Things got tense in Ferguson, Missouri, Thursday afternoon. What was supposed to be an interview by CNN's Don Lemon of activist and Hip-Hop artist Talib Kweli degenerated into an argument about CNN's coverage of the Michael Brown shooting and the subsequent protests. All of it was broadcast live.

The subject of the interview was supposed to be the use of Twitter to get the news about Ferguson out (Kweli has 920,000 followers). Lemon introduced the rapper and asked his first question, but after a few seconds of talking about his use of Twitter, Kweli said, "I felt it was important to control the narrative because the media has been doing a horrible job of making sure that the stories get out in the right way" -- and the battle was joined.

Lemon took exception to Kweli's claim and began to defend CNN’s coverage of the unrest.

Lemon: I disagree with that, especially with our coverage. I think that we've done really great coverage here. And people in the community are actually coming up commending us on our coverage, saying that it's balanced. We've been telling the stories of young black men and their interactions with police officers ... I don't think the entire media has been, has been bad.

Kweli: No, I don't think -- I think what you're speaking about is intentions. And I don't think -- you know, especially an organization like CNN. I don't think the intention is to not be fair or balanced, but we live in a world that's run by white supremacy, and that's the narrative -- the narrative and language of the oppressed that's taking over. On CNN.com right now, you have a story up that says "Ferguson calm until bottles fly." That's inaccurate. Because I was there that night. You know what I’m saying? That's not what happened. The first thing in the story it says is "Police chased down men."

Lemon tried to interrupt to correct Kweli, but the rapper insisted on finishing the point. Each wouldn't let the other finish a statement until eventually the rapper started to leave. This was followed by an argument about who invited the rapper onto the newscast, whether or not Lemon greeted Kweli in a nice enough manner, and how to conduct a proper interview. After about five minutes arguing, the two decided they were "good" with each other and shook hands.