I am absolutely in love with Lupe Fiasco. Rarely do I buy entire albums, but on this one I did and I love every bit of it.
There is obviously something in the waters of Lake Michigan. Hip Hop artists hailing from Chicago consistently challenge audiences and other artists both lyrically and sonically. Interpreters of the world around them, they translate their ideas into some of the most imaginative, socially conscious, sensitive, and provocative songs of the genre. Few Chicagoan rappers (or those from anywhere else, for that matter) embody these and other sensibilities more eloquently than Lupe Fiasco does on his sophomore CD, The Cool.
The Cool is a genre-bending ride through infested cities, dark caverns of paranoia, happy destinations around the world, and wide rivers of hope. His songs are consistently contradictory: Sesame Street Bright (“Go Baby,” “High Definition”) and Blade Runner dark (“Streets On Fire”), apocalyptic (“Little Weapon”), and promising (“Hip Hop Saved My Life”), bleak (“Intruder Alert”), and encouraging (“Fighters”), problem-laden (“Dumb It Down”), and solution providing (“Superstar”). Fiasco has taken the artistic bar that Kanye raised and turned it sideways. Add to this formula the ridiculously pleasing hooks provided by Mathew Santos (John Legend if he played guitar instead of piano) and the borderline alt-rock swing of his friend The Gemstones (thought it was a band with one wild-ass drummer but it’s really just a singular, multi-talented, incredibly nimble, guy ), and you have built a masterpiece.
That Lupe is a talented wordsmith is undeniable. He has proven himself in battles and ciphers around the world where he has buried many an MC while simultaneously perfecting his chops. However, he is the exception to the rule that many gifted rappers known for being able to “spit off the top” (improvise lyrics on the fly) rarely translate well on record. Instead of gaining appreciation by the masses, they are relegated to a “back-packer” status wherein they are respected by many conventional artists, fans, and writers but fall to deep lyrically for the average radio listener. Fiasco addresses that ideal by being incredibly visual and melodic without losing any intellectual cred.
Read more: EbonyJet.com
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