Just this week, Lupe Fiasco was complaining that his album was stuck in limbo, as his label, Atlantic Records, was refusing to release it as they looked for a single.
Suddenly, he has one: January 20, 2015.
The apparent story behind how that release date came into existence isn’t the stuff of normal Artist vs. Record Label tug-of-war. The Internet’s most prominent group of hacktivists, Anonymous, are claiming responsibility for pressuring Atlantic into giving the Chicago rapper’s sixth solo album a date.
The group, which is known for using the Internet to take on a variety of political issues, also released a statement on the issue:
Citizens of the World and lovers of conscious music,
We are Anonymous.24 hours ago we released a short Twitter ultimatum. We called upon record label Atlantic Records, responsible for releasing conscious rap artist Lupe Fiasco’s long awaited Album. We demanded a statement from the label within 24 hours to release a date or we would unleash the complete and utter fury of our collective on their company and executives. 21 hours later they released a short Tweet citing the album and it’s release date.
At this time it can be concluded that we have proved our point. We wish music that is educating the masses to keep being released. We will fight for that. Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common and others are the moving force behind conscious rap. This is music we will fight for.
Operation Atlantic, Operation Free Lupe; disengaged.
Mission Accomplished.We are Anonymous.
Never cease to expect us.
After the news broke, Lupe simply tweeted “V,” which seems to be a reference to the group, whose symbol borrows from the Guy Fawkes mask made popular in “V for Vendetta.”
MTV News reached out to Atlantic Records for comment but had not heard back as of press time.
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