Food & Liquor 2
Before I get to my final thoughts I’d like to go back for a few years. It’s 2008 and Lupe is on top of his game touring with Kanye on his awesome “Glow In Dark” tour. He has recently released The Cool and is on a winning streak considering the excellent string of critically acclaimed mixtapes and the debut album. Nobody expected another LP in ’08 but by the summer of ’09 people were wondering what will Lupe do next, and at that time the expectations were huge. Around that time Shining Down was released and that song was like Superstar 2.0 which confirmed everyone’s hopes regarding the state Lupe was in. However, later that year we saw the first sign of trouble with Enemy Of The State. The mixtape, albeit a good one, was sort of a step down in quality and the beat selection was questionable. The “Lupe is just rapping on poppy beats because he wants to show those rappers what he can do on their shit” raised some suspicions and in retrospect I think it can be considered a cop-out. But anyway, the fact that this was just a mixtape was enough to calm a fan down.
2010 came around and it was almost 3 years that Lupe hadn’t released an album and Lasers was supposedly finished in more than one incarnation. This caused a fan “riot” and the whole Fiasco Friday thing happened which got Lupe and his fans a release date for Lasers – March, 2011. Before the album was released couple of songs had been out such as – The Show Goes On, Words I Never Said, and All Black Everything – all of which were considered excellent by most fans including myself. What followed was a shock though. Lasers was released and most of the songs were way too poppy with shitty choruses and most people were heavily disappointed (again, including myself). The excuse was that the label blackmailed Lupe to make those songs otherwise his 3rd album was to never see the light of day. This argument was again enough to keep the hope in Lupe’s fans.
At the end of the year Lupe released Friend Of The People, the mixtape which was supposed to redeem Lupe in the eyes of his fans and Hip-Hop in general. The mixtape was another showcase of terrible beat selection, this time with the vibe of Dubstep music. However, and yet again, the fans or at least myself kept their hopes and trust in Lupe because the flows and lyrics on the mixtape were actually awesome, and it was just a mixtape so it was all good (to a certain extent).
Then came 2012, and Lupe started saying shit like Food & Liquor 2 having the same spirit of Food & Liquor 1, producers like Soundtrack bragging they made some fire tracks with Lupe, people close to Lupe saying that the fans would go wild when they hear the album, some gibberish like F&L 2 being the same as F&L 1 but to the 10th power, and Form Follows Function was announced as the masterpiece of Lu’s career and it being untouchable for other rappers. Around that time Around My Way was released and that song was the shit, plus Lupe said that this was just a small jab from the album, and if that was something “average” then you could imagine how the expectations raised for the album. Most fans, myself included, thought that FINALLY we were to get the Lupe we all love and know. However, when Bitch Bad dropped everything went downhill. If F&L 2 was to be so great as we all wanted, how could it have this shitty (for those standards) track? Lamborghini Angels was something better but still not up-to-par with songs like Go To Sleep.
But to get to the album release date, when I first played it I was so excited until the time Form Follows Function started. I was thinking that track must be something extra awesome and it could help me like these songs even more. However, FFF wasn’t anything like I expected. Yes, it’s great lyrically, and yes it’s a great song overall, but it’s not even the best song on the album if you ask me (yet alone something untouchable). I wouldn’t have had any problems with this song if Lupe didn’t hype it up like that. This song in no way lived up to that hype. And when I came to that realization my whole mood changed and I went into bitchy mode.
But anyway, to sum this up because I’m already into a lot of words, after some time has passed and after I’ve heard the album plenty of times I can say this: This album could never be as good as Lu’s first 2 but it didn’t have to be either. However, it could have been much better. This way, the production is average and boring because most beats sound the same and the same can be said about Lupe’s flow and delivery patterns, which of course is a rather big minus as well. All this leads to the album having a low replay value and just being average which tells you that there are no more excuses for Mr. Fiasco. I’ve had enough of hoping for him to go back to making great songs and I no longer expect that from him. I’m still a fan, I’ll still support and buy his music (just as I bought this album) but I no longer trust in what he says and promises.
TR Hits A New Low
This place has been going downhill ever since I signed up but I don’t think that it has ever been this bad. I was very disappointed that my main man name left this place for good (deleting all of his posts in the process) and dR3 & dead prez haven’t been active for a longer time so my best TR buddies aren’t around anymore. There are obviously a lot of guys that I respect in here, namely Revoulutionary, InsaneTRex64, and Lello; but it’s this constant arguing of lately that bothers me the most. There are a lot of cool people in here and I hate to see them saying so much shit to each other. Kanye, Em, who the fuck cares, like who you like, I’m not going to hate on Geno because he doesn’t like Kanye as much as I do or what have you. I know that this is just the internet and all, nobody takes it that seriously, but at the end of day we come here to chill and rest our minds for a little bit. Plus, you can’t really find that many people who like the same music as you do in real life and since it’s a topic we all love to discuss then we should do it in a better manner. We should respect each other’s opinions even if don’t agree with them. Debating is cool but don’t get butthurt and remember that you can always agree to disagree. It’s not like there has to be a winner. And I know that this is common sense, but if it is, why don’t you practice it a bit more? Not trying to call anyone out, as you know, I’ve never argued with anyone in here, and the only bitch I ever liked to stab with a knife was Aftermathers and the rest of her 10 000 accounts. But please, try to not start shit up and if someone else does so, try to ignore it if nothing else.
*This is all for this issue, there will be 4 interviews next week, and I’ll try to get back in form and give you the whole package in a single magazine as it was before.
