Lupe Fiasco & Kaelin Ellis - HOUSE EP (Discussion Thread)

[SAINT]

I feel Lupe’s still fixated on resurrection and changing perceptions, distilling the essence of T&Y and DW into a few songs. We remember Ahmaud Arbery and Peter Gellatly similar to how we were reminded of Jonylah Watkins and Alan Kurdi. Just before we go any further on this path of destruction, he recontextualizes the exploitation in modeling and unhealthy competition for shoes into more positive images of self-respect and unity. Virgil’s contributions are in the same vein, treating something man-made as dangerous at first to suddenly, all good. Even the process of how this all started with LF95, in which Lupe jokingly stole one of Kaelin’s beats on twitter and that soon lead to a whole project together. Said track is one most of us had heard already, but a little fresher with extra bars and an outro. The album cover depicts Phillip Johnson’s Glass House, who lived inside of it for 50+ years after its construction. Maybe this is the alternative to the beginning, repeat the history of Johnson during this pandemic before we repeat the history of the dinosaurs.

“Takes advantage of all your natural abilities”
“One just feel privileged and esteemed”
There are moments on here that show he can give you the Mural bars if he really wants to, but what’s crazy is he can do the simpler stuff just as well.

SHOES is pretty much about resurrection.

Liberation, here's your invitation
It's a relay race, continuation
Get the baton and keep bringing it back
That string theory means we'll keep being attached

Quick homage to Nipsey, even used his flow

 

[Zero]

Yall ease up on the breh @Piff Perkins

If he didn't like it, he didn't like it. Everything isn't for everybody. I mean, every rapper can't have interludes crooning about how the metaphorical "dikk" aint free in the context of (Black) America at large brehs

 

[Mag Wheel]

He effortlessly raps incredible.

 

[NoHalfWay]

Yall ease up on the breh @Piff Perkins

If he didn't like it, he didn't like it. Everything isn't for everybody. I mean, every rapper can't have interludes crooning about how the metaphorical "dikk" aint free in the context of (Black) America at large brehs

Can you blame him?

What other rapper as pretentious and try-hard as Lupe would brainstorm a loose conceptual album laced with subtle biblical/religious themes that’s designed to play forward and reverse track list order? While his silly stans eat it up as ingenious...

Oh wait

 

[Mr. Negative]

I love Dinosaurs.

Hip Hop fans are the most rigid and stuck in their ways fans to me. It's why the genre is so slow to move forward in terms of subject material and even sonically. Most fans only wanna hear raps based around materialism, violence, the streets, misogyny, or the struggle. Even conscious rap fans, just in a way that doesn't glorify those things. It's been an issue I've had with the culture for years.

Dude immaculately rapped for 4 minutes. Perfect flow, insane production, effortlessly sharp rhyme schemes, creativity on max, and yet people saying it's trash and a parody. Hip hop fans are narrow and rigid and this is really just a reflection of how black people can be as well. We're so used to our oppression that sometimes it feels like it's the only thing we're comfortable in, even with our art.

I want bangers about healthy eating, financial responsibility, actually respecting women and sure why not dinosaurs too? Board games we grew up on, fictional planets. So yeah I fukk with this Dinosaur shyt. shyt ain't never been done. The game desperately lacks balance and progress and it's why I don't consider myself a rap fan anymore and why many are fed up with the genre. shyt isn't going anywhere interesting and it becomes more and more corny to me to dance and bop our heads to the theme songs of our self destruction

I don't like rap anymore. I like certain rappers. I'll come outta my hole when Lupe, Kendrick, Joey, etc drop and then I go back to my hole and wait for something to interest me while I listen to black music that is actually fresh and progressive lol.

yeah, it's why although I LOVE me some dope boy raps,

I ALSO love Ghostface rapping about arguing wth his watch, Deltron3030, Cage and Camu Tao rapping from the perspective of crooked cops, Cage and Tame One making an album about doing PCP. I remember Ghostface saying "Heavy rain fukked my kicks up. Wasn't looking, splashed in a puddle. bytch laughing. First thought was 'beat the bytch up'" It was the funniest, most offhanded, most relatable shyt ever.

I was actually thinking about it on the way home from work yesterday. You can make music about anything. one of my GOAT albums's opening tracks is a japanese song about the first dog in space. .

the world is full of all kinds of shyt. Real shyt. Imagined shyt. shyt in the past, like... dog, make a song about hoping you dont hit a deer on the way from the club. Rap about thinking your girl messed with your NBA 2k20 game when you paused it and went to take a piss.

Our music is severely limited in it's subject matter, and it'll make your thoughts severely limited cause you constantly listening to it.

 

[Majestyx]

yeah, it's why although I LOVE me some dope boy raps,

I ALSO love Ghostface rapping about arguing wth his watch, Deltron3030, Cage and Camu Tao rapping from the perspective of crooked cops, Cage and Tame One making an album about doing PCP. I remember Ghostface saying "Heavy rain fukked my kicks up. Wasn't looking, splashed in a puddle. bytch laughing. First thought was 'beat the bytch up'" It was the funniest, most offhanded, most relatable shyt ever.

I was actually thinking about it on the way home from work yesterday. You can make music about anything. one of my GOAT albums's opening tracks is a japanese song about the first dog in space. .

the world is full of all kinds of shyt. Real shyt. Imagined shyt. shyt in the past, like... dog, make a song about hoping you dont hit a deer on the way from the club. Rap about thinking your girl messed with your NBA 2k20 game when you paused it and went to take a piss.

Our music is severely limited in it's subject matter, and it'll make your thoughts severely limited cause you constantly listening to it.

I agree with all of this. Hip hop is an art form, hip hop has stagnated due to the rap part of it not being allowed to push boundaries on a mainstream level, Imagine if you could ONLY watch action movies in theaters, you had to hunt for shyt like the shining, or sunshine of the spotless mind. The box around subject matter in mainstream hip hop needs to

off topic: Camu was one of the most creative dudes ever.

 

[TEH]

If Lupe had consistent hits he’d be top 10. He always does his thing ... highly underrated and under appreciated. History is going to wonder why he wasn’t fully loved in his time.

 

[Yayo Toure]

Too much Virgil on this shyt. Can't rock with it.

 

[Nero Christ]

I love Dinosaurs.

Hip Hop fans are the most rigid and stuck in their ways fans to me. It's why the genre is so slow to move forward in terms of subject material and even sonically. Most fans only wanna hear raps based around materialism, violence, the streets, misogyny, or the struggle. Even conscious rap fans, just in a way that doesn't glorify those things. It's been an issue I've had with the culture for years.

Dude immaculately rapped for 4 minutes. Perfect flow, insane production, effortlessly sharp rhyme schemes, creativity on max, and yet people saying it's trash and a parody. Hip hop fans are narrow and rigid and this is really just a reflection of how black people can be as well. We're so used to our oppression that sometimes it feels like it's the only thing we're comfortable in, even with our art.

I want bangers about healthy eating, financial responsibility, actually respecting women and sure why not dinosaurs too? Board games we grew up on, fictional planets. So yeah I fukk with this Dinosaur shyt. shyt ain't never been done. The game desperately lacks balance and progress and it's why I don't consider myself a rap fan anymore and why many are fed up with the genre. shyt isn't going anywhere interesting and it becomes more and more corny to me to dance and bop our heads to the theme songs of our self destruction

I don't like rap anymore. I like certain rappers. I'll come outta my hole when Lupe, Kendrick, Joey, etc drop and then I go back to my hole and wait for something to interest me while I listen to black music that is actually fresh and progressive lol.

I've been listening to far more instrumentals now a days than I do rap. Far more old school r&b, soul, disco, & reggae

I fully accept that where rap is now a days, isn't something for me nor something I really want to be apart of...if others can enjoy it, more power to them but it's just simply not for me anymore outside of a few cats

 

[Mr. Negative]

+

I agree with all of this. Hip hop is an art form, hip hop has stagnated due to the rap part of it not being allowed to push boundaries on a mainstream level, Imagine if you could ONLY watch action movies in theaters, you had to hunt for shyt like the shining, or sunshine of the spotless mind. The box around subject matter in mainstream hip hop needs to

off topic: Camu was one of the most creative dudes ever.

clowning nggas like the UniverSoul Circus




but nah, I kinda feel like what kind of artist are you.....

when you can't rap about how you didn't wanna go to Walmart (hook and bridge) but your girl gonna bytch and moan if you don't/

You couldn't find a parking spot, you parked waaay by the yoga place at the end of the parking lot (first verse)

you picked the shopping cart that veers to the left with the fukked up wheel, there's broads clogging the aisles cause they're talking about their kids but won't move so you can't get where you going (2nd verse)

you gotta use the self checkout cause the one cashier out of 8 is on break, but you hit a lick cause you rang up a 64 inch TV as some celery and you got away with it. Your girl STILL mad cause you bought the wrong tampons.



ZOMG I just wrote a relatable song

 

[Hey_zeus]

Love the production on LF95 and Dinosaurs. His ability to be in the pocket no matter the topic and for it to seem as if he is still getting better lyrically outstonds me.

 

[I'm Blackman]

Yall ease up on the breh @Piff Perkins

If he didn't like it, he didn't like it. Everything isn't for everybody. I mean, every rapper can't have interludes crooning about how the metaphorical "dikk" aint free in the context of (Black) America at large brehs

 

[PoorAndDangerous]

The prehistoric conceptual source of the Mighty Morphin' combo
Word, uh, it gets rangerous
Come hit the museum if you wanna hang with us
But mostly just the skeletons
Now if you wanna use brain case space as a metric for intelligence
Then Tyrannosaurus Rex wasn't the smartest of the smartest
But you wouldn't wanna box with the short-armed carnivorous martial artist
You ain't gotta be the sharpest saw to slice the sausage
Or the largest ninja star in all of Harlem to carve a part into a target, if we arguin'

Those bars

 

[VladTheImpaler]

The prehistoric conceptual source of the Mighty Morphin' combo
Word, uh, it gets rangerous
Come hit the museum if you wanna hang with us
But mostly just the skeletons
Now if you wanna use brain case space as a metric for intelligence
Then Tyrannosaurus Rex wasn't the smartest of the smartest
But you wouldn't wanna box with the short-armed carnivorous martial artist
You ain't gotta be the sharpest saw to slice the sausage
Or the largest ninja star in all of Harlem to carve a part into a target, if we arguin'

Those bars

 

[Black Miller]

man i can't stop playing that dinosaurs joint, song is so sick. i keep catching slick stuff on it. even that drake subliminal was nice about the raptors was dope. i like hearing lupe on smooth beats cause it allows his lyrics to shine- the beat on there was perfect for that. i would love to hear all soundtrakk album come out he was talking about a while back.