Lupe Fiasco vs. Rhymefest On Election 2008

It's officially on now.

With Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton defeating Sen. Barack Obama yesterday in the New Hampshire Democratic primary by a nose (or a tear, depending on your angle), the race for president just got real.

This is the stuff that hip hop eats up: beef. So it comes as no surprise that the debate over which Democratic hopeful should win the nomination would seep into the realms of rap music.

On one side, we have Mr. Fiascogate himself, who has said, in this SOHH interview, he won’t vote and even if he did, it wouldn’t be for the junior United States Senator from Illinois, Obama.

"I'm not voting for anybody," Lupe told SOHH. "I don't believe in voting on that level. But I want Hillary [Clinton] to win. Obama doesn't really impress me like that. It's not a shot at him but some of his agendas, the bombing of Iran and all that stuff. He ain't gonna do nothing but perpetuate the nonsense that all the Presidents before have done, and what Bush is doing now. It's to the point now where the world is so twisted and so messed up that we need somebody to come in."

On the other side, we have fellow Chi-town emcee Rhymefest who jumped in the ring quick to give his opinion on the matter via his myspace blog. If you don’t yet have a clue who he is supporting, just check the title of the post: Don’t Let Your Arrogance Fuel Your Ignorance (SUPPORT BARACK!):

"Now, I'm not one to judge a person's political, religious or [even] artistic views; however, the reasons that this artist gave were so fucking erroneous and outrageous that it compels me to speak out, even if only to give fans the right information so that we are not following uninformed-ass rappers down the hole of 'abstract nothingness.'"

Then Fest goes into the facts about Obama's political views, never exactly calling Lupe by name, but it's obvious who the post is about. The debate has gone back and forth with Lupe claiming he would call Fest to settle it and Fest denying that Lupe even had his number on the Okayplayer message boards on the thread titled And furthermore nigga!!!!...:

I'm responding to your post because you don't have my number.

Please fam...don't let some of these people on the boards get the situation twisted for you. I'm not dissing or coming at you on any level. In fact, I love the song "Go Go Gadget Flow" off of your new album, and I encourage everyone to purchase The Cool. Chitown is on the rise! However, Barack Obama also lives in Chicago, and at the very least we have to not put out information that is wrong or can be misconstrued by people on the outside OR the fans that love, listen, and follow what we say.

As a brother, all I'm asking you to do is tell the people that you really don't know what Barack Obama's position is on Iran, or at least not when you did the SOHH interview.

Lupe goes on to say that he wasn't Obama bashing, but that his issue is with the Democratic process as a whole as...

"A system that he said "has shi**ed on us for over 400 years using principles that our precious politicians and candidates still hold dear to this very day ... a contract of social equality written by slave owners...that deserves so many 'f--k outta here's' it ain't even funny.

"I have no faith in it...never have, never will..."

Peep the whole exhange here.

This is the second time in just a few months that a hip hop artist has gone out of his way to blast Lupe's "arrogance as ignorance." There's no love lost between the two Chicago rappers, but I believe this is good. This is what it's all about, artists debating about the issues that (whether they believe it or not) affect them. And as the presidential hopefuls battle on across the country, I hope to see more of this because hip hop has a voice too and it goes way beyond 16 bars.