Lupe Fiaso - The Cool review

4.5 out of 5 ***** / *****

Clearly determined to bring hip-hop back to its glory days, Lupe Fiasco stays true to himself and to the deteriorating rap game with his second full length release of "The Cool".  When Kanye West first introduced this fellow Chi-Town rapper with a knack for luxurious fashion, it seemed too good to be true.  But Lupe has proven to be resilient of the criticisms shot at him by his peers, and has refused to "Dumb it down".  The tenacity presented within every single verse of "Hip-Hop saved my life" is inexplicably controlling.  Lupe is more then just another intelligent voice, but also possesses the linguistics of a storyteller.  His narrator/second person approach to a majority of his songs (i.e. "Hip-Hop saved my life" "Streets on fire") is poetic and illustrious, while not being overbearing or incompetent.  

His multicultural influences are once again ever present with lines like "I am American mentality, with Japanese tendencies, Norwegian sensibilities, so stay out of the vicinity", and he still seems to be passionate about skateboarding and comics.  The relativity aspect of Lupe's music is clearly his most positive attribute.  This allows him to be one of the most versatile rappers while being sure to not leave any listener with a feeling of isolation.  "Paris, Tokyo" is an obvious throwback to one of Lupe's most dominant influences A Tribe called Quest.  With songs like "Go-go gadget flow" and "Go baby", Lupe  manages to create tracks that are more accessible then the majority of this album, but still possess his free-flowing intelligent mannerisms.

The only problem with the The Cool is its inability to create the concept that Lupe set out to originally do.  A loosely based idea on a character created on Food & Liquor, the Cool never manages to take the forefront, or surpass an imaginable role other then being an alter-ego.  Without artists such as Kanye West, Common, The Roots, and Lupe Fiasco, hip-hop would be spiraling downward at even more accelerated pace, and hopefully, their music will continue to inspire a new generation of rappers as the De La Souls and Tribe Called Quest's have for them.  Lupe Fiaso has his eyes set in one direction, straight, and I doubt that he will ever manage to lose focus.