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Fire Away: Lupe Fiasco's The Cool
EDITOR'S NOTE: Writing reviews is one of the quickest and most regular styles of work a professional writer can do. Books, movies, art exhibits, dance performances, records ... there's a market for content with opinions about new stuff. This is a crucial area for a writer to master in order to have room to stay fed, in good times and bad, and one we'll return to in the future. Worse comes to worst, a savvy writer can pick up some reviews and do some business. This is the first of a series of reviews, based on fairly popular material that many people could be acquainted with, to give the readers a sense of the writer's sensibilities and development.
FINAL DRAFT
On one level, it's just an album. On another, it's an audio movie, telling overlapping stories in the eternity of The Game. From any angle, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool is deep, whimsical, conscious and never trivial (except "High Definition" and "Go Baby.") He tackles a dense array of topics: from celebrity to child soldiers, from artistic compromise to cheeseburgers, going global to gutter and back in a single line. Like the man said, "Catch up, n***a."
Five songs with concept album DNA (more if your apophenia dial is turned up) continue a story started in Food and Liquor, starring emergent metaphysical entities and one mortal man. "The Coolest" introduces that man Michael Young History (destined to become The Cool) and his fatal romance with The Streets, one of those metaphysical beings. She is her name, seductive, unpredictable and inevitably fatal, a nihilist Delilah.
"Gold Watch" is Lupe's way of telling you he's a child of the nineties. In a few seconds of virtuoso madness, he reps everything he likes from Street Fighter 2 to manga, from Now and Laters to Futura -- it's his William Gibson song.
"Put You on Game" gets back to the concept album. The Game is the con game, the drug game, all them games, a metaphor reified to cruel life. He is an unholy god baptizing his servants in Tony Montana's pool and feeding them at Michael Corleone's table. Chase The Streets and you're in The Game and there's no way out but death.
"Dumb It Down" isn't part of that. Instead, it's a rapid-fire assault on the lowest common denominator; Lupe explores in echoes, remixing all the clichés you thought you knew. Don't hate.
There's more of course, like the Shinoda-esque "Hello/Goodbye" that possibly refers to America and its former allies: "/he stands to find himself surrounded//by thousands of soldiers that he once trained/" or the world-spanning heartbreak of "Little Weapon," but the forest is the thing, not the trees. Collectively, The Cool is a beautiful weapon, fired at the hearts and minds of hip-hop fans everywhere. Be a target.
ORIGINAL DRAFT
On one level, it's just an album. On another, it's an audio movie, telling overlapping stories in the eternal life of The Game. From any angle, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool is deep, whimsical, conscious and almost never trivial ("High Definition" and "Go Baby" are thoroughly inconsequential.) He tackles a dense array of topics, ranging from celebrity to child soldiers, from artistic compromise to cheeseburgers, jumps from global to gutter and back in a single line. Like the man said, "Catch up, n***a." [GOOD OPENING, I PERSONALLY APPRECIATE THE STARRING OUT OF THE PERJORATIVE]
Five songs continue a story that started in Food and Liquor, starring mythic entities emergent from hood life and one mortal man who is dead (to begin with).[ADD SPACE]The rest restrict themselves to themselves,[CLUMSY CONSTRUCTION -- I GET IT, BUT THE IDEA COULD BE TRANSMITTED MORE CLEARLY] the thread of concept album DNA only swelling into the occasional one-liner.
"The Coolest" introduces our hero Michael Young History (destined to become The Cool) and his fatal romance with The Streets, one of the metaphysical beings populating this hip-hop opera. She is seductive, unpredictable and inevitably fatal, a nihilist Delilah. [SOLID SUMMATION]
"Gold Watch" is Lupe's fun way of telling you he's a child of the nineties. In a few seconds of virtuoso madness, he reps everything he likes from Street Fighter 2 to manga, from Now and Laters to Futura -- this is his William Gibson song. [QUITE META, I LIKE IT, EVEN IF SOME EDITORS WOULD WHAP YOU FOR BEING TOO HIGH BROW ... BUT IGNORE THAT, THIS IS YOUR VOICE AND IT'S GOOD]
"Put You on Game" gets back to the larger-than-life metaphors reified to cruel life. The Game is named for the con game, the drug game, the gang game, them games. He is an unholy god baptizing his servants in Tony Montana's pool and feeding them at Michael Corleone's table (an excellent reference to cautionary tales becoming icons of gangsta culture). [NICELY LAYERED METAPHOR -- IF THEY MISS ONE BIT, THEY CATCH THE OTHERS] Chase The Streets and you're in The Game and there's no way out but death.
"Dumb It Down" has nothing to do with all that. Instead, it's a million middle fingers to every rapper out there pumping dumb back into the hood. Lupe explores in echoes, dancing through every possible interpretation of a phrase, especially the ones you never thought of. Don't hate.
There's more of course, like the Shinoda-esque "Hello/Goodbye" that possibly refers to America arming its own future enemies: "/he stands to find himself surrounded//by thousands of soldiers that he once trained/" or the world-spanning heartbreak of "Little Weapon"[ADD COMMA] but the album itself is the thing.[CLARIFY] Collectively, it's a beautiful weapon, fired at the hearts and minds of hip-hop fans everywhere. Be a target. [GREAT CLOSING. THIS WOULD BE A REVIEW FOR THE ACADEMICS, ONE MORE SUITED FOR ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY THAN THE SOURCE ... AND THAT'S NOT A BAD THING AT ALL]
What the heck is this assignment again?
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