Lupe Fiasco: The Cool (2008)-J.D. Butter
Lupe Fiasco: The Cool (2008)
By J.D. Butter
Lupe Fiasco made a real critical splash on the scene with his top-notch 2006 debut, Food & Liquor. The hype machine had been rolling for months on the Chicago-bred rapper, and he was able to live up to it with an album that, while not a grand slam home run, definitely had enough high points to stamp him as a top prospect. On his second album, The Cool, he uses much the same recipe, and to everybody’s delight (or chagrin), he garners similar results.
The first thing I notice on a first listen is that the album takes a minute to warm up. It really doesn’t bash you over the head right out of the gate. The first two tracks almost seem like interludes, before the album starts to really heat up around track 4, with one of the strongest tracks, the cinematic feeling excursion "The Coolest”, which is a perfect vehicle for Fiasco’s rap style, and features haunting choir vocals and a dark piano loop. That track leads you into the meat of the album. Up next is the pop hit "Superstar," which is exactly the type of constructed-for-pop-radio that I usually despise, but Lupe’s laid back flow and the Chris Martin-esque chorus by Matthew Santos draw you in. He then works lots of really cool wordplay into "Paris, Tokyo," over a track that harkens back to some of the top-notch A Tribe Called Quest tracks produced by The Ummah. Another highlight follows, as the ubiquitous Snoop Dogg makes another one of his voluminous guest appearances on the up-tempo banger "Hi-Definition." As he moves toward the second half of the album, Lupe really starts to show his willingness to stretch boundaries, as he mixes in tracks like the superb "Streets On Fire," which features a beat and vocals that wouldn’t seem out of place on a trip-hop record, as well as rock-driven pieces like "The Die." Lupe makes a strong statement on this record that he will not be bound by the conventions of rap music, whether it hurts his sales or not. His anti-establishment rhetoric notwithstanding, he does have tracks with commercial viability throughout. Nothing with the instant appeal of "Kick, Push" off of his debut, but certainly there are moments that even the most radio-influenced hip-hop heads will be able to appreciate.
Fiasco’s gambit in the game is definitely that of a street wise, conscious-leaning braniac, and his lyrics explore territory well beyond the typical "bling" themes proliferating modern rap music. He touches on myriad weighty topics, such as rap’s reliance on materialistic and misogynist imagery on "Dumb It Down," the trappings of fame on "Superstar," and everything from AIDS to video games’ effect on real world violence, and everything in between. He also continues to demonstrate his superbly verbose lyrical talents, as he kicks the metaphorical wordplay on "Gotta Eat," and over the course of the album references everyone from Felix Unger to Ichabod Crane. Whatever subject matter he’s tackling, Lupe definitely has lyrical skills to spare.
The interesting thing to me about this album is that the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. It’s a somewhat inconsistent album, but the highs are so high, and the creative exploration so interesting, that you want to give it extra credit just for being "cool." If there is a problem with The Cool, it’s that the idealism strewn throughout the album may feel almost like overkill to some. To many hip-hop fans, rap should still be predominantly feel-good music, and The Cool, with all of it’s concept-album aspirations and pronouncements of doom and gloom for the future of hip-hop, doesn’t exactly remind you of that fun summer BBQ you were at when you first heard "Passin’ Me By." But, for those amongst us who simply ask for the occasional rap album to have a little conceptual depth, creative risk-taking and reliance on lyrical brilliance, Lupe is an artist to be heard. But you better listen fast, as according to Fiasco, he is only recording 3 albums, and we’re on album number 2. You will probably just be beginning to digest The Cool when the third album hits the shelves. If you’re lucky. And a PHD.
Copyright C. 2008 J.D. Butter