Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

NY State of Mind:

Broken glass in the hallway, bloodstained floors
Neighbors, look at every bag you bring through your doors
Lock the top lock, momma shoulda cuffed me to the radiator
Why not? It might've saved later from my block
N.Y. cops, hookers crawlin off the stroll, coughin
stitches in they head, stinkin and I dread thinkin they be snitchin
But who else, could it be, shook at these, unmarked vans
Parked in the dark -- NARC's, where's your heart?
Hustlers starve; they bust a U-e I jog
to my building -- come out later wearin camouflage
See the sergeant and the captain -- strangle men
Niggaz gaspin for air; til they move no more and just stare
with dead eyes -- tired of riots, **** is quiet
Simple-minded fools infiltrate grimy crews
Overcrowded cribs, uncles home from bids, sister's pregnant
father's on drugs, moms is smokin, beds is piss-infested
Had eight partners growin up, eight turned to seven
Seven turned to six niggaz, got two in heaven
Six of us, holdin it, now it's five rollin thick
The sixth one's parole flipped; five niggaz, went to fo' quick
when he went O.T., college life, converted into gangbangin
Four niggaz still hangin, years passed and slang changin
Three of us now, fourth ***** ain't around
We all thought he was real -- he did the snake ****
Fake **** -- beat his *** down, yo his mouth
could've got us all wasted, what a ****in clown
All I got left in the end is two of my best friends
And we all goin out, to the death for these ends, WHAT?

This is your ghetto roadmap. If ever you were some white suburban kid wondering about life in the ghetto of NY here it is over a nice DJ Premier beat. Its done eloquently, and beautifully paints a picture of violence, sadness, and the neverending cycle of what inner-city youth go through.

16 bars is not enough (or however many bars vs1 is) so it spills into 2 verses:

I'm at the, gamblin spot, my hands on a knot
New York Yankee cap cover my eyes, stand in one spot
I take a ***** dough, send him home, to a shoebox
You lost that ***** I put your dollar in the jukebox
Hear my favorite song, all these niggaz sing along
All the ciggarette smoke's cloggin my lungs, hoodrats flashin they tongue
Young thugs blastin they gun, we got reputations
Bitches and niggaz both on parole or probation
**** is sick, niggaz got gats, army fatigues
I got my eyes glued on, whoever walk in the lead
Cause I ain't playin, niggaz'll run up in here and shoot up this ****
Stick yo' *** up, niggaz'll find the loot in your kicks
Bunch of triple-cross niggaz, just New York niggaz
Lift you off your feet when they was just talkin with you
Some of these dudes the Feds be on em, you knew em for years
Be the type when you walk in a pub, they offer you beers
That ain't gangsta, niggaz is up North with tatted tears
Your name's on the affadavit, you ratted kid
******-*** niggaz that be scared to do they bids
**** you, we run you out of N.Y, you can't live
Got your quiet niggaz, that relocated down South
comin back to floss, then you got the jealous loudmouths
All of a sudden we got Crips and Bloods, D.T.'s
runnin round quick to split your mug, it's ea-sy to score
but it's hard to get the **** off
Niggaz fightin over hundred sales, jump in the car and drive off
When the fiend come around the block, happy as hell
Niggaz, mad cause they ain't get a piece of that sale
Cutthroat connivers, universal, ghetto survivors
Go to any hood that's live and make it liver
A lot of niggaz scheamin, some real, some niggaz frontin
But I'm a big dreamer, so watch me come up with somethin

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Thanks again.

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

One more thing I'll say about Nas is that is discograpy is a like a chronological deliniation of himself. He started off a youngbuck w/ Illmatic, and as time went by he became more and more educated in life. He started branching out in God's Son, started to focus more on conscious minded songs to the culmination of "Distant Relatives".

Like when I look at JayZ's discography I see a partying hustler, and a business mogul and no more.

With Nas I see someone who grew into more than what he first burst on the scene as. Someone who grew as a person through his music.

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Thanks again.

No comments?

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

No comments?

Nope. I was going to mention this earlier, but I'm not requesting a breakdown to debate or argue. I just want to see what people get out of his work and leave it at that. Don't want to get into "Nas vs.", so this is to help paint me a picture of why people have him as the greatest, or even debatably the greatest. This is helpful in that regard.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Honestly, I could give two ***** who's the "Greatest Lyricist of All Time" but I just know that Lupe has made 2 good albums and hopes he makes #3 with LASERS. I just hope he can meet the high expectations that's going to come with it.

[Jonesy]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

What about this thread makes it the "official" Lupe thread. Is he going to be in here taking requests and stuff?

I love Nas and i personally think it's a combination of flow / lyrics that makes his great. His lyrics are fantastic and only getting better (DR is his best work ever imo even better than Illmatic) Lupe is my fav "lyricist" of all time as well. I can listen to his songs over and over and still pick up new meanings / undertones etc, it's food for the mind.

I wish he would hurry the hell up with Lasers though, it's taking forever!

[Phillmattic]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

What about this thread makes it the "official" Lupe thread. Is he going to be in here taking requests and stuff?

I love Nas and i personally think it's a combination of flow / lyrics that makes his great. His lyrics are fantastic and only getting better (DR is his best work ever imo even better than Illmatic) Lupe is my fav "lyricist" of all time as well. I can listen to his songs over and over and still pick up new meanings / undertones etc, it's food for the mind.

I wish he would hurry the hell up with Lasers though, it's taking forever!

This is what is most difficult in explaining to people when I try to turn them on to Lupe. There is so much to more than what appears on the surface in most of his material.

I guess I can compare it to football since this is a sports forum (MMA would be easier but football is more popular). With football, pretty much anyone can enjoy it in it's basic form, tackling, running, passing and scoring touchdowns. But those who really know the sport, know just how much more is going on beyond what casual observers see. Even a play that lasts 5 seconds can be broken down, picked apart, and analyzed extensively because so much is going on at once that it's almost impossible to "get" everything that went on during the play on the initial viewing.

This is the best way I can describe trying to explain Lupe Fiasco. Imagine sitting down with your wife/girlfriend to watch a football game and trying to explain to her all that is going on besides "the quarterback is trying to throw the ball to one of his guys so he can score". Imagine trying to explain routes, coverages, blocking schemes, etc. Imagine doing this during one game without using replays.

It's genius.

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[Hova57]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

One more thing I'll say about Nas is that is discograpy is a like a chronological deliniation of himself. He started off a youngbuck w/ Illmatic, and as time went by he became more and more educated in life. He started branching out in God's Son, started to focus more on conscious minded songs to the culmination of "Distant Relatives".

Like when I look at JayZ's discography I see a partying hustler, and a business mogul and no more.

With Nas I see someone who grew into more than what he first burst on the scene as. Someone who grew as a person through his music.

I believe you pretty much got this right. i believe Nas grew up with his music. he tried the group thing or colobo took time off began his life and now he is in retrospect looking back , but at the same time looking to the future of music . thankfully for him he stayed true to himself in the end.

I'm a big Jay Z fan, but truthfully JayZ never had a life, he let music run his life, though he's a very successful artist. once he reached his goal. His music took a downward spiral. in the last three albums he put out only American Gangster showed the old Jay Z . The Blueprint 3 was a disaster. Alcia keyes made money for him with that album there wasn't anything entertaining bout that album. Jay could put words together in his older efforts that made you think. Now his stuff now sounds like someone is writing for him. He needs to be done and be a business man. He's lost his touch.

[Streets]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Thanks for posting that, but it's only half of my request. Could you go into depth in the verses beyond the literal? If not, that's fine, but don't worry about posting more. I've read a bunch of Nas's lyrics as well as listened to his songs. I'm trying to see something I don't see already.


You switched up your list, right? Now you have Lupe first. What changed your mind? After all, Nas's body of work dwarfs Lupe's.

Also, you didn't really break anything down in your posts. You talked about Nas as a storyteller and quoted the lyrics, but my question isn't "what are some of Nas's lyrics? It's what do you *see* in his lyrics? Can you break it down to another level beyond copy and pasting?

I realize this is a leap, but I'm just using this as an extreme comparison. If someone asked me why I think Aristotle has the greatest understanding of storytelling, I wouldn't just copy and paste a piece of Poetics and go "see??" I'd copy and paste it, and then discuss his ideas, his strong understanding of concepts and how the text is useful, even if you prefer to read Joseph Campbell.

At this point, I know I'm not going to like Nas. I've listened to what people call his best stuff and I just don't like him as a musician. However, I do want to appreciate him, just to I know what other people are experiencing. Through appreciation, I can share the experience. Like with Joe Satriani, I don't like his music at all, but I understand why other people do, and can share some part of their enthusiasm second hand.

Right now Nas is just puzzling for me.

Basically, you asked me to translate Nas' lyrics and explain what he is saying. I did that and talked about the messages in his music. you asked me...

Hey man, can you give me a translation of those verses you posted, or what you think they meant? That's really what I'm looking for.

JBH3 just did the same thing. I don't know why you are trying so hard with Nas. SO MANY people I know love Lil' Wayne and try to explain his genius to me (even though I don't request it as you have). I tell them "forget it" because I know I'm never going to like him (Well, I won't say never, but based on his past work I know I'm not a fan). Art is subjective, so there are going to be people you just don't like. I think Nas is one you might want to give up on.

As far as my list, yeah Lupe has surpassed Nas. You have to understand, I grew up on Nas, and he was music for me for the longest time (So in that sense, just in the sentimental "you have been my favorite rapper and reason I listen to music" kind of way, he'll always be the greatest just for the place he holds in my heart).

I never thought I would enjoy an artist as much as him, someone who just captures everything I love about Hip Hop. Lupe has done that in just 2 albums (plus mixtapes, guest spots and his new singles). I think his wordplay is more complex than Nas, and he's a little more out there with his music, but I find myself listening to and enjoying him more than Nas.

I know Nas kills Lupe in the sheer amount of quality music that he has in his catalog, but if a Nas album and a Lupe album dropped today, I'd be slightly more amped for Lupe despite having a greater history as a huge Nas Stan.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Long story short, Streets, I was looking for Nas fans to show me something I didn't see. In other forms of music(mostly jazz), people have helped show me what to look for, since jazz has different goals that classical, prog, metal and blues. I thought maybe the same thing was happening with Nas. As others have said, Lupe works on several levels, and after repeated listens you may catch a metaphor or turn of phrase that has more meaning than you originally thought. Giving Nas listeners the benefit of the doubt, I was looking for that sort of thing.

That's not the case though. On first listen and first read, I got the same understanding of Nas that you guys have. Now I have a pretty clear picture of what you guys get out of Nas that I don't.

[Dog]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

No homo

[Beantown]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

If the rest of the CD is like this (and "Shining Down," if that's still going to be on the new CD), I'll be pumped.

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[Dog]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

If the rest of the CD is like this (and "Shining Down," if that's still going to be on the new CD), I'll be pumped.

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That song is already on my MP3 player. I'm really loving it

[thaima1shu]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

I do wonder if Shining Down and I'm Beamin will still be on the new album. Hope so. I really like those songs. Big fan of this new one too. Hope it gets good radio time.