Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

Reviews of The Cool

Rating Summary
n/a by www.rapreviews.com The Cool picks up right where "Food & Liquor" left off, once again using his Muslim background and Chi-Town sensibilities to inform his perspective without being rigidly bound by either. Read more
n/a by www.ew.com It turns out randomness makes for a surprisingly unifying concept. Read more
n/a by www.avclub.com Though its conceptual component feels fuzzy and abstract at best, The Cool oozes geek chic with terrific songs, smart, dense lyrics, and nimble, eclectic production. Read more
n/a by www.nytimes.com Lupe Fiasco and his producers--mostly Soundtrakk--have clarified the lyrics and brought out the hooks. The result is a three-act allegory that’s also one of the year’s best hip-hop albums. Read more
n/a by www.adequacy.net This is certainly a breath of fresh air in what was a slow year for hip-hop. Read more
n/a by uk.launch.yahoo.com This is rap of mesmerising, addictive quality, written and delivered by a master in charge of every aspect of his craft. Read more
n/a by www.austinchronicle.com Make no mistake, The Cool's stuffy and its plot a bitch to decipher (only four joints detail the story), but every 16-bar verse is stuffed, even the glitzy Snoop collab, "Hi-Definition," with zingers garnishing crates of encrypted metrical compositions that demand critical analysis from student groups of no more than four, no less than two to a table. Read more
n/a by www.lostatsea.net The music is what makes Lupe's pretensions palatable. Read more
n/a by Pitchfork Media Whether he delivered on the full extent of what he wanted to achieve is up for debate; luckily, he's good enough that even when he comes up short, he's still better than most. Read more
n/a by www.boston.com Fiasco builds on that promise [in "Food & Liquuor"] exponentially with the triumphant Cool, which gets extra style points for bringing back the idea of the headphones hip-hop album. Read more
n/a by www.villagevoice.com A neat trick folded into The Cool is that Lupe proves rap is still creative enough to indulge bugged-out ambitions, and he doesn't just brag about what a smart-ass he is. Read more
n/a by Rolling Stone The Cool goes for softer, jazzier R&B hooks, yet the lyrics are even tougher in their street-level attack on hip-hop materialism. Read more
n/a by www.musicomh.com Lupe Fiasco's intelligent lyrics and strong beats keep him a comfortable arms-length away from hip-pop, without displaying any signs of the arrogance of a Kanye West, just an intelligent social awareness. Read more
n/a by Popmatters The Cool becomes another quite good 70-minute album that could have been a damn flawless 50-minute album with a bit of editing. Read more
n/a by thephoenix.com Lupe’s new sophomore disc, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool (Atlantic), is way too long. Read more
n/a by www.spin.com Fiasco approaches his second album as if it's his last chance to get all his conflicted ideas out into the open. Read more
n/a by NME This Chicago MC keeps high-concept gibberish to a minimum, packing his second album with rhymes about robots and skateboards that nonetheless roll with the sort of swagger which leaves other brainbox rappers red-faced and grasping for their inhalers. Read more
n/a by www.cokemachineglow.com 'Superstar' boasts a sanguine hook and a sophisticated mess of rhymes about fame and backlash and fandom and such. Unfortunately much of the rest of the record lacks this clarity, and while the first part of that “sophisticated mess” description remains valid the second part becomes dominant. Read more
n/a by www.drownedinsound.com A comparatively sterile shadow of its predecessor. Read more
n/a by music.guardian.co.uk You're left with an album that succeeds despite itself, but succeeds nonetheless. Read more
n/a by www.urb.com There's a psyche-rock track with UNKLE on here, for chrissakes. But yeah, dude has skills. Read more
n/a by www.sputnikmusic.com Surprisingly, The Cool works as an album despite its many obvious flaws: the pop tracks are as good as anything from his debut, and his attempts to branch out are at least hit and miss, with exciting tracks like ‘Little Weapon’ and ‘Dumb It Down’ breaking the monotony of his soapbox moments. Read more
n/a by www.blender.com The CD is loosely tied together by a browbeating concept that condemns the glorification of Scarface-style violence and disposable pop-rap, but the moralism is as trite as a Tony Montana reference. Read more
n/a by www.nowtoronto.com The problem is that he hasn’t yet developed a signature sound that immediately identifies a track as his own, nor is he capable of writing the sort of provocative rhymes that stand out. Read more
3 by Aftonbladet Historieberättandet står i centrum på Lupe Fiascos poetiska och lite mörkare uppföljare, som bygger på låten The cool från debuten. Karaktären i tex... Read more
5 by Dagensskiva.com När min kära kollega Patrik Hamberg skrev om och halvsågade Lupe Fiascos debutskiva Food & Liquor var han i ärlighetens namn inte helt hundra. Den recensionen hade istället passat bättre åt Lupes... Read more