Words from the late Amy Winehouse proved to be a key source of inspiration for Lupe Fiasco in the development of his new album Samurai, out Friday.
In an interview with Jaelani Williams for BET, Lupe spoke at length about the eight-song album, connecting its overarching narrative to a voicemail captured in the critically acclaimed 2015 documentary Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia. Per Lupe, the scene in question, which sees Winehouse making mention of Wu-Tang Clan while telling producer Salaam Remi about her then-recent batch of "battle raps" she had written, not only led to the new album's title track but also inspired other moments on his ninth studio release.
"I keep coming out with all battle raps," Winehouse said in the doc, as seen in the clip here. "They’re just pouring out of me, like Wu-Tang stuff. But really neat, very beautifully alliterated little battle raps. So next time you wanna come for me and have a battle rap-off, I'm gonna kill you. Because I’m a samurai."
In "Samurai," released ahead of the album last month, Lupe uses a portion of Winehouse's words for the chorus, like so:
I got these
Really neat
Very beautifully alliterated
Little battle raps for you
I got these
Really neat
Very beautifully alliterated
Little battle raps for you
So come on through
Lupe went deeper still, at one point asking himself "What would it be like if [Winehouse] was a battle rapper?" during the creative process behind the new album.
"She kind of mentioned it," Lupe, who's spoken about Winehouse in the past, told BET. "I don't know the full context of what was going on in her life at the time, and it's just watching the documentary and the way they kind of placed that as she would leave voicemails for her producer. That particular one just had to be related to rap. And initially it just started out as one song, 'Samurai,' and then it went into, 'Well, what if she was in a battle? What would those raps sound like?'"
Winehouse, whose one-of-a-kind voice and command of the form rightfully earned her unanimous acclaim during her lifetime, died in 2011 at the age of 27. Just three years earlier, she won five Grammys for her sophomore album Back to Black, including Best Pop Vocal Album. The album, an undeniable classic, proved to be Winehouse's final studio release. Following her death from accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011, a compilation album was released featuring a collaboration with Nas.
