[FAVORITES] Lupe Fiasco

Oddly enough, it was in an American Eagle where I had my first exposure to an artist who I now consider to be one of the best rappers alive. The music video for “Kick, Push” played on the small TV and I asked my brother who the artist was. He told me it was a guy named Lupe Fiasco, although now that I think of it, it seems rather strange that he would say that considering I introduced him to his now favorite rapper, Lupe, two years later. Anyways, I went home and downloaded his discography, found some songs with beats that I liked (and some others with incredibly familiar instrumentals), threw them on my ipod and went on with my life. It wasn’t until his second album “The Cool” came out that I realized that Lupe was not just any other rapper. And it wasn’t until I had a boring summer job in front of a computer, and I spent all day on Lupe Fiasco sites, forums and blogs that I discovered the real Lupe Fiasco: Lupe the Lyrical Mastermind. I eventually went back and re-listened to all those songs I abandoned on my first listen and realized that a Lupe song can only be truly appreciated after the 3^rd or even 4th listen. His entire discography that I once discarded now makes up 10% of Suge’s Playlist. You could say I’m a fan. There are a few things I’ve learned about Lupe over the years. One, he’s probably the most intelligent emcee to ever pick up a mic. Two, he’s a writer first and a rapper second (his first novel should be published soon). And three, he has never written a bad verse. Ever.

Lupe Fiasco, born Wasalu Jaco, grew up in the west side of Chicago where started listening to Hip-hop and got a record deal all during high school. Talk about natural talent! He later dropped this because he didn’t like the hold the label had over his content (you’ll find that a lot of his older stuff has gang related themes). He even declined a cosign from Jay-Z, to start his own label, 1^st and 15^th. From there he made about 5 or 6 mixtapes before he released his first two albums “Food & Liquor” and “The Cool”, both of which were nominated for best rap album at the Grammy’s. I am currently waiting patiently for his newest album “Lasers” to drop which should be in the next couple weeks.

If you’re new to him here’s a listening guide:

-          Straight Lyrical Punchline Massacre (what 95% of rap is now days)

o   Absolute freestyle

o   Lupe the killer

o   Failure (considered to be Lupe's most lyrically deep song)

-          Socially Conscious Rap

o   Conflict diamonds (came out before Kanye’s version and influenced Kanye to make his remix)

o   American terrorist

o   Little weapon

-          Story Telling Rap

o   Kick push 1, 2

o   Spray Paint and Ink Pens

o   And he gets the girl (another cool video)

 He also has some sort of hip hop opera with reoccurring characters in various songs. The characters are “The Cool”, “The Streets” and “The Game” who are personifications of their names.  Songs about “The Cool” include The Cool, The Coolest, and The Die. “The Streets” and “The Game” are both described in the song, Real Recognize Real and have individual songs, Streets On Fire and Put You On Game respectively.

His live shows are incredibly energetic and feature a full live band doing rock covers to his famous songs. He has very eclectic tastes in music citing The Chili Peppers and The Prodigy as some of his favorite artists and even has his own rock band, Japanese Cartoon.

His only flaw, if he has one, is that he lacks personal songs and emotional content (except for perhaps Hurt Me Soul). If the world was split into artists and scientists I would consider him to be a scientist. However, I think this might change with his newest album, Lasers, specifically with a song called “Beautiful Lasers” (or possibly called “Two Ways”). From the few leaks I’ve heard, it sounds like Lasers should be pretty good and Lupe might even finally get that Grammy he deserves.

Lasers should be coming out soon and I’ll post my review of it ASAP.