Lupe Fiasco Drill Music In Zion (Discussion Thread)

Ziggiy

Ziggiy

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JayBaldacci said:
I'd put those 2 over GKMC, but perhaps it's just me.
Click to expand...


For me it goes

GKMC - 5 Mics
Food N Liquor -4.5 Mics

If Lupe hadn’t suffered the leak and switched up some of the songs then we’re talking about an all time classic debut album. A few of the tracks (I Gotcha &’Pressure mostly) fall flat to me but overall its a great album. But Good M.a.a.d City in my opinion is flawless. It flows perfectly, the story is masterfully told, the sequencing is incredible. Everything works, the skits, the features, production, etc. Now it CAN be argued successfully that Lupe is superior lyrically (hell Lupe is superior lyrically to 95% of every rapper who ever existed) on FNL than K.Dot was on GKMC but as an ALBUM its a slightly stronger effort


TPAB-4.75 Mics
The Cool- 5 Mics

THIS is where Lupe put it all together. I cannot speak highly enough about The Cool. Its a goddamn masterpiece. Lupe made a pseudo concept album, a commercially viable hit, and an artistic statement all in one project. He raps his ass off from beginning to end, he makes the esoteric relatable, the tragic emotional, and the ambition triumphant. Songs like Gold Watch, Hip Hop Saved My Life, Go Go Go Gadget Flow are catalog joints that every fan knows by heart. Superstar and Paris, Tokyo are the singles that make for crossover perfection. Gotta Eat and Dumb It Down are what makes Lupe unique amongst other conceptual MC’s. And the story songs (The Coolest, Streets on Fire, The Die, Put You On Game) make up a tragically complex tale of street culture and the temptations that lead many young black males to early graves.

TPAB is dense, angry, devastating, reflective, honest, harrowing, and beautiful. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said or written about this album. The only gripe against it is that its very much a “mood” album. You don’t just throw it on and vibe. Its an album that DEMANDS to be listened to front to back, which is not a BAD thing. It also is home to my all time favorite Kendrick Lamar song and in my opinion a top 15 storytelling song; How Much A Dollar Cost. There are one or two songs that haven’t aged well on the production end (For Sale) but overall this album lives up to its reputation.


Lasers- 3.5 Mics
Damn- 4.5 Mics

This is where many fans feel Lupe fell off. I PERSONALLY have never felt this album was as bad as people made it out to be, and I think history would have been more kind to it had Lupe himself not bashed it and damn near disowned it. In my opinion this album has some of Lupe’s strongest actual song writing. Letting Go, Til I Get There, Beautiful Lasers are all examples of great, catchy songwriting that build sonically on the sound he was perfecting on The Cool. That said, its uneven and uninspired at times. We all know the story about Atlantic holding his career hostage until he acquiesced to their demands, and we also know there was a version of the album we’ll probably never hear (lupEND) and that of course pisses fans off because the label didn’t believe in his original vision. Be that as it may, there are some truly masterful songs on this album, including one of his all time best, All Black Everything. Its an album where the highs are amongst his best but the lows are amongst his worst . Its similar to Nas’s I Am in that regard, another album that was gutted, reassembled, and just felt “off” from the intended vision.

Damn is Kendrick proving that he can do mainstream rap just as good, if not better than his contemporaries. He didn’t dumb down his lyrics or sacrifice his more conceptual leanings. He steps up his already excellent song writing and just goes for the gusto on the production end. He also experiments with his flows and melodies in a way that is refreshing for an artist who could have easily leaned upon an established artistic formula. Its an album of its time that will still sound fresh ten years from now.
 
Chip Skylark

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Ziggiy said:
For me it goes

GKMC - 5 Mics
Food N Liquor -4.5 Mics

If Lupe hadn’t suffered the leak and switched up some of the songs then we’re talking about an all time classic debut album. A few of the tracks (I Gotcha &’Pressure mostly) fall flat to me but overall its a great album. But Good M.a.a.d City in my opinion is flawless. It flows perfectly, the story is masterfully told, the sequencing is incredible. Everything works, the skits, the features, production, etc. Now it CAN be argued successfully that Lupe is superior lyrically (hell Lupe is superior lyrically to 95% of every rapper who ever existed) on FNL than K.Dot was on GKMC but as an ALBUM its a slightly stronger effort


TPAB-4.75 Mics
The Cool- 5 Mics

THIS is where Lupe put it all together. I cannot speak highly enough about The Cool. Its a goddamn masterpiece. Lupe made a pseudo concept album, a commercially viable hit, and an artistic statement all in one project. He raps his ass off from beginning to end, he makes the esoteric relatable, the tragic emotional, and the ambition triumphant. Songs like Gold Watch, Hip Hop Saved My Life, Go Go Go Gadget Flow are catalog joints that every fan knows by heart. Superstar and Paris, Tokyo are the singles that make for crossover perfection. Gotta Eat and Dumb It Down are what makes Lupe unique amongst other conceptual MC’s. And the story songs (The Coolest, Streets on Fire, The Die, Put You On Game) make up a tragically complex tale of street culture and the temptations that lead many young black males to early graves.

TPAB is dense, angry, devastating, reflective, honest, harrowing, and beautiful. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said or written about this album. The only gripe against it is that its very much a “mood” album. You don’t just throw it on and vibe. Its an album that DEMANDS to be listened to front to back, which is not a BAD thing. It also is home to my all time favorite Kendrick Lamar song and in my opinion a top 15 storytelling song; How Much A Dollar Cost. There are one or two songs that haven’t aged well on the production end (For Sale) but overall this album lives up to its reputation.


Lasers- 3.5 Mics
Damn- 4.5 Mics

This is where many fans feel Lupe fell off. I PERSONALLY have never felt this album was as bad as people made it out to be, and I think history would have been more kind to it had Lupe himself not bashed it and damn near disowned it. In my opinion this album has some of Lupe’s strongest actual song writing. Letting Go, Til I Get There, Beautiful Lasers are all examples of great, catchy songwriting that build sonically on the sound he was perfecting on The Cool. That said, its uneven and uninspired at times. We all know the story about Atlantic holding his career hostage until he acquiesced to their demands, and we also know there was a version of the album we’ll probably never hear (lupEND) and that of course pisses fans off because the label didn’t believe in his original vision. Be that as it may, there are some truly masterful songs on this album, including one of his all time best, All Black Everything. Its an album where the highs are amongst his best but the lows are amongst his worst . Its similar to Nas’s I Am in that regard, another album that was gutted, reassembled, and just felt “off” from the intended vision.

Damn is Kendrick proving that he can do mainstream rap just as good, if not better than his contemporaries. He didn’t dumb down his lyrics or sacrifice his more conceptual leanings. He steps up his already excellent song writing and just goes for the gusto on the production end. He also experiments with his flows and melodies in a way that is refreshing for an artist who could have easily leaned upon an established artistic formula. Its an album of its time that will still sound fresh ten years from now.
Click to expand...

I kind of agree with this. but Tetsuo and Youth clears everythign Kendrck has done and is Lupe's best album venturing close to be almost perfect.
 
NoHalfWay

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brianwuzhere said:

This is better promo than Lupe has for his own albums. Maybe even bringing back the Go Go Gadget Flow again or just straightforward flexing compared to his stream of consciousness comfort zone, based on these responses.
Click to expand...

Feels like Lupe stopped giving af about album promo after Drogas Wave

He had a lot of self promo for that album, and was the last time a project of his felt like an event.

Perhaps he’s done with with it all. He still needs to ride out in the sunset and give us Skulls before he goes off to wherever…

Even tho it makes a year this month since DMIZ dropped, the next album feels like it’s several years out…
 
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