5 keepers
keeper avg .313
I realize no one is less qualified to review a hip-hop album than me; not so much my limited experience with hip hop culture as my tendency to better understand traditional music concepts rather than lyrics in general (narrative, urban social issues, and "flow") which seem to matter more in hip hop; I would tend to focus on melodies and stylistic references and miss Fiasco's insights of his own musical genre on "Hurt Me Soul" or the tragic absent father narrative of "He Say She Say." But I can tell Lupe Fiasco's debut is an album stuffed with ambition. Early in the album comes "Just Might Be OK"****, with Fiasco exclaiming over a dizzying melee of crazed percussion, 80's synth shooting stars, roaring turboprop airplanes, and an 80's Monday Night Football theme. Fiasco's blaxploitation- themed breakthrough single "Kick, Push"**** comes next; whether because of the endearing story of two young skateboarding lovers, the cool retro theme, or lots of satisfying onomatopoeia ("cucump cucump cucump" presumably describing skateboarding down stairs, dramatizing "lisp like thissssss", and the evocative "kick push coassssssssst" chorus) the single created a career. "Daydreamin"**** blends 60's pop and Portishead trip-hop, while "American Terrorist"**** somehow sums up all of America's post-911 fears and race relations (Give black man crack, glocks and things,Give red man craps, slot machine), augmented with spanish guitar. Other references are a kind of "Slim Shady" circus music on "I Gotcha," Linkin Park rock-rap on "The Instrumental" (though it's not nu-metal at all), hypnotic 80's synth on "The Cool," or 70's love themes in "Hurt Me Soul." The album's weak points are not many, but it's unfortunate that the muppet chicken "oh oh oh oh" backing vocals mar the otherwise cool "Real", based on a "Beat It"-like guitar riff. And 12 minutes of shout-outs seems excessive; maybe it's mandatory on a hip hop album but it's slightly annoying when I notice what track I'm listening to 9 minutes in on shuffle play. But he nails it on "Pressure"****, Fiasco at his most aggressive, with 70's cop drama riffs, the Steven Colbert screaming eagle, and a guitar blurb at the end of each verse is the most Frank Zappa thing I've ever heard anyone that's not Frank Zappa do.
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