#TBT: Lupe Fiasco

About ten years ago, it seemed like Lupe Fiasco was going to be the next great force in hip hop music. In 2006 he released the great Food & Liquor, and followed it up in '07 with the equally awesome The Cool. Lupe had a little bit of a difficult time following that one, and it didn't help that Atlantic Records was skeptical of releasing the album for fear of commercial appeal. It wasn't until 2011 that Lasers came out to extremely mediocre reception.  

Last year, Lupe released a pretty awesome album in Tetsuo & Youth, and this year he's supposed to drop three LPs. While we wait to see if Lupe can return to form, we thought it would be a great time to reflect on the classics he dropped on his first two albums. 

Months ahead of the release of Food & Liquor, Lupe released "Kick, Push." The boom-bap single was another step in the direction that Kanye West was paving with his early releases. Lupe is absolutely clever in his wordplay, and the entire song can be interpreted like he's talking about skateboarding or drug-dealing. Take your pick.

Linking up with Pharrell and The Neptunes, Lupe released his second single from Food & Liquor about a month before the full album came out. It's a great throwback to the sound that brought the 90s hip hop vibe back into the mainstream. 

Lupe Fiasco is a bit better than most MCs at channeling his emotions. "Hurt Me Soul" is an introspective track that provides a unique perspective than any other rap song out there.

"Now I ain't tryna be the greatest
I used to hate hip-hop... yup, because the women degraded
But Too $hort made me laugh, like a hypocrite I played it
A hypocrite I stated, though I only recited half
Omittin the word 'bitch,' cursin I wouldn't say it"

In addition to getting emotional on the track, Lupe has also been known to get quite political on wax, particularly in more recent days. "American Terrorist" is one of his finest moments, however, as he weighs in on the way America has handled minorities in the past.

"don't give the black man food, give red man liquor
red man fool, black man nigga
give yellow man tool, make him railroad builder
also give him pan, make him pull gold from river give black man crack, glocks and things, give red man
craps, slot machines..."

With the soulstress Jill Scott on the track, "Daydreamin'" was the third single from Food & Liquor. It's a classic now, employing a familiar sample in I Monster's "Daydream" and some ill production by Craig Kallman.

After the illness that was "American Terrorist," Lupe linked back up with Matthew Santos for the first single off The Cool. "Superstar" was produced by long-time collaborator Soundtrakk, and received a great bit of play on the radio stations across the world. The track got up to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and even hit #1 on the UK R&B charts. 

We've all heard the story of the drug-dealer or gang-banger who turned to music to find a way out of a toxic lifestyle. But Lupe Fiasco really framed that story in a beautiful way with "Hip-Hop Saved My Life," the second single from The Cool. 

"Glow like Leroy, you should see the boy go
Got a daddy serving life and a brother on the Row
Best homie in the grave, tatted up while in the cage
Minute Maid got his momma working like a slave
Down baby-momma, who he really had to honor
Cause she was his biggest fan, even let him use her Honda to
Drive up to Dallas, went to open up for amateurs
Let him keep a debit card so he could put gas in it
Told her when he get on he gon' take her to the Galleria
And buy everything but the mannequins, ya dig?"

Lupe channeled his inner-A Tribe Called Quest with "Paris, Tokyo." The jazzy beat by Soundtrakk is a perfect backdrop for Lupe to kick a chilled out flow.

Jay Z once said, "If skills sold truth be told I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli." But skills don't really sell, and so artists feel obliged to "Dumb It Down." Lupe made a song about this situation, and it's an essential track of his. 

We'll end this one with a beautifully political cut from The Cool. There aren't a lot of rappers who can spit bars like this, plain and simple...

"Sickness some are still in doubt of its existence
Some call it forgiveness and some call it the vengeance
Some say it's an exit and some say it's an entrance
The poor say the rich have the cure
The rich say the poor are the source
Revolutionaries say it's psychological war
Invented by the press, just to have something to report
Some say the first case came from a maternity ward
Some say a morgue, some say the skies, some say the floors
Whores say the nuns, nuns say the whores
And everybody is sure"