7 Classy Quotes From Lupe Fiasco’s Brutally Honest ‘Complex’ Interview

It’s been a slow uphill battle for Lupe Fiasco to get a release date for Lasers — but after hearing him speak so disparagingly about the recording process and dealing with the execs at Atlantic, we’re truly mystified why he even wanted the album to come out at all. “I hate this album,” Lupe bluntly states in a new interview with Complex. And that’s just the tip of the bitter iceberg — check out six more biting quotes from Chicago rapper’s interview below.

**On being forced to record the song “Show Goes On”: “There’s nothing really to tell about that record, to be honest. I didn’t have nothing to do with that record. That was the label’s record. That wasn’t like I knew the producer or knew the writer or anything like that. That was one of those records the record company gave me, [they even gave me] stuff they wanted me to rap about. It wasn’t like, ‘Hey I did this and I went to a mountain and found inspiration and it was this.’… I was used to it because they presented me like ten other songs in the same fashion or via email. So for me, at that point, it was just another record like, ‘Is this a song you want me to do?’ There was nothing special about it for me at that point.

**On begrudgingly recording “Never Forget You”: “There’s ‘Never Forget You’ [featuring John Legend] —which is another record I had nothing to do with— which became another bargaining chip, like, ‘Yo, after ‘Show Goes On’ there’s going to be this other record that you had nothing to do with.’”

**On altering the message behind the Alex Da Kid-produced track “Words I Never Said”: “The first day I heard it, I went into the studio and recorded it. The song had a bridge we took out because initially, the song was supposed to be about a relationship, like a boyfriend/girlfriend, Drake song or something. And I’m like, ‘Nah, I’m going to talk about world affairs.’”

**On how Lasers finally got a solid release date: “The [fans] came and put their lives on the line in some instances—because you never know what could happen, it could have been a stampede. I look at that as very inspiring and motivational. That was one of the only reasons the label got on the phone and wanted to have that meeting, they seen the outpouring of support and the critique that was beginning to mobilize via the Internet.”

**On being disappointed with his own album: “I love and hate this album. I listen to it and I’ll like some of the songs. But when I think about what it took to actually get the record together and everything that I went through on this record—which is something I can’t separate—I hate this album.”

**On feeling bitter: “I know the sneaky business deal that went down behind this song, or the artist or singer or songwriter who wrote this hook and didn’t want to give me this song in the first place. So when I have that kind of knowledge behind it, I’m just kind of neutral to it.”

**On his general attitude of recording songs for Lasers: “Whatever. Another song, another day, another dollar.”

We appreciate Lupe’s bravery to be completely honest about how terrible and soul-crushing it was to complete this LP. But isn’t it a little unfair to your fans to badmouth your own album and then expect them to buy it? If Lupe can barely muster up any enthusiasm for “Show Goes On” or any of his other singles, does that make us suckers for genuinely enjoying them? At least wait until Lasers has already dropped and everyone’s waiting for your next move before you come out with the depressing back story behind it all.

Agree? Disagree? Planning on purchasing Lasers despite Lupe’s self-imposed bad press? Tell us below.

[Complex]