TDE’s President Punch Scoffs At Lupe Fiasco’s Suggestion He’s A Better Lyricist Than Kendrick Lamar

A Twitter user’s (relatively) innocent question has hip-hop fans at odds with one another (again) as they debate the individual merits of two of the genre’s most groundbreaking and prolific artists. After a fan page wondered, “Who’s the better lyricist: Lupe Fiasco or Kendrick Lamar?” even those artists themselves couldn’t help gettting involved. Lupe quoted the tweet, adding the response, “Lupe, but…” He quickly deleted it, but not before screenshots could be taken and circulated, letting the world know his response.

Of course, Lupe once caused great consternation in hip-hop circles by saying that he didn’t view Kendrick as a “top-tier” lyricist. After a backlash, he later retracted the statement with an apology, and as recently as this summer was stuck still explaining his rationale for making it in the first place.

Of course, his response here would only draw more reactions from hip-hop heads on Twitter, including one in particular with a little more skin in the game than most. TDE President Punch, who’s known to get into his own tiffs on the social app — including ones with some of his own artists — didn’t directly address Fiasco’s tweet. Instead, perhaps in the interest of keeping the peace, he dropped a context-less “lol” that can easily be construed as his final word on the subject. Fellow TDE signee Reason also chimed in on the kerfuffle, writing, “Tired of ppl who truly don’t understand lyrics tellin me who the best lyricist are.”

Lupe Fiasco is fresh off the release of his House EP with Florida producer Kaelin Ellis, while Kendrick has yet to release a body of work — or even a new song — in 2020. That may soon change; the Compton rapper was reportedly seen shooting a music video in Los Angeles recently, indicating that new music may soon be on the way.