**Official Lupe Fiasco Thread** (LASERS March 8, 2011 // Friend of The People Coming Soon)

Yesterday in New York City, Lupe Fiasco held a very private listening session for his fourth studio album, Food And Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. Originally planned as a double disc, Lupe made the decision to only go with the first part of the album this time around and it is scheduled to drop on September 25th.

Lupe also plans to release The Great American Rap Album Pt. 2 before the end of 2012 or in early 2013 before he drops his final album on Atlantic Records, which we have learned is titled Skulls. Hip-Hop Wired chatted with Lupe Fiasco and listened to his forthcoming album while he kept it very candid about this highly anticipated "sequel" (not really) to his critically acclaimed debut. Hit the jump to check out the album's artwork as well as eight things you must know about the album, according to Lupe himself.

"There's songs about America, and there's songs about rapping," said Lupe. "America. Rap. Metaphors and similes, Pledge of allegiance, Statue of Liberty. That's it. The inspiration for the album comes from people like Howard Zen, Chris Hedges, James Baldwin. It's me literally trying as best I can in my flawed way and undefined childish manner to try and define America. To explain America and figure it out for my perspective. So it's raw, it's abrasive, it's naive, it's all of that. Then it's me...just rapping my ***** off."

An example of the split of the album is evident in its introductory track, "Strange Fruition (The Art Of Falling Off)." The first voice you hear on the album is a speech by James Baldwin on the "N-Word" and how it is a word created by Americans. "We invented the word N-Word, white people invented it," says Baldwin on the track before the Soundtrakk-produced beat drops. The song sets the pace for the album not as a return to form of the old Lupe from Food And Liquor, but as an evolution to what he is now. He's backing up his bold statements of our homeland with facts from historians.

As Lupe tells it, "Strange Fruition" is a re-imagining of "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday. "It's about slaves in the south, and how they looked like strange fruit in the south. Which is funny, because the song was written by a white guy," says Lupe. "The fruit has ripened in 2012, it's still just as strange, just as odd, among the other layers in the song. That's the "America" portion of the album.

Lupe was well aware of the criticisms from LASERS. He gets it, but the funny thing is, you might not get it. "What's going to freak a lot of people out is that most of the album was made while we were making LASERS. 'Form Follow Function,' was made during LASERS. 'Put 'Em Up,' this is what we were doing when we hit a wall during LASERS 2.5," Lupe says. "We hit this wall with the label, and I told myself I just need to create something out of this head space. So one day I was doing LASERS records, and later that night we are doing The Great American Rap Album. It's going to mess up the perception of what people thought LASERS was.

"These women's rights workers used to chant this back in the 1920s. They used to have a slogan where they would say 'give me bread, but give me roses.' So they'd say give me bread and all those necessities in life, but we also want something that's beautiful. It comes from this American movement of workers, out in the streets protesting and fighting," Lupe explains. "It's a little caveat in everything that went into making the album, it's even in the titles."

Lupe says that there will be close to 15 tracks on the album, six of the records which were played yesterday were new tracks in addition to the four that have already been released to the public.

1. Strange Fruition (The Art Of Falling Off)

2. The Ital (Roses)

3. Put Em Up

4. Form Follows Function

5. Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)

6. Lamborghini Angels

7. B***h Bad

8. Battle Scars (with Guy Sebastian)

9. Unforgivable Youth

10. Hood Now (Outro)

Outside of Guy Sebastian's "Battle Scars," which has already made big waves overseas, and Pooh Bear on "Hood Now" there will be no "big" features on Food & Liquor 2, The Great American Rap Album. "It's just one of those things that never happened," says Fiasco. "It never developed. There was nobody in the studio, I'd just wake up and be like 'I got an idea, let me go into the studio and record "B***h Bad.' Blu would be asleep, and Kendrick (Lamar) is in Asia. Just never happened."

When Lupe was asked why he felt the need to create the sequel to his debut album, he prefaced his answer by saying "you aren't going to like my answer."

"This was always called, The Great American Rap Album. This was never called Food & Liquor 2. The only reason I called [it] Food & Liquor 2 was so people would ask me 'hey, is this like part 2 of Food & Liquor?' he said laughingly. "I said let's name it that so the people would be like, 'Wow, this is the sequel to Food & Liquor! Now I got to go and by Food & Liquor again. It's still an overarching principal in life, it's still carries the same story. So yeah, it's Food & Liquor 2, but the main focus is that it's The Great American Rap Album. I'm not trying to make a revival. The only revival I'm making is that it has the title Food & Liquor in it. But it's the same story. It's still the same concept of good and bad. Just like America has good and bad. Nothing in here is embellished. This is raw history, this happened. These women were raped, these babies were slaughtered. This happened."

It was damn near impossible to breakdown Lupe's masterful "Form Follows Function," after one listen. As Lupe explained before playing the album, it is split into songs about America and songs just flexing his lyrical talent. "Form Follows Function" falls into the latter. "This is the masterpiece," Lupe said before playing the song. "I don't need any comments, I don't need the thank yous, and that isn't ego. I'm confident in my own ability. This song is a masterpiece of rappity-rap-rap," Lupe boldly states.

This is the standout record of standout records. The soulful Infamous-produced record is an intense song with no chorus, just dope instrumentation over incredible lyricism. By the time you were done breaking down one intricate Lupe lyric, there were four more he just spit that went over your head. It is a song that will restore faith in OG Lupe Fiasco fans for those who lost it after LASERS.

If you loved LASERS, this album may not be for you. From what was played, this album sounds nothing like the euro pop infused album that LASERS was. None of the records played sound like anything you are likely to hear in any rave or party in the time being, and for fans of Food & Liquor, this is a very good thing. Soundtrakk and 1500 or Nothin' carry the bulk of the production on the album with beats that enhance Lupe's already dense lyrical ability instead of overpower it as what tended to happen on his previous effort.

Once more, a lot of The Great American Rap Album Part 1 was recorded during the making of LASERS. Rejoice, Lupe fans. The kid who made Food & Liquor & The Cool never fell off. The Great American Rap Album Part 1 is a reminder that no matter what he does outside of the booth, inside of it he is in a rare class of his own. Lyrically, Lupe rises even higher than expected. Sonically, the established chemistry he's made with Soundtrakk over the years is apparent. The sequel to this album, which he says is already 85% finished, is said to be out in late 2012 or 2013 and he feels it is better. Only time will tell if Lupe's lofty expectations will resonate. Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Part 1 hits stores September 25th.
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SenorRoboto2k5 said:
It was damn near impossible to breakdown Lupe's masterful "Form Follows Function," after one listen. As Lupe explained before playing the album, it is split into songs about America and songs just flexing his lyrical talent. "Form Follows Function" falls into the latter. "This is the masterpiece," Lupe said before playing the song. "I don't need any comments, I don't need the thank yous, and that isn't ego. I'm confident in my own ability. This song is a masterpiece of rappity-rap-rap," Lupe boldly states.

This is the standout record of standout records. The soulful Infamous-produced record is an intense song with no chorus, just dope instrumentation over incredible lyricism. By the time you were done breaking down one intricate Lupe lyric, there were four more he just spit that went over your head. It is a song that will restore faith in OG Lupe Fiasco fans for those who lost it after LASERS.

If you loved LASERS, this album may not be for you. From what was played, this album sounds nothing like the euro pop infused album that LASERS was. None of the records played sound like anything you are likely to hear in any rave or party in the time being, and for fans of Food & Liquor, this is a very good thing. Soundtrakk and 1500 or Nothin' carry the bulk of the production on the album with beats that enhance Lupe's already dense lyrical ability instead of overpower it as what tended to happen on his previous effort.
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Can't wait to hear this.

It's crazy that LASERS and this was recorded at the same time. Dude went to the other studio to clear his head from the bull he just did on LASERS. :lol:

Guy Sebastian is a great singer too. Good to see him get a little shine stateside.
 
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NCTwin said:
Can't wait to hear this.
It's crazy that LASERS and this was recorded at the same time. Dude went to the other studio to clear his head from the bull he just did on LASERS. :lol:
Guy Sebastian is a great singer too. Good to see him get a little shine stateside.
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Infamous is the guy who produced Mr. Carter, President Carter, and Lil Wayne's KOBE BRYANT song :smokin
 
I seriously can't wait for this. Only one month and I can sooth my mind with the lyrics of Wasalu Muhammad Jaco. The album cover is 
pimp.gif
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omgitswes said:
WHAT'S SO COOL ABOUT THE ALBUM COVER?!?!?!
I don't get it
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i guess because its blank its something that has never or rarely been done.



i have literally listened to this more than 100 times today
 
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can someone post the spin magazine atricle? my TL is going off with the negative reactions..
 
That article was a great read and has me even more hyped for the album. I love the album cover idea...if you had a hard copy of the special edition of Jay's The Black Album then you will appreciate this cover for sure. I can't wait to hear Form Follows Function.

James Baldwin opening the album! :smokin

Also the ***** Bad video is amazing!!
 
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We've actually heard 5 songs from the album so far. "Around My Way", "B**** Bad", "Lambo Angels", "Go To Sleep" and "Battle Scars".

I'm absolutely loving the album cover and the video for B**** Bad. :pimp:
 
I don't know how Battle Scars fits into the theme of his upcoming album. Sounds like he's just putting it in there and releasing it as a US single because it did well overseas. 
 
KillaMastermind said:
iLike Turtles said:
We've actually heard 5 songs from the album so far. "Around My Way", "B**** Bad", "Lambo Angels", "Go To Sleep" and "Battle Scars".

I'm absolutely loving the album cover and the video for B**** Bad. :pimp:
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Isn't 'Go to Sleep' one of his older songs? 
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It leaked around the time Lasers dropped (which coincides with when Lupe was recording FL2) so its been around for awhile yes but not on a tape or anything.

This is what Spin Magazine has to say about the ***** Bad video (written by the same dude who blasted him when the song first came out)

Why must we continually endure Lupe Fiasco's half-baked conscious hip-pop?

Last night, the music video for "***** Bad," Lupe Fiasco's muddled, mealy-mouthed missive about rap and misogyny was released. Directed by Gil Green — who is best known for ambitious mini-movie-like videos for DJ Khaled and friends and as such, is no stranger to the kind of objectification and thug-celebrating that Lupe's video attacks — the video stays close to Lupe's loaded, three-act storytelling rap. Before we get started, note that you won't read any reference to the music or even style of rapping here, because it is clear that Lupe is mining the moronic “lyrics over everything” attitude, reducing rap to a game of preaching to the converted.

The concept of "***** Bad" is how two different young people, one male, one female, can encounter mainstream, "*****"-spewing hip-hop in quite different contexts and come to different conclusions. The first verse focuses on a young boy who listens to these rap songs with his strong-willed mother and as a result, being "a bad *****," is something like a good thing — one more way to describe an independent woman. In verse two, a group of girls watch rap videos unsupervised, and as a result, take the lyrics and images at face value. In the third verse, the two characters meet, and the young girl is dressed like the women she saw in the rap video ("***, *******, breasts like that, all out to impress like that," explains Lupe), and seen as unappealing to the young man, raised by a “bad *****” of a mother. This young girl is the wrong kind of "bad *****." A bad "bad *****."

The whole thing is an impressive exercise in mansplaining. Its hook goes, "***** bad, woman good, lady better," which sounds sweet and all, but does any female want to be called "a lady"? And although the song is a bit more complex than described above — or really, muddled — it is the umpteenth example of so-called "conscious" hip-hop replacing one type of misogyny with another. While listening to Lupe's well-intentioned grousing, I couldn't help but think of Azealia Banks, whose pointed use of "****" on "212" blew minds and inspired enthusiasm, and whose clothing style might not meet Lupe's approval. So much of the song's characterization seems to hinge on the clothes the female character wears (and also how sweet or "nice" she is).

The video for "***** Bad" adds another layer of reckless social commentary when it dramatizes footage from a fictional hip-hop video behind scenes of the kids encountering offensive hip-hop. The fake rap video that plays out behind the group of young girls seems almost exclusively aimed at 50 Cent. We see a guy in a wifebeater mean mugging as a typical "video ***" writhes on him and his car, and signs for "Sugar Water" engulf the street scene, undoubtedly a reference to 50's involvement with Vitamin Water. Towards the end of the video, we witness the 50 stand-in and "video ***" applying blackface, perpetuating the sounds-good-but-doesn't-really-parse argument that male gangsta rappers and female models/video girls are the modern day equivalent of blackface performers.

The idea for the blackface sequences is swiped from Spike Lee's brilliant 2000 movie Bamboozled, but that movie literally explains in the its opening moments, that it is a satire. Spike Lee was reducing ugly mainstream representations of blackness to absurdity. The conceit of the movie is that if the standards get low enough and the American public were allowed to eat it up, TV could easily turn into a genuine "**** show." Lupe and Gil Green, by suggesting a video thug or a video chick are exactly the same as someone performing in blackface, add nothing to the discussion. It sure does seem powerful though, doesn't it?

In an interview with MTV, Lupe said this about the video: "I just wanted to have a conversation. It was more to just put it out in the world and see what happens." Lazily leaning on the idea that this moronic video exists to "start a conversation," excuses Lupe and Green from putting something together that you know, coheres. And "***** Bad" will still get points and praise from people looking to celebrate anyone challenging the norms of mainstream hip-hop. So often, the appeal of this kind of commentary on hip-hop, whether it comes from supposedly serious rapper like Lupe Fiasco, or the many thinkpiece-writing raconteurs who spend their days on hip-hop panels that no one cares about, feeds on outdated and simplified hip-hop stereotypes. The use of a 50 Cent stand-in for the video also plays into a decade-old understanding of hip-hop as the world of endless thugging and violence, which as I've said time and time again lately, just does not represent what rap music actually looks like and sounds like in 2012.

"***** Bad" is, to play Lupe's game and get histrionic, how you "debase" a "culture." You twist a rap song into poorly thought-out grab for attention, and give it a muddled video, all under the guise of "starting a conversation," which implicitly suggests that rap music isn't having these conversations already. The use of the word "*****," sensitively deconstructed by Jay-Z on "99 Problems," and currently being twisted and challenged by Azealia Banks, Nicki Minaj, and many more female MCs, proves that the discussion doesn't need a backpack rap hustler selling cynicism.
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Half baked hip-pop? :x

Lupe goin in on him thru Twitter

#BoycottSpinMagazine
 
Matt53 said:
It leaked around the time Lasers dropped (which coincides with when Lupe was recording FL2) so its been around for awhile yes but not on a tape or anything.
This is what Spin Magazine has to say about the ***** Bad video (written by the same dude who blasted him when the song first came out)
Half baked hip-pop? :x
Lupe goin in on him thru Twitter
#BoycottSpinMagazine
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That was pure ignorance at its finest.
 
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