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Damn Near Perfect: 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
Lupe Fiasco has engendered the most online animosity of any new-school MC other than Lil' Wayne. His failure to remember the words to ATCQ's song during VH1's Hip-Hop Honors (dubbed "Fiascogate") and his stubborn refusal to apologize made him a frequent target of ridicule. So how did he respond?
He made a damn near perfect album.
The Cool is based on a song from Lupe's first album, Food and Liquor, about two characters, the Streets and The Game (not to be confused with the British and West Coast rappers, respectively). On the song "Put You On Game," Lupe brilliantly personifies The Game as the darkness that lies in the heart of man over a threatening murmur of a track. Lupe raps:
"I am the American dream/The rape of Africa/The undying machine/The overpriced medicine/The murderous regime/The tough guy's front/And the one behind the scenes."
Unfortunately, this theme is not followed throughout the course of the album, but is only hinted at on a few tracks. Had Lupe decided to make the entire album in this vein, it may have produced a dark classic like Ready To Die. As it stands though, the album is filled with enough solid songs that dropping the theme isn't entirely regrettable. Lupe's flow is so varied; meticulous and dense that deciphering the lyrical content is like pursing a novel.
Both the production and guests (save a lazy cameo from Snoop Dogg on "Hi-Definition") on the album are entirely from Lupe's 1st & 15th in-house production crew, which are both a gift and a curse. While the mixture of beats keeps the album from treading familiar ground carved by more famous producers, some of the beats, notably on "Gotta Eat" and "Intruder Alert" don't match up with the verbal dexterity Lupe brings. (though to be fair, the metaphor laden "Gotta Eat" is the weakest song on the album.)
Overall The Cool is a remarkable album that while notable for what it could have been is highly respectable for what it is.
ORIGINAL DRAFT
Lupe Fiasco has engendered the most online animosity of any new-school MC other than Lil' Wayne. His failure to remember the words to ATCQ's song during VH1's Hip-Hop Honors (dubbed "Fiascogate") and his stubborn refusal to apologize made him a frequent target of ridicule. So how did he respond?
He made a damn near perfect album. [NICE]
The Cool is based on a song from Lupe's first album, Food and Liquor, about two characters, the Streets and The Game (not to be confused with the British and West Coast rappers, respectively). On the song "Put You On Game",[COMMAS ...] Lupe brilliantly personifies The Game as the darkness that lies in the heart of man over a threatening murmur of a track. Lupe raps:
"I am the American dream/The rape of Africa/The undying machine/The overpriced medicine/The murderous regime/The tough guy's front/And the one behind the scenes." [GOOD TECHNIQUE -- LYRIC QUOTES MAKE GOOD PULL QUOTES, WHICH SAVES YOUR EDITOR TIME]
Unfortunately, this theme is not followed throughout the course of the album, but is only hinted at on a few tracks. Had Lupe decided to make the entire album in this vein, it may have produced a dark classic like Ready To Die. As it stands though, the album is filled with enough solid songs that dropping the theme isn't entirely regrettable. Lupe's flow is so varied; meticulous and dense that deciphering the lyrical content is like pursing a novel.
Both the production and guests (save a lazy cameo from Snoop Dogg on "Hi-Definition") on the album are entirely from Lupe's 1st & 15th in-house production crew, which are[ADD SPACE]both a gift and a curse. While the mixture of beats keeps the album from treading familiar ground carved by more famous producers, some of the beats, notably on "Gotta Eat" and "Intruder Alert" don't match up with the verbal dexterity Lupe brings. (though to be fair, the metaphor laden "Gotta Eat" is the weakest song on the album.)
Overall The Cool is a remarkable album that while notable for what it could have been is highly respectable for what it is. [VIRTUALLY PERFECT RECORD REVIEW -- THIS COULD BE AN ARENA IN WHICH YOU COULD DO A LOT OF WORK]
What the heck is this assignment again?
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