Jay Z Is the Reason Lupe Fiasco Signed to Atlantic Records

In the past, Lupe Fiasco feuded with Atlantic Records so openly that you had to wonder why he ever chose to sign with them in the first place. During a recent interview with HipHopDX, Lupe's former partner Charles "Chilly" Patton shed some light on how the "Kick Push" rapper ended up with the record label, and apparently, Jay Z played a major role in Lupe signing the deal. You can listen to the interview in the video above.

During the interview, Chilly explains that Jay claimed he was going to be the next president of Atlantic Records and that he wanted Lupe and Chilly to join the roster.
"This is how it went. I’ll never forget it," Chilly recounts in the interview. "Jay Z hit me like, ‘Yo, I’m coming to Atlantic Records. I’m going to to be the president of Atlantic Records.’ LA Reid was my man. I introduced LA Reid to Jay Z. That’s how they got tight. So Jay’s like, ‘I’m coming to Atlantic. I need you and Lupe over at Atlantic with me.’ I’m like, ‘cool.’ I’m thinking Jay’s coming to Atlantic so I do the deal."

Of course, Hov never ended up at Atlantic and he eventually became the president of Def Jam instead. Ouch. Still, Hov did executive-produce Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, while also serving up an insanely good verse on the album's track, "Under Pressure." Unfortunately, Lupe didn't have too good of a time as an artist on Atlantic Records. He touched on his unhappiness in a summer 2014 interview with Torae.

“Bad, to keep it a thousand,” Lupe said when asked how things were going at Atlantic. “I can’t wait to get off. Even with that said, I’m coming with the biggest records of my career over the next two albums just to set myself up for that post-Atlantic Records career. I’ve had a very interesting run for various reasons. I don’t even think about it anymore. I just go ahead. I rock with my homies at the label who are my homies…but that executive level don’t fuck with your boy too heavy. And it’s good, it is what it is.”

134 Rapper-Launched Record Labels From the Past and Present