When Lupe Fiasco released The Cool album earlier this year, it saw him engaging more than ever with the traditional issues of hip-hop: guns, drugs, crime and girls. His take on it all though, is one of detached bemusement and articulate sympathy rather than gangster bravado or arguably even worse, self-righteous condemnation. It is a record befitting the most articulate man in hip-hop. Tonight he alternates, almost song by song, between that record and 2006’s Food and Liquor, including a blistering rendition of his most successful single to date, ‘I Gotcha’. A smile never leaves his face as his band lovingly support him in a set unembellished by dancers, props, or expletive-strewn diatribes about any violent past.
When he does look back at ‘where arr currm frorrrm’ it is not with the unattractive menace of the more self-aggrandising figures in the hip-hop, but through a lens of genuine thankfulness and a subtlety suggesting a complex and heartfelt relationship with how far he has come. Not a single piece of jewellery adorns Lupe tonight, as any decoration at all would be overwhelmed by the extraordinary energy of this classy, talented bastard. He seems like a child as he launches himself from one side of the stage to the other, yet maintains a devastating physical grace. As well as ‘I Gotcha’, the ground shook particularly hard to ‘Kick, Push’, ‘Hip-hop Saved My Life’ and ‘Superstar’ – something Lupe is, thankfully, not.
Indeed, all the false compliments that are lavished on Kanye West – for his production, insight and sampling – are genuinely true of Lupe, and with this show proving his live worth, he is becoming something of a phenomenon.
Barnaby Smith
i'm kinda bewildered that the guy said I Gotcha is Lu's biggest single to date, when Superstar was #1 for 9 weeks, AND reached #1 on TRL and 106 and Park
ReplyDeleteAgreed^^^
ReplyDeleteP.S: In the second paragraph in the last sentence it say's "Push, Kick" instead of "Kick, Push"...little typo...lol
I agree, but I was thinking more Daydreamin' because it won a Grammy... Kick Push and Superstar had more popularity... than I Gotcha (tho its my fave)there's still something about the review that I really like..
ReplyDeletethe review is tight, cuz he's givin lupe his due credit, however, I can almost guarantee lupe had on his chain and his watch...dude should pay closer attention
ReplyDelete"push,kick" gtfo
ReplyDeleteWhat's with putting down Kanye to elevate Lupe? I gotcha, biggest single? Reviewer sounds like he's tryin' to be so ''in the know''...but comes off sounding like a dikhed with all those mistakes.
ReplyDelete