A bit of troubling news in the world of hip-hop tweets: Lupe Fiasco has tweeted that he is quitting hip-hop in the wake of antagonistic messages and harsh responses to his song "Bitch Bad," which demands other artists reconsider the use of the word in their tracks.
The Twitter account associated with Chief Keef, the Chicago rapper best known for "Don't Like," a song amplified by Kanye West when he snagged it for his upcoming G.O.O.D. Music compilation Cruel Summer, sent out the following tweet on the evening of Sept. 5.
Though Keef later said he was hacked (a familiar excuse to hip-hop fans; Keef also backtracked tweets that attacked Lil Wayne and recently murdered rapper Lil JoJo, the latter of whom Keef mocked after the murder), the message appears to have shaken up Fiasco:
Fiasco has repeatedly called for an end to gang violence in his native Chicago. He had previously said he feared the culture rappers like Keef were perpetuating. "The murder rate in Chicago is skyrocketing and you see who's doing it and perpetrating it, they all look like Chief Keef," Fiasco told Baltimore's 92Q.
The rapper recently broke into tears during an interview with MTV's Sway after being shown a vintage video of his neighborhood. A number of people shown in the video had either been killed or incarcerated. Describing what it was like to see those "ghosts" overwhelmed Fiasco with grief.
"Bitch Bad" has caused some disruption in the field. West took to Twitter for a monologue of his thoughts on the word. West, who has an unreleased song titled "Perfect Bitch" (about his girlfriend Kim Kardashian):
West's tweets are worth a read. He eventually ended his mini-rant by posting Lupe's video.
HuffPost Entertainment has reached out to Fiasco for comment. As a parting thought, here's a line from Fiasco's song "Words I Never Said": "My problem is I'm peaceful, and I believe in the people."