Lupe Fiasco's first single off his fourth studio album, Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album, finds him spitting rhymes about aspects of modern American life he doesn't like such as "Suicide bombers and prosperity gospels, emaciated models, with cocaine and blood pouring out their nostrils" as well as socio-political problems in Ghana and the invasion of Iraq. Fiasco debuted the song on May 21, 2012.
The Simonsayz & B-Sidet, produced track borrows from Pete Rock and CL Smooth's 1992 song "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)." After its release, Rock tweeted his unhappiness at his original song being used. "I'm not flattered @ all. Dat s--t is wack, and the producer should be ashamed of his fu--in self. Smh That record is dear to me," he complained. Rock's song was written for his friend Troy Dixon, who died in 1990 after a performance with Heavy D. In another tweet, Rock added, "No disrespect to lupe fiasco and i like him alot but TROY should be left alone."
The section sampled in Fiasco's song has a long history: it is the saxophone part from "T.R.O.Y.", which was itself a sample from a 1967 recording by Tom Scott and The California Dreamers called "Today," which was a cover of a Jefferson Airplane song from earlier that year.
Upset at the criticism from Rock, Fiasco told MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway that he didn't actually sample "Reminisce," but instead crafted his track from the original source, Tom Scott's "Today."
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.