote. “This is grail and influenced an innumerable amount of rappers to see it peddle such a lack of grace genuinely hurts my feelings a little bit.”
Fiasco continued, “But also on savages sh*t f*ck it…either donate it to a museums for safekeeping or seriously let Drake make an offer so he can put in where it needs to be. Or just keep the s**t OG you should be infinitely proud of this,” concluding, “Without it there is no me as I am and I’m sure other MC’s will agree.”
Why exactly Fiasco believes Drake would be the best keeper for the album remains uncertain. It seems a particularly strange choice given the complex relationship between Jay-Z and Drake over the years, which has included the exchange of various shots and disses going back over a decade.
Reportedly, Dame Dash also reached out to Kendrick Lamar as a potential buyer for Reasonable Doubt, before posting it on social media for general sale. The uncertainty of new ownership has left many hip-hop fans worried about the future of such an iconic album.