Freddie Gibbs says he was removed from Folarin II, but Wale claims he’s just telling a lie. On Thursday (Oct. 21), as the DC native prepared fans for the release of his new album, Gibbs told his Twitter followers that he was taken off the project.
“Go get @wale new album tonight even tho he took me off it,” he wrote. “Guess the nigga gon put me on the deluxe.” Upon getting wind of the tweet, the “Poke It Out” emcee quickly addressed the claim with hopes to address an influx of questions about Gibbs’ statement.
“Gibbs be lying,” he said.
Though the “Gang Signs” rapper was not purposefully excluded from the album, Wale revealed that his absence all came down to sampling issues. “@MarkRonson ain’t clear it yet,” he tweeted. “But also mark want us to do a project together. But FG would rather be a Twitter honey, crazy.”
The tweets, however, didn’t prevent Gibbs from making a similar sentiment in another post. “I guess imma be on Folarin 3,” he wrote, later sharing a video in which poked fun at the issue some more. Ultimately, however, the Indiana native let fans know that he genuinely loves his longtime friend.
After much teasing and claims that he is “one of the greatest rappers of all time,” Wale dropped Folarin II on Friday (Oct. 22). Though Gibbs is not featured on the sequel to his 2012 mixtape, the “Ambition” rapper tapped Rick Ross, Chris Brown, J. Cole, Jamie Foxx, Boyz II Men, Yella Beezy and more.
In an interview with Uproxx, he said the project is to him what Blueprint was to JAY-Z.
“I feel like the process on this one was pretty much, as soon as I got into the mode, it just started feeling like, ‘You know what? Where I am, how I feel, how I know who I am, regardless of what anybody’s talking about, it started just speaking to me more,” Wale explained. “I was like, ‘This is Folarin II.’ Folarin is when I started really coming into my own. I really was in that space. I was just singing with my chest. I think that’s what’s happening now…Folarin II is its own thing, but it’s just the same intentions and the same feeling that I had when I made Folarin 1.”
Look below to see the aforementioned tweets from Freddie Gibbs and Wale.