http://blogs.suntimes.com/music/2011/03/lupe_fiasco_does_what_hes_told.html

He talks about Atlantic freezing the budget for his album and forcing him to dumb it down.

heres an excerpt:

"I was specifically told" -- Fiasco chuckled -- "'Don't rap too deep on this record.'" He laughed some more. "That was a specific order from the top. 'You're rapping too fast or too slow, or it's too complex.' ...

There are consequences and combat that comes from that process and the eventual compromise. With me, though, I'm not writing about someone else. I'm writing about me. This is my life. It's very personal for me. So for somebody to kind of put their fingers in that and play with that, it becomes more damaging."

"I am a hostage," Fiasco said. "I gave them what they wanted. If I didn't, at the end of the day the album wasn't coming out."


He also says The Great American Rap Album has a "different sound" and should be out by the end of the year.