Average Rating: 9/10
Overall Rating: 9.7/10
1. Intro
2. Free Chilly Ft. Sarah Green (9/10)
3. Go Go Gadget Flow (10/10)
4. The Coolest (10/10)
5. Superstar Ft. Mathiew Santos (10/10)
6. Paris, Tokyo (9.5/10)
7. High Definition Ft. Snoop Dogg & Poor Bear (9/10)
8. Gold Watch (8/10)
9. Hip Hop Saved My Life Ft. Nikki Jean (10/10)
10. Intruder Alert Ft. Serah Green (10/10)
11. Streets on Fire (10/10)
12. Little Weapon Ft. Bishop G & Nikki Jean (10/10)
13. Gotta Eat (10/10)
14. Dumb it Down Ft. Gemstone (10/10)
15. Hello/ Goodbye Ft. UNKLE (10/10)
16. The Die Ft. Gemstone (9/10)
17. Put The Game On (9/10)
Lupe Fiasco has been called "the potential savior of hip hop" in 2006, when his first album "Food and Liquor" came out, it achieved great critical success, making it one of the best album of the late 2000s, and it was one of the most deep and meaningful albums to come out. Hype can do a lot of stuff, especially bring high expectations, but can Lupe keep his title and reputation as the potential hip hop savior or even become the hip hop savior and really show all of his potential with his second album, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool and live up to the hype and anticipation after his first album?
Like Food and Liquor, the Cool had concentrated a lot on lyrical meaning and a keeping a very strong concept. Lupe Fiasco’s the Cool dealt with more of Lupe's personal history and his views about many things that were going on in this world, The Cool was mainly a lot more lyrical, and much deeper than Food and Liquor, and it had more of a direction than Food and Liquor which was considered as a step up in my opinion.
Lupe talked about a few personal topics that dealt with society in The Cool. Lupe talked about his rise to fame, his movement to success, how he started his music and about some of his personal political views. Lupe brought up surviving in the music industry especially with the strong attention on dumbed down music, The Cool was definitely a complete album, it had everything a great hip-hop album needed to be a great hip-hop album.
One of my favorite songs on the album was a track called "The Coolest", where Lupe talked about his rise to fame, then at some point forgetting about reality, the song was done a very metaphoric manner, where he talks about his rise to fame like it was ‘falling in love’, and it was written in the form of a love story, it was like he had the girl of his dreams in the begging, and then it ended with Lupe forgetting about everything around him, the song had an excellent flow to complement the great lyricism, and really it was one of the best tracks on the album.
"Hip Hop Saved My Life" talked about his history with writing music and how it changed him, he mentioned various stages in his life, he talked about how he started liking hip-hop, making mainstream based songs, realizing that he was becoming a hypocrite because of rapping about stuff he didn’t believe in, then later changing up his style then making it, he rapped on top of a great beat here which didn’t affect the lyricism, which was something rare with music in general.
"Superstar" generally talked about Lupe finally being famous, the track talked about the ups and downs of fame and the effects of those ups and downs on his personality and on his personal life, the song was one of the best of the album, and it really had the right type of mood to showcase the album’s concept as being the first single of the album.
"Paris, Tokyo" was about Lupe going around the world, touring around the world and being in other countries every night, which he mentioned was enjoyable, but at the same time he was talking about missing the girl he loves while he's away from her, and not being able to stop thinking about her, it was a slow type of track, which was a bit of a problem, but the lyrics flowed well with beat, making it a great song.
"Hello/Goodbye" was simply Lupe welcoming depression to his life, he talked about how people where automatically against him, how he wasn’t getting enough emphases and recondition artist, and basically he felt like people wanted him to change his lyrical content, which lead to depression, he talked about all that over a rock inspired beat, which I really think was the best part of the track.
"Intruder Alert" was mainly about making a decision about loving a girl, because Lupe loved a girl
in a place where it’s culture unacceptable, and having the girl as a potential threat to the culture, the song was, in a way Lupe talking about how cultures don’t matter, and he just used that story as a huge example, which I think was something really strong about this track.
Lupe also had some socially or politically inspired tracks on the Cool, he talked about so many things in that part of the album, and honestly, that’s where the album shined, there was so much value in those tracks in the album that the listener would beg for more.
"Dumb it Down" was ironically the smartest track on the album, it’s lyrics where all crafted really cleverly, and it was in a way a diss track to the music industry, he used all those ‘this leading to that’ lyricism in a very clever and abstract way that people would just think that he’s saying that he’s smarter than everyone else, but really it’s the opposite, he talked about how every other artist dumbed himself, or herself down.
Lupe talked about kids that have gun position in "Little Weapon" he talked about how kids who don’t know about their lives are taken then trained to be terrorists, it was one of the most honest tracks on the album, and it was one of the best thanks to its strong flow and hard hitting beat.
"Streets On Fire" was a track subliminally talked about some political issues, it mainly talked about the economic issues, how politicians are corrupt, how they keep fighting, and how eventually everything may go wrong and that all of what was happening would eventually lead to death and destruction.
"Gotta Eat" was another political track, it mainly talked about economic problems, and how the political problems lead to the economic issues such as poverty and unemployment, which was true, this was one of the most honest tracks on the album, and just a reason why The Cool was a great album.
As usual, Lupe still had a little fun on the album, which was actually a good thing, because having an album which was entirely serious would eventually get boring quickly, "Go Go Gadget Flow" was basically Lupe rapping and having fun to a crazy beat with a crazy flow, it turned out to be one of the best of the album. "Gold Watch" talked about how girls wanted him and wanted his riches, it was one of the worst of the album, but still a decent track, and "High Definition" was a pretty much decent track, it was basically Lupe and Snoop rapping about how ‘high definition’ is there personal futures because of their fame, but honestly it was the worst song on the entire album.
The Cool solidifies Lupe's career as a "once in a generation" rap career. It had many different styles, many different topics, yet, it all felt like it had one big concept, the album was very deep, very personal, and to a certain degree emotional. I think that this album officially made Lupe the most possible option for being the true savior of hip-hop, with an album like The Cool, Lupe cannot be ignored, slept on, or even skipped.
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