#48 - Phil

Lupe Fiasco

Food & Liquor

2006

Normally I’m not a big fan of soft rappers. I get much more energized by aggressive, cocky, and angry MCs (just listen to my music). Lupe’s about as soft as they come; if Charmin needed a spokesperson he’d be a logical choice. But on Food & Liquor, he sounds like a young man that’s put his entire life into these songs. They all have deep-rooted meanings from his upbringing, and no two songs touch on the same issue. That alone makes this album a work of art to greatly respect.

From start to finish, Lupe tells his story with sincerity and well-read intelligence. “He Say She Say” is a powerful song that vividly illustrates an image of Lupe as a young child begging for his father to come back to him. “American Terrorist” finds him using racist stereotypes as a way of combating oppression. And “Hurt Me Soul” is an exceptional piece of poetry that combines descriptions of the suffering to enhance Lupe’s point: “My mom can’t feed me, my boyfriend beats me / I have sex for money, the hood don’t love me / The cops wanna kill me, this nonsense built me / And I got no place to go / They bomb my village, they call us killers / Took me off they welfare, can’t afford they health care / My teacher won’t teach me, my master beats me / And it hurts me soul.” A superb debut album. -P.W.

A solid East Coast rap record in the vein of Kanye West. I really appreciated Lupe’s more conscious approach to his hip-hop. It was really interesting how his first single, “Kick, Push” was about a guy who loves skateboarding and, if I remember correctly, nothing on the album had anything to do with the glorification of violence, degradation of women, or drugs. Not that all hip hop albums endorse these themes, but you’d be hard pressed to find many records that didn’t contain any of this. I only wish his follow-up album, The Cool, hadn’t been so mediocre. Unfortunately, my prediction is Lupe will ultimately be considered a flash in the pan and Food & Liquor will eventually be forgotten. All that aside, I will admit I played this record constantly for a good three months. - Ryan

Terrific debut from the laid back Chicago rapper. While his output since "Food & Liquor" has been a little ho-hum, this one sticks with some great beats and thoughtful lyrics. The record can certainly sag under it's one hour and twelve minute runtime, but the breezy, jazzy and synth based production helps maintain the momentum. An impressive debut indeed. - Steve