Lupe Fiasco
Albums: Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor (2006); Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool (2007)

Best Material: Fahrenheit 1/15 (Part I): The Truth is Among Us; Fahrenheit 1/15 (Part II): Revenge of The Nerds; Fahrenheit 1/15 (Part III): A Rhyming Ape; Lupe The Jedi; Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor; Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool

“Word to the n**** that took the rap for me
Chill, I will, take rap to where niggas can’t conceive
To the point where niggas can’t agree, on which song is best
And the argument is if I am better than me…”
Lupe Fiasco: Free Chilly (Freestyle)

Prelude:
When it comes to emceeing, there are the underrated, the overrated, the elite and then, there is Lupe Fiasco. It is so hard to classify this guy because his style is so original that he is really in a class of his own. Many say that it is premature to give an young emcee a title of this magnitude, even considering the quality of his material, but the signs are there. It seems that there is always an once-in-a-lifetime emcee that explodes on the scene with such promise. In 1991, a young kid by the name of Nas spit the lyrics: “Street’s Disciple, my rap’s are trifle / I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle” and proceeded to take the world by storm. Though he went on to craft perhaps the greatest hip hop album ever conceived, his career has not been without his ups and downs. This rare phenomenon occurred once again in 2005 on Kanye West’s sophomore opus when Lupe Fiasco spit perhaps the best verse featured on West’s entire album.

Lyrics:
Lyrically, I have not heard an emcee whose stanzas contain as much depth, attention to word choice, etc. as his. His effortless lyricism is incomparable and he utilizes intellectual, elaborate to paint incredible mental visuals on wax. His wordplay is remarkable as well as there are few people that can toy with words like he can whether it be the intricate metaphors, references or just flat out rhyming… NO ONE does it quite like he does. While many emcees need three (or more) verses to flesh out their message, Lupe dares to go a bit further by stuffing one verse with so much information that is impossible to catch all the hidden meanings in one listen and he succeeds without losing the topic or his ground (”Theme Music to a Drive-By”). To be such a young emcee, he is also consistent with his rhymes meaning he doesn’t just drop a classic verse here and there, but he’ll consistently drop great rhymes. In the vein of the Notorious B.I.G., Lupe sets the bar so high for himself that even material that is considered “filler” for him is still better than a lot of other emcees’ material. Like only a few before him, there is no such thing as “a bad Lupe verse”.

Creativity & Subject Matter:
Next to Nas, Lupe is quite possibly be the most creative emcee ever. Unlike most emcees, he dares to be himself and still manages to push the envelope. Take “Twilight Zone”, where he utilizes personification to create his own twilight zone world over the production from Nas‘ classic gem, “Thief’s Theme”. Another example would be a record from Revenge of The Nerds entitled “Mean & Vicious”. In the first verse of “Mean & Vicious”, he personifies the fuse of a bomb, vividly describing his attempt to escape being lit on fire and exploding while in the second verse, he creates an “argument” between the first and second verse of a song:

“Truthfully, I have trouble with second verses
Cause the first one be so intimidating
It be bullying, picking on it, instigating
Pointing out all the second one’s limitations
Like “You ain’t nothing but an imitation”, like
Bits of bacon, then it gets the chorus
And the beat to get together
Then they all gang up on him and get to hating
But then around the eight bar, he tires of they conspiring and commiserating
Then he find his inspiration, to spar
He takes a few seconds of Judo lessons
Gets back on beat then punches the guitar
They stand in awe like “When did you write that?”
“That ain’t even right, black”
First verse already happened , so he ain’t have a chance to fight back”

He has also rightfully earned the title as a conscious emcee and it shows through his vast array of subject matter. Where did Kanye West get the idea to rhyme about the conflict diamonds in Sierra Leone? After hearing Lupe drop knowledge about conflict diamonds over Kanye’s “Diamonds” instrumental, West redid the song with Jay-Z and changed his lyrics in order to relay the message as well. “The Pills” sees Fiasco creating two abstract figures that represent the street life and the hustler/pimp game:

“They say the Streets is a demon in a dress
With dollar signs in her eyes and s**** on her breath
Scantily clad, no panties, deepthroating in an alley
Aging badly in sunglasses, she pretty
Slain boyfriend names is tattooed on her titties
Sprinkling greed, ignorance and envy inside of a philly
Hennessey tears, ass’ll bring ya enemy’s here
Flirt with ya flaws till you run up in her raw”
[...]
“They say The Game has the belly of a beast
Blunts for fingers and hollow tips for teeth
Wire taps for ears, Nike Airs for feet
Blasphemy for prayers, a system for a heart
Rap music for beats, heroin for a son and it’s married to the Streets
Crack pipes for lungs, and he never sleeps
Just spies with dice in his eyes
Loves life cause he likes when it dies
Wit a baking soda soul, he cough up pleasure
Clothes made out of dollar bills that he sewed together
He knows, he’s clever, jail is his house
All the liquor that’s poured out, goes right in his mouth
Rides around on a stray bullet
Wit prostitutes, pimps, dope dealers and killers tied to it to pull it
A TV in his head, a stripper slides down his legs
And he’s known to ride around with the Feds, he’s OUT THERE”

“Little Weapon” sees him take the perspective of a child rebel soldier from Africa, intricately weaving a child soldier’s tale of destruction and comparing his violence to the same violence that countless take part in while playing video games. On “Gotta Eat”, he spins a tale about the health problems occurring in the world from a fresh, unique perspective…. an elongated metaphor of a mob-boss style cheeseburger.

Depth:
The major point of emphasis that differentiates him from other emcees and pushes him ahead of the pack is the amount of depth and layers that his verses feature. It seems as if a large variety of his records have a background depth to them, somewhat similar to the weaving of a spider’s web. There has yet to be a flux of emcees that hide so many intricacies so subtly and still manage to get his overall point across. There are emcees that paint beautiful pictures on wax or relay great social commentary, but Lupe is the only emcee to include so much depth to the point that consumers can listen to his songs several times and hear something new with every listen. Individuals can dive into his verses and dissect elements forever similar to great paintings. When you sit down and analyze his lyrics, each and every line is crafted perfectly, if not then, almost perfectly. Most emcees are very direct with their points, but with Lupe, it is left up to the listener to dissect the song and find their own interpretations.

Take “Lupe The Killer”, a track that shows a younger Lupe when he spit gangster/drug dealer rhymes. He cleverly rhymes about how slick he is with his rhymes as well as explains how he had a drug dealing operation, which funded his rap career and the start of his record label, 1st & 15th. His hit single, “Superstar”, also contains an underlying message. Reminiscent of Nas‘ “One Mic”, Lupe gives a personal look into his heart and his belief that maybe he is not “cool” enough to be a superstar while the chorus reinforces that if he stays true to himself, he will be a superstar. Another highlight in his career, both lyrically and depth-wise, is the incredibly dense “Dumb It Down”, which includes three verses based upon the pictorial maxim, the three wise monkeys.

Overall:
Lupe is in no way, shape or form, the perfect emcee. At the same time, it is an amazing thing to witness such a complete emcee at such a young age. You can see the traces of many an emcee in Lupe whether it be his heavy reliance on a vast assortment of metaphors and double/triple meanings (a la Jay-Z) or his penchant for creative, visual narratives (a la Nas), all delivered with a delicate, nimble flow. His flow is masterful and precise, and like his biggest co-signer Jay-Z, is agile and off-kilter. His rhymes center around intricate metaphors, loaded with detailed and complex lyrics that can only be unraveled through repeated listens. When it comes to personification, complex metaphors or just plain having fun with wordplay, he does it better than any that I’ve ever seen. Perhaps his greatest asset is his unrivaled intellect combined with such a fluid flow, which is as potent as any I’ve ever seen. What makes him different is how his rhymes feature so many twists and turns, but speak only with an observing eye.