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I’ll be honest - I wasn’t a big fan of this guy when he first came out. I thought he was just riding the Kanye West bandwagon and his lyrical skills were limited. Then I realized I was stupid and that was that!
If you like Kanye, N.E.R.D., Common, and Blackstar - you will absolutely love Lupe Fiasco. Lupe has managed to finesse me into both his fan club and his bandwagon when I saw him perform live at University of Delaware. He’s got skill and the great thing is - he’s still young and growing!
His latest album, The Cool (2007), surpasses any of his past work. Although his first release Food and Liquor (2006) did well critically, it didn’t get as much attention publicly. This album, on the other hand, did well critically and still managed to blow up publicly. Even a few tracks became extremely popular like Superstar and Paris, Tokyo. Every track on this album was great and I appreciated the uniqueness in production + lyrical content. Besides Kanye’s Graduation (2007) and Common’s Finding Forever (2007), I thought The Cool was the best hip hop album of 2007.
One thing I truly admire about Lupe is how his albums stick to a theme. Every aspect of his latest album reflected back to the message of The Cool, representing all the stereotypes + racism that exist in the world and how at the same time they are made to be cool. In the intro to the album, a def poet announces this same premise and its relation to black culture in America.
The other aspect I love about Lupe is how well he plays his part as a Chicago emcee. He doesn’t try to be a NYC rapper, he doesn’t act like he knows about all old school music (e.g. being ok with forgetting the lines to one of ATCQ’s famous songs Award Tour), and he doesn’t put music out there that moves away from his feel. He takes inspiration from all the artists he grew up to listening and plays off that, nothing else. You can see and understand this by the way he flows on his tracks. Its just so natural, no force!
If you’re a fan of quality hip hop and you are a skater and/or hung out with skaters, Lupe has to be in your music vision. He’s somebody I see as becoming an even greater emcee than he already is. Check out this great interview with him.
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