Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco

Food & Liquor

(Atlantic)

3.5 of 5 Stars



By JAKE. G COHEN

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER



On his wildly overappreciated 2005 effort “Late Registration,” Kanye West gets overshadowed twice. Once by Jay-Z on “Diamonds from Sierra Leone,” which is no surprise—getting bested by Hova on your own album is becoming a time-honored tradition. The real shock comes less then ten minutes into the album, when West’s unheralded guest and fellow Chicagoan Lupe Fiasco puts Louis Vuitton’s top spokesman to shame.

Fiasco’s not really a power hitter; he’s more about finesse. On “Touch the Sky,” he confidently spits double-entendres, references “Thundercats,” and successfully imitates Cam’ron’s homophonic flow, all in the matchbook-sized verse he rents from West. It’s no wonder that Fiasco only gets a couple bars, or that West worries about measuring up to other hip-hoppers earlier in the track. Now that we have Fiasco’s debut disc, “Food & Liquor,” West’s paranoia is thoroughly understandable.

Like West, Fiasco’s a hard sell in street-cred terms. While “Food & Liquor” is, according to the rapper himself, modeled after Nas’ “It Was Written,” Fiasco doesn’t project Escobar’s hard image. He’s a devout Muslim, doesn’t drink or smoke, is into animé and skating, and runs a decidedly un-gangsta blog. Plus he wears glasses, and while he claims they’re Cartier frames, he’s still a mite nerdy: four-eyes Fiasco.

That bookishness suits him. He’s a talented social critic, and he doesn’t have West’s often questionable intentions to blur the message. He pulls off inner-city tragedy poignantly and acerbically exposes hip-hop hypocrisy, spitting “Now come on everybody, let’s make cocaine cool / We need a few more half naked women up in the pool.”

It’s clear that Fiasco could become one of hip-hop’s premier lyricists. He has tremendous range, scribing the light-hearted skateboard romance “Kick, Push” and Sturm und Drang issue songs like “He Say She Say” and “Hurt Me Soul.” “The Cool” tells the mesmerizing story of a murdered gangster who dies again following his resurrection.

“The Cool” falls just short of astounding due to lukewarm production. While Fiasco gets great work elsewhere out of Pharrell and up-and-comer Soundtrakk, this track fell to skilled saboteur West.

Which is strange, since West doesn’t need to start selling off his diamond’s from Jacob just yet. “Food & Liquor” is marred by some notable flaws. There’s “The Instrumental,” which a) is not, b) features breathy white-dude singing over the hook, and c) is inexplicably produced by Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda. Add that to the bloated shout-outro and you’ve got 15 full minutes of lame.

Plus, Fiasco’s got some growing to do. His rhythms are varied but bland; his rhymes cling to the beat’s skirts, rarely venturing into dangerous territory. Most worryingly, he can’t muster much charm. Still, one gets the sense Lupe’s a quick study; no doubt he’ll develop a stronger personality. “Food & Liquor” isn’t “The College Dropout”; but here’s betting that Fiasco’s second will put “Late Registration” to shame.

—Reviewer Jake G. Cohen can be reached at jgcohen@fas.harvard.edu.