Given my review of Lupe Fiasco's debut album, it might not even make sense, me attempting to review this, but I always feel I should give artists a second chance. And hell, most new-school Hip-Hop heads love his shit, right?
"Baba Says Cool For Thought"
Yeah I'm not really into the spoken word intros, especially ones as predictable as this one.
"Free Chilly (ft. Sarah Green & Gemstones)"
A short tribute to one of his homies locked down, I believe. I can respect that.
"Go Go Gadget Flow"
The LAST thing this LP needed was a wack double-time rap over a weak beat. The drums in this sound better in Timbaland productions, and those strings lull you to sleep...
"The Coolest"
Damn this one just plods along as well. I guess this is the introduction to the two pieces of this "concept" album's puzzle, Streets & Game. The fact that the whole plot is known before this drops, as it is everyday, just leaves tracks that extend the narrative as a paint-by-numbers snoozefest.
"Superstar (ft. Matthew Santos)"
I can't get into this at all. From the whiteboy chorus to the simplistic melody. I actually leave the room when this video comes on. Just not something I can even fuck with on a "listen to this right quick" level.
"Paris, Tokyo"
Lupe gets his Q-Tip... oh wait, scratch that. This beat sounds mad Midnight Marauders-ish... forget it. This beat knocks, and Lupe raps about his chick and travelling. I'd like this to be a single so I could get the instrumental. Dope beat, and that "wherever I go/she goes" is sly.
"Hi-Definition (ft. Snoop Dogg & Pooh Bear)"
What a waste of a Snoop cameo. The low-end on this one knocks but its just a mash of electro bullshit and trunk rattlin' fuzzy bullshit. Just not what's hot at all.
"Gold Watch"
I love this beat off the rip. The whole female vox in that shit, all start-stop, that's what's on. I even chuckle at Fiasco's lines about Street Fighter II and such, but for the materialism/hypebeast posturing of the rhymes, the chorus makes me wish he played up the whole "fly nigga with a fancy/average chick" angle he hints at.
"Hip-Hop Saved My Life (ft. Nikki Jean)"
This sounds like the biography of Soulja Boy or some other MySpace rapper who got put on in 2007. The odd bit is that, while Lupe disses Tribe and other backpackin' niggas, he spits just like them, not just sonically, but in his intricate lyrics. Why diss niggas whose style you revamp?
"Intruder Alert (ft. Sarah Green)"
Yawn. Very downtempo beat with a sleepy piano loop. You'd think, for someone who is being championed as the nigga with the double entendres and dope, forward-thinking flows, that he'd be able to craft a story that wasn't so damn easy to see miles away.
"Streets On Fire"
Hah. I love the straight-forward amen in this one. Best part of an otherwise blah track. I can understand wanting to not sound like any other nigga, but does that mean you shouldn't sound dope? I could see some wild video for this getting overlooked and underplayed very soon.
"Little Weapon (ft. Bishop G & Nikki Jean)"
Lil' niggas got gats. Lupe raps as a lil' nigga with a gat. The beat sounds like Nick Cannon from Drumline. Next.
"Gotta Eat"
Hearing Lupe say "if I see this nigga, I'm gonna kill him" just sounds so fake. He should have gotten someone else to say shit like that. He sounds like someone's "enlightened" brother talking that 5 percent shit. Only a lil' too aggressively.
"Dumb It Down (ft. Gemstones & Graham Burris)"
Yes I like the rhymes on this one. A definite rewind on this one, just for the rhymes. Lupe almost gets his Jay-Z on, which is funny. For Jay, this would be a sub-par track, but for Lupe, it's the damn highlight of the disc.
"Hello/Goodbye (Uncool) (ft. UNKLE)"
If this were any other Hip-Hop blog, I'd make some comment about this being "that Rock shit". Nah, UNKLE is dope, this track is just fucking wack.
"The Die (ft. Gemstones)"
The death... of The Cool. Given the scatterbrained feel of this "narrative", I had no idea the Cool was alive, or kicking. Another double-time flow. I hate him singing. I hate him flowing with the 80s synth. Hearing someone spit "any nigga" on that 'double time' shit is funny sounding though. Jay did this better back in the day, though.
"Put You On Game"
Blah. Dude rappin' as bad shit. Come on, I can't even listen to this, it's like a bad after-school special.
"Fighters (ft. Matthew Santos)"
It sounds like someone is eating Pringles to the beat. Matt Santos, get the fuck out of my earpiece. The beat putters on like a heartbeat, and I wish it would just flatline...
"Go Baby (ft. Gemstomes)"
...but it doesn't. Dude tries to get his Gnarls Barkley on, but doesn't realize you need a good producer to pull off something that creative. This chorus sounds like a Gi Phi Gi chant.
Go ahead, call me a hater, but I don't believe the hype. You call him the future, I call him a relick of the worst parts of the Native Tongues era. All thought, no real funk. Very good concepts, wack ways of delivering them. Nice influential sounds (he must have a dope CD collection), but no real idea in how to bridge those futuristic sounds with a thumpin' backbeat. A narrative that would have fit better in the hands of someone like Prince Paul. I mean, "The Cool" was one of the better tracks off of Food & Liquor; why take that and abandon it for the majority of the disc? Out of 18 cuts, barely half of them keep the story going. And the ones that do might as well have been spoken-word interludes to keep us involved.
I have no reason to hate on Lupe; hearing "Gold Watch" or "Dumb It Down", I know the nigga can make hot tracks. Sadly, like I felt with his debut, he seems to drop the ball and fall onto tired ways of telling his tale. I've heard all of this before, and no matter how effortless his rhymes come to him, all of that talent does not equal a stellar disc. This is barely a repeat play for me, and aside from 3 or 4 cuts, the rest of this exits the MP3 player, early.
rock the dub gives The Cool 2 stars out of 5. For all of his accolades and "cool", this one putters on top of the backs of his fans. Without them, you'd be asking "Lupe who?"
Burn Deez: "Gold Watch", "Dumb It Down", "Paris, Tokyo"
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