Come in Hip-Hop We've Come to Resurrect You

As a hip-hop purist, I believe that the art form should only be preformed by young black men from New York City. There are very few exceptions to this rule including the Beastie Boys and Kanye West. The latter from Chicago, a city that is poised to become an exception to the rule by itself as Chi-Town has also brought us Common and Rhymefest. The latest from the Windy City is Lupe Fiasco who made a name for himself last year jumping on West’s Touch the Sky. 

West then returned the favor by producing The Cool off of Lupe’s debut album, Food & Liquor. The album itself breaks two of the most annoying rap clichés of recent years one of which is rapper no longer seem able to holds it down for complete albums instead bringing in guests for more than half their album. But on Food & Liquor, the newly un-retired Jay-Z, who tried to sign Lupe to Def Jam, is the lone marquee name. The other cliché Fiasco avoids is the content as it is refreshing to hear a rap album that doesn’t rely on stories of gangbanging, drugs, or denigrating women all of which Lupe avoids thanks to his strict Muslim upbringing. 

 There are a few major names behind the scenes. Aside from Kanye, The Neptunes produced the standout track I Gotcha. Then Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park fame handles the boards for The Instrumental that have a very LP feel thanks to the chorus by Jonah Matranga (Lupe and Jonah both made guest appearances on Shinoda’s side project’s, Fort Minor, album). But for the most of the album Fiasco is on his own developing his own style. The sound of the album is diverse melting pot of musical sounds from the rock of Real, to the horns of the skateboard anthem Kick, Push, to the staccato piano of I Gotcha to the sixties R&B of Daydreamin’ featuring Jill Scott, and one of the few samples is one of Burt Bacharach on He Said She Said.

The problem with the album is that it is missing that one big track. I Gotcha can pull you in, but there really isn’t anything that will keep the casual fan around. And you can completely skip the ten-plus minute track where Fiasco is basically reading his thank you page from his liner notes. But Lupe really needs to hook up with a producer that can better mold his sound much like underground legend Common did on his latest album when he brought Kanye West. Once that happens, Lupe will be a rapper that we can look forward to listen to for years to come. 

Song to Download - I Gotcha 

Food & Liquor gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.