When Lupe's sophomore album came along, The Cool, he instantly became one of my favorite artists. I hadn't really listened to his debut album Food & Liquor, but when I did my homework and listened to that first album I found myself pretty perplexed. I loved Food & Liquor even more than I liked The Cool. The two albums were quite different though, especially the underlying message and direction of the music from the first album to the second. In a way, I was convinced Lupe "dumbed it down" for an appeal to a larger audience..."selling out." After much consideration and education from a wise friend, I've finally understood Lupe's direction and the significance of both albums. To save you from reading paragraphs of useless hip-hop rhetoric let me get to the point, Lupe Fiasco is a genius. The complexity of his music, which is masked by its ability to be interpreted simply, is beyond any other artist ever to rap. In terms of flow and lyricism Lupe ranks among the best of all-time and is certainly in the rankings of elite rappers. His two albums alone don't really justify this claim however his mixtape game certainly solidifies him in the upper echelon of urban music. Before The Cool, Lupe came out with a series of mixtapes, Fahrenheit 1/15, which are all amazing. He samples The Gorillaz and gets on a few other popular beats and straight up murders them. I would highly recommend listening to these mixtapes to anyone who is a Lupe fan and to anyone skeptical of my view. Spin the track.
P.S.- If you still need to be convinced, check out this entry from my boy Doug of Yo!BC Raps.
Download: Revenge of the Nerds Mixtape
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