Kid Cudi and Lupe Fiasco have been at odds for years, but long before they became adversaries, Cudi had a feeling that things between them would go south.
In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the INSANO rapper recalled a near encounter with Lupe in 2008 at the BAPE store in New York City, where he worked before his music career took off.
Cudi explained that he made an effort to stay out of the way if any famous rappers swung through the store for fear they’d use his retail job as ammo against him in a future feud — and that was the case with Lupe.
“Lupe Fiasco came to the store one day. I was in the back and they were like, ‘Yo, Lupe’s here.’ I was like, ‘Oh shit!’” he said. “Stayed down the stairs [in the stock room], waited until he left. [My colleagues] were like, ‘What you down here for?’
“I explained it to my dude the same way I explained it to you. I was like, ‘Yo bro, if I get famous one day, I don’t ever want this n-gga saying like, ‘He sold me clothes. You my son!’ We can’t have that!’” Cudi continued: “If you think about it, he hates me to this day! He hates me. So I was right, I was onto something. I sensed something in the universe. I was like, ‘Fuck this, I can’t have nobody making a diss record like, ‘Yeah, you rang me up, muthafucka.’”
The beef between Kid Cudi and Lupe Fiasco began in 2014 when the two rappers went back and forth on Twitter over Lupe charging fans $500 for a personalized verse, which Cudi called out for seeming “a bit sketch.” The following year, Lupe dissed Cudi at a show in Milwaukee.
