If you were expecting Lupe Fiasco to come back with a less political follow up to the poorly received ‘Lasers,’ you were mistaken. If you said “critics be damned” then pick up Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1’ today.
This album is basement music, start to finish. Some of you may not know what I mean by basement music. It’s that album you listen to when you’ve had just about enough of what’s keeping you down. When you’re feeling really deep and you want to hear a new perspective. When you’re under the influence of one thing or another and you need something real to vibe to.
‘…Food & Liquor II…’is more a prompt for realization than a call for celebration. With rappers showing us daily how they blow money and live charmed lives, it’s easy for us to forget that there are still ghettos, kids are still killing kids, and the things we allow – even the nonchalant ones like calling each other ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ and celebrating men who do the same – are doing more harm than good.
Fave Tracks –
‘Form Follows Function’ – Jazzy perfection. This song is smooth, raw…it’s just good.
‘Bitch Bad’ – To me, the ‘b’ word has the same dangerous irony as the ‘n’ word. Let the wrong person use it and all hell breaks loose. Lupe poetically covers this confusion in Bitch Bad.
‘How Dare You’ (feat Bilal) – Even the most politically focused fall in love. (Look at Barack and Michelle!). With lines like “like a chandelier standing here in your radiance” this little diddy breaks up the depth of ‘…Food & Liquor II…”
In a recent interview, Lupe mentioned that it is not his goal to “push (his) agenda” on listeners. This is made aesthetically evident by ‘…Food & Liquor…’s completely blank album cover. No titles, images or credits appear on the album artwork. Only the legally required notices and small print. So we urge you: give it a listen and form your own opinions. Be sure and let us know if you’re feeling it!
