Sounds

Today’s Sounds: Lupe Fiasco

by Darcy MacDonald

I dunno. Sequels often seem ill advised in hip hop, though it’s unfair to categorize them as uniformly so. Jay has done it well, Rae has done it well, and now ’Pe follows up his noisemaking 2006 debut LP, two records later. I didn’t actually think an artist of Lupe’s pedigree would get himself entangled in the hoopla sequels create.
In any media, explicit follow-ups are hit or miss largely because it’s difficult to recapture whatever it was that made the original great. Hip hop is further burdened by the conflict between moving forward and keeping it classic.

Record:

Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 (1st & 15th/Atlantic)

 
“Lupe will never record a ‘part two’ to Food & Liquor” was my admonishment to my little brother-from-another, Wicked Prophet, and his eager, adolescent anticipation for this long-delayed project a couple of years back.

I dunno. Sequels often seem ill advised in hip hop, though it’s unfair to categorize them as uniformly so. Jay has done it well, Rae has done it well, and now ’Pe follows up his noisemaking 2006 debut LP, two records later. I didn’t actually think an artist of Lupe’s pedigree would get himself entangled in the hoopla sequels create.

In any media, explicit follow-ups are hit or miss largely because it’s difficult to recapture whatever it was that made the original great. Hip hop is further burdened by the conflict between moving forward and keeping it classic.

Interestingly, 2008’s The Cool was conceptually driven by developing the starring character of an F&L track of the same title into an entire storyline — not a sequel, but a spin-off of sorts, one that cemented Fiasco a place of honour in pop culture.

Then, last year, Fiasco found his biggest mainstream success with Lasers, its club-tronic electro vibe proving to me, at the time, his further departure from the backpacker pigeon hole he first risked sinking into. The idea of F&LII increasingly seemed a flight of fan/blogger fancy.

A clairvoyant I am not. Not only is Food & Liquor back, it’s an entirely worthy successor to the title. Yeah, Lupe can be preachy, and no project comes without six months of pedantic musings about shelving the whole thing, or threats of retirement, the latter usually greeted with open arms by detractors.

But fans of Lupe’s deeply personal, poignant narratives and his complex yet accessible wordplay are willing to ignore all that, and are rewarded for their patience here with a record that brings back the essence of why we loved him in the first place, without rehashing same-olds.

His flow stays predictable, but Lupe is a good rapper with a good heart and a distinguishable humanity that outshines any artistic fragility. His ear for detail gives listeners the extra mile in their experience every time.

He also left us with something else to talk about: when is “Part Two” coming? Uh-oh. Man your computers.
 

Track:

Ultraista, “Strange Formula” (David Lynch remix)

 
Somewhere out there, right now, a mega-nerd-circle-jerk is happening over this David Lynch remix of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich’s band. Ultraista’s eponymous debut LP is out on Temporary Residence next Tuesday.
 

Ultraísta: Strange Formula on Nowness.com.

 

Video:

Azealia Banks, “Luxury”

 
Directed by Clarence Fuller, Azealia drops some sexy in black and white, to the Machinedrum-produced track from her Fantasea mixtape.
 

Posted in Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.

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