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Lupe Fiasco: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"O ye tormented souls! My goal is to sit on the globe, like North Poles!"''|'''"Super" Lupe Fiasco''', "SLR"}}
One of the best and still relatively new [[Hip Hop]] artists out there, Lupe Fiasco (real name Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) has been called a breath of fresh air into what is becoming an overly commercialized genre. By [[Jay
A year later, his sophomore effort ''[[Concept Album|The Cool]]'' told the story of three different characters: The Cool (aka Micheal Young History), The Streets (the female personification of addiction to the high life), and The Game, a manifestation of the perils of urban living. There are [[Continuity Nod|numerous references]] scattered throughout both albums.
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His third album, <s>Losers</s>''Lasers'', [[Development Hell|was shelved in 2008 by his label]] because [[Executive Meddling|they thought it wasn't "pop" enough]]. A combination of Lupe caving to pressure and rewriting some songs (something he has said [[Creator Backlash|will forever taint his own opinion of the album]]) and [[Internet Backlash|general fan outrage]] led to the record finally being released in 2011.
Atlantic has promised to keep their hands off of The Great American Rap Album, and Lupe himself said it would appeal to some of his oldest fans. He also has an impressive arsenal of mixtapes that have become popular in their own right, notably the Fahrenheit 1/15 trilogy, and more recently Enemy of the State. Friend of the People, previously cancelled, was released on Thanksgiving 2011, like it was supposed the previous year, before he cancelled it due to people leaking his songs.
Funnily enough,the genre that his Friend of the People mixtape is classified under is "Unclassifiable."
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=== Trope Examples: ===
* [[Alternative Rap]]
* [[A Worldwide Punomenon]]: Every line of ''Gotta Eat'' is a food puns while describing a drug dealer... or describes food using drug dealing puns... ''or'' it's a [[Take That]] against the fast food industry likening them to drug dealers... it's hard to say.
* [[Badass Boast]]: While he has long since left his gangsta rap days behind, he still does leave a few in his songs.
{{quote|If you came to box, you'll leave in a bag.}}
* [[Big Bad]]: His concept album character The Game, which is a large man in a suit with a skull for a head, glowing red dice for eyes, and crack smoke that comes from his mouth.
* [[Black and Nerdy]]: From dropping references to Lupin III on [[Kanye West|"Touch the Sky"]] to being a huge gamer, Lupe is one of the finest examples of a nerd from the hip-hop world. The [[Nerd Glasses|glasses]] help too.
* [[Call Back]]: Occasionally references his older songs in newer ones. "State Run Radio" references "Dumb It Down" and "Superstar", two songs on a similar topic.
{{quote|"Not too smart, and you'll be a superstar/ If if you dumb it some, maybe you can be number one"}}
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* [[Did Not Get the Girl]]: Subverted in the extended version of "And He Gets The Girl". Just before the third verse we have the spoken lines:
{{quote|"And just like everything in life, things grow. People grow. And people grow apart. It's like some things were just never meant to be... but... then again, maybe... some things are."}}
* [[Death of the Author]]: According to his own analysis "The Instrumental" is partly about this (specifically the fact the two characters have their voices removed and doctors taking notes are representative of the audience having their own ideas).
* [[Dual-Meaning Chorus]]: Many, but "Intruder Alert" in particular.
* [[Executive Meddling]]: Originally, Lupe planned to release three albums- ''Food & Liquor'', ''The Cool'', and ''LupE.N.D.'', then retire. Unfortunately for him, his contract dictates at least six.
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** "Dumb It Down" is basically a [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|treatise]] directed at mainstream rappers and the record execs that push them.
** To the chagrin of rappers and their loyal, teenaged fans who love music videos with guns, drugs and boobs in slow motion and think it's incredible and creative, "Daydreamin'" fires back by pointing out that they're played out and they were never really that cool.
** The entirety of "B.M.F. (Building Minds Faster)" is another shot to the mainstream, Rick Ross in particular.
** Soulja Boy got his (again) after he claimed that Lupe's lyrics were indecipherable in "S.L.R. (Super Lupe Raps)".
** "Words I Never Said" takes what was meant to be a love song and [[Writer Revolt|uses it to slam]] political pundits, Barack Obama and self-described revolutionaries who only listen to protest songs while doing nothing to bring about change.
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** He and B.o.B. formed a massive super group that many fans thought were going to put Young Money in its place...they've done absolutely nothing, besides a remix to "I'm Beaming".
** "Airplanes" and "Nothin' on You" were originally his songs before Atlantic gave them to B.o.B. No wonder Lupe became suicidal.
* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: A rare rap example, but "The Show Goes On" has a rather impressive example in lyrical form. The whole point of the message is that he will continue to be the artist who tries to direct the youth into a more positive direction than most mainstream rap.
{{quote|"One in the air for the people in here. Two in the air for the father that's there.
Three in the air for the kids in the ghetto. Four for the kids that don't wanna be there.
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Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few.
My screams is finally getting free. My thoughts is finally yelling through!" }}
* [[What If]]: "All Black Everything" is a scenario that depicts what would happen if the Slave Trade never happened. The final verse subverts this stating that there is nothing you can do about the past, but can do something about the future.
* [[With Lyrics]]: "Hello/Goodbye (Uncool)" for [[UNKLE|"Chemistry"]].
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[[Category:Musicians]]
[[Category:Turn of the Millennium/Music]]
[[Category:Lupe Fiasco]]▼
[[Category:Music]]
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