Say It Aint So Lupe...

I had just come to terms with the fact that one of rap's greatest (YES GREATEST) lyricists, Lupe Fiasco was releasing the final album of his career LupE.N.D this year. Yet the rumoured genre switch from Hip-Hop to Rock has brought me back into a slump. According to BET News Lupe is set to be the lead singer in a band called Japanese Cartoon under the name Percival Fats. Say It Aint So Lupe! My issue here is not the fact that Lupe is persuing Rock but rather that he's leaving Hip-Hop.

Right now Hip-Hop has only a handful of good artists (commercial ones anyway) but even more worrying is of that handful there's probably only 4 or 5 who are amazing lyricists; Lupe will always fall under that category. The combination of his wordplay and subject matter is mind blowing to the point where you have to keep listening to a track over and over again to disect what is being said. My friend went as far as saying that "Lupe is better than Shakespeare" haha! slow your roll. However it's understandable as his lyrics are puzzling and when you truly understand the basis of certain Lupe tracks you will then see the wider perspective.

I can't tell people enough how intelligent the track Dumb It Down is. I'd be here all day explaining the meaning of each sentence and verse in the track but what I will say is that his ability to use the five senses to describe fans, fellow rappers, his critics, his hometown, the music industry, his religion and himself in the style that he does is true testament to how brilliant of a rapper he is. In Lupe you have what alot of Hip-Hop is missing and because he isn't a platinum recording artist not many will truly understand his significance in the industry. So I am saddened to see him go.

However! I will be looking forward to his last album which will be a triple CD. In a recent gig in his native Chicago he addressed the crowd by saying yes it will be his final CD "but things aren't always what they seem". Maybe Im being too optimistic in thinking that the triple CD may be spread out over three years which will mean more of Lupe to come. Who knows!?! either way Im looking forward to LupeE.N.D (Everywhere, Nowhere, Down Here). If you aren't a fan of Lupe or yet to hear alot of him, pick up his last album and listen (not hear..listen!). Be Easy!

"He who hears music alone, feels his solitude peopled at once"