Swae Lee is an incredibly prolific artist. In fact, he turned in over 700 songs to producer Mike Will Made-It for his new album this July. So when he recently misplaced a hard drive containing his music at LAX, the rapper was at risk of losing a lot of work. After Lee offered $20,000 as a reward for the hard drive’s safe return, it didn’t take long for an anonymous fan to come forward and insist that they have it in their possession.
An Instagram account launched this week, claiming to be a fan who found Lee’s hard drive in a Louis Vuitton bag at the airport. Lee hopped on an Instagram Live with the account and was not convinced that the fan was telling the truth. But then, the fan began pulling out personal items that they found in the bag: a watch, an iPad, a handful of condoms, a stack of cash, a mask, and finally, the hard drive in question.
Swae Lee lost his hard drive and this nigga really got on his live with all his shit. This is crazy
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— look at u… regular (@PresidentWard) December 18, 2020
While the fan made it clear that they did, in fact, have Lee’s hard drive, they weren’t planning on giving it up so easily. “I know it’s corona, I know it’s a pandemic. I need more than 20k and then I’ll give you it back,” they said. “If not, I’ll leak some of your songs.” The person then issued a hefty demand: $150,000 or Lee won’t get his hands on the hard drive.
Shortly after the Live ended, the fan conceded. Rather than forcing Lee to pay up $150,000, the fan offered another way the rapper can have his things returned safely. Posting a message to their Story, they said they’d give back the hard drive if they could get a photo or a feature with Lee and Drake together.
The anonymous figure says they will give the hard drive back in return for a “picture or feature” with Drake & Swae Lee. pic.twitter.com/9kzZeGunNY
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 18, 2020
Just a few days before his conversation with the fan, Lee expressed his frustration over those who were approaching his hardship as a money-making opportunity:
“This situation shouldn’t even be looked at like a money-making opportunity. It’s more like do the right thing. 80 percent of the songs on that hard drive are locked anyway, you can’t even get on them. So just, if you got it, contact me through Instagram, send a picture of the hard drive, because I see a lot of bullsh*t. […] I need this hard drive. I’ve been putting every thing I have into this album on this hard drive. Each of these songs are all my time. I stayed up 16 hours in the studio, 18 hours, two days at a time. This is priceless.”
Let’s be serious !! I’m dead without this. ……
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— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) December 17, 2020
Watch a clip of the fan showing off Lee’s hard drive above.