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Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (Deluxe Version)

Lupe Fiasco

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iTunes Review

Don’t be fooled by the goofy retro futurism of the album cover, which shoots for a Bambaataa aping electro cool but winds up looking more like a Gap ad gone horribly awry, Lupe Fiasco is neither a po-faced classicist nor a Beans inspired ‘80s revisionist. Instead, Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor provides an album's worth of grandiose, soul steeped beats and skillfully elliptical lyrical virtuosity. Those looking for more of the breathless, Escobar inspired flow that won Fiasco a key spot on Kanye’s storming “Touch the Sky” will not be disappointed. And though Fiasco occasionally reverts to awkward platitudes, for the most part he remains as lyrically inventive as he is technically gifted. Fiasco is equally capable of delivering incisive political observations (“American Terrorist”) and scabrous commentary on the state of the Hip-Hop nation, but Lupe is at his best when spitting boy’s eye view coming of age narratives that blend the expansive ambitions of adolescence with the gritty texture of everyday life.

Customer Reviews

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor Delivers
     

Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor (Atlantic Records / 1st & 15th Records) Rating: 4/5 stars. By: Ivan Rott In the midst of the “hip-hop is dead” stigma that currently plagues the game looms a young visionary from the windy city set to make a positive impact: meet Lupe Fiasco. Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past year, you should know the name by now; after commercially premiering as a guest on Kanye West’s smash hit “Touch the Sky”, Lupe Fiasco became a house-hold name over-night for many, earning a legion of fans in a nearly cult-like following. Deemed by many as a “representative” for the “next generation of hip-hop,” and backed by none other than Jay-Z, the “president of hip-hop”, Lupe Fiasco has established a strong position in the game in a relatively short amount of time. With high anticipation partly fueled by a couple leaked versions of the album, deemed “classics” by many hip-hop critics, does the official release of Food & Liquor live up to the hype? “Kick Push”, a vivid and heartfelt ode to skateboarding, was Food & Liquor’s first single. In spite of the track’s high praises and success, many argued that Lupe was just a “skateboard rapper”, whatever that means. Food & Liquor tears down any misconceptions people may have had, as Lupe proves that he is in fact a very intricate and multi-faceted individual. A practicing Muslim, Lupe starts off the album with a message in Arabic: "Bismillah hir-Rahma nir-Raheem" (translation: “In the name of Allah, the most Kind and the most Merciful.”) Over a speaker-thumping beat, Lupe explains his philosophy: "the world and everything in it is made up of a mix of two things: you've got your good, and your bad. You've got your food and your liquor." This philosophy represents the constant tug-of-war he and others face: the struggle between good (food) & bad (liquor, which is prohibited in Islam). Appropriately, Lupe finds a way to balance conscious, thought provoking material with fun-loving cuts as well; but don’t be fooled: Lupe maintains his integrity as a smart and skillful lyricist throughout the entire album. Over ferocious drums and horns, Lupe sets things straight on “Just Might Be OK”: “I’m cool I don’t foretell best/ I ain’t nicest emcee/ I ain’t Cornel West/ I am Cornel Westside/ Chi-Town Guevara/ Malcolm X asides the demons/ gangsta leanin'." The track is a complex tale of a youngster going through life and its many challenges. And storytelling is what Lupe does best as is evident on tracks such as “The Cool”, where he showcases the tale of a hustler's life. In less than 4 minutes, Lupe is able to brilliantly portray what top notch gangster flicks take 2 hours to present. Dedicated to "everybody out there", “Hurt Me Soul”, arguably Food & Liquor’s most compelling track, depicts the tale of Lupe's artistic development and approaches to music and life: “"Gangsta rap base filmings became the building blocks for children/ With leaking ceilings catching drippings with pots/ Coupled with compositions from 'Pac, Nas' 'It Was Written'/ In the mix with my realities and feelings/ Living conditions/ Religion/ Ignorant wisdom and artistic vision/ I began to jot, tap the world and listen." Lupe never shies away from being perfectly honest with his audience: "Now I ain’t tryin' to 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/ Omitting the word 'b***h'…” On “Daydreamin’”, a track that samples I Monster’s “Daydream in Blue”, Lupe holds his own alongside powerhouse singer Jill Scott, not to mention a guest spot from none other than Jay-Z on “Pressure” where Lupe boasts he’s got "A little "BIG" in the waist/ ‘2pac’/two pocket on the back." Lupe’s proficient creativity with wordplay is evident, even on down-to-earth tracks such as the love-themed “Sunshine” where he quips: "Never met her before/ But I think I like her like a metaphor/ She's hard to get." Taking full advantage of his ingenuity and cleverness, Lupe plays the role of philosopher as well; Lupe shows his versatility and fluidity on “The Instrumental” as he spits over a rock-influenced beat dropping gems in the process: “He just sits and watches the people in the boxes/ Everything he sees he absorbs and adopts it/ He mimics and he mocks it/ Really hates the box but he can't remember how to stop it/ So he continues to watch it/ Hoping that it can give him something that he can box with/ Or how to locksmith/ See the box is locked in the box/ Ain't got the combination to unlock it/ That's why he watches.” Here Lupe argues that boxes (television) brainwash and dumb us down, rendering us mute, hence the name of the track: “The Instrumental.” Lupe dishes out social insight and commentary as well on the straightforwardly titled cut “American Terrorist”, a political track focusing on the current war(s) in the Middle East: "The books that take you to heaven and let you meet the Lord there/ Have become misinterpreted reasons for warfare." From slavery to modern-day racism in the United States, Lupe retraces events that pose the question: who really is a terrorist? As the album’s title would indicate, the key ingredient to Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor is balance. Covering a wide spectrum of topics and issues, Lupe maintains equilibrium between consciousness and intellectualism as well as care-free living. Furthermore, Lupe’s ability to attract such a diverse audience, from indie to commercial listeners, and from boisterous Linkin Park fans to even the most elitist of hip-hop purists, additionally indicates his great promise as the “future of hip-hop.” With Food & Liquor, Lupe has successfully crafted a blueprint that will certainly influence and hopefully re-kindle hip-hop’s flickering light, by sparking and inspiring the minds of the next generation.

The future of Hip / Hop . . . (hopefully)
     

Lupe doesn't need sex, drugs, or violence to sell his music. Why? Because he's above that, and luckily he's helping steer the industry in the right direction with great beats, smart lyrics, and an overall feel that sets him apart from the rest of the crap being produced nowadays. I just hope that this will predict the future of Hip / Hop, because I can't listen to another song by a 'Gangter rapper' just talking about how much money and hos he has (when he's actually stupid enough to waste his money on superfluous crap.)

It's been said
     

It's been said that only through hating someting can you create something that the masses will flourish. Though the idea behind it has been around for some time, Lupe has taken it and given it a hip-hop hue. The first true hip-hop album since Illmatic.

Biography

Born: February 17, 1982 in Chicago, IL

Genre: Hip Hop/Rap

Years Active: '00s

Chicago-based Muslim MC Lupe Fiasco began rapping in junior high school and joined a group called Da Pak several years later. The group signed to Epic, released one single, and split up, all before Fiasco reached the age of 20. Thanks in part to the vocal support of Jay-Z, L.A. Reid signed Fiasco as a solo artist to Arista, but before anything of significance was able to happen (only a promo single and a couple guest appearances were set up), Reid was fired, leaving the MC without a label. Fiasco...
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