Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
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Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
(Wednesday October 18, 2006 4:47 PM
)
Released on 09/10/06
Label: Atlantic
A native Chicagoan and already atop that city's hip hop tree at 25, Wasalu Muhammad Jaco aka Lupe Fiasco is marketed as the antidote to hip hop's thugged-out dead-end. He's claimed a number of firsts for a genre that's been given to bestowing platinum status on the relentless, grim ghetto capitalism peddled by crack storytellers like Young Jeezy. Firstly, Lupe isn't afraid to venerate education, condemn guns and liquor, even suggest kids are influenced by the fictional world of drugs and guns their idols inhabit. Brave stuff, perhaps.But how does this differ from the ever-more invisible hip hop sub genre of 'conscious' acts that followed in the wake of A Tribe Called Quest, still toiling away in the shadows? Recent months have seen fine releases from Wordsworth, Modil, Aceyalone and Raydar Ellis singularly fail to emerge from the backpacker ghetto. Well, it helps that Lupe is endorsed by Jay-Z and Kanye West, the latter enjoying a 'Special Consultant' credit here. It helps too that beats come from The Neptunes, Kanye and Mike Shindoa of Linkin Park - although the little-known Sountrakk delivers winners like "Kick Push" and "Sunshine". There's no denying Lupe's skill, even if his meter and stylistic tics owe a debt to Jay-Z (especially "Just Might Be OK") and his soundtrack to the soul fanfare started on "The Blueprint", which holds sway in commercial rap to this day. He stands out because he's a smart lyricist, equally capable of turning a slick phrase, in the style of his mentor, as he is of making that phrase mean more than mere self-aggrandisement. Two-one to Lupe, then. But at times this record appears to take the "Blueprint II" route to acceptance rather than "The Black Album"'s ruthless economy of quality. Cut out vague Shindoa track, "The Instrumental", tired Gunter Kallmann Choir-retread "Daydreamin'" and the offerings here that are marred by warbled soul harmonies - consistently added as...
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