Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

[LilLowe]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

The beauty of opinions is that everyone has one.

Personally, he's surpassed Nas as my favorite rapper. Greatest? Debatable; he only has two albums.

With that being said, I hope Lasers drops sometime this year.

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Discuss the greatest lyricist of all time. And why his album hasn't released yet... go!

In that case change the thread title to Nasir Jones.

[Phillmattic]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Lupe Fiasco
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Eminem
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The rest...

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

In that case change the thread title to Nasir Jones.

People always say that, and I just don't see it. I'm still waiting for someone to break down the genius of Nas to me. I'm beginning to think this is one of those things that society just agrees upon without any real reason. To this day the only Nas song I genuinely like is Ether.

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

People always say that, and I just don't see it. I'm still waiting for someone to break down the genius of Nas to me. I'm beginning to think this is one of those things that society just agrees upon without any real reason. To this day the only Nas song I genuinely like is Ether.

Have you ever listened to this album?

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Have you ever listened to this album?

Not only did I grow up in Queens when that album came out(read: heard it all the time), but I got it from a friend a couple of years ago just to see why everyone thought this was lyrically the greatest rap album ever(since many call him the greatest, but most will only get behind Illmatic as a great album). I listened to it many more times than I wanted to. Don't like the music, don't like the way he flows to the music, but I ignored that just to listen to the lyrics.

It was fine.

Don't see what all the hubbub is about.


*just checked to see if I deleted it yet. Nope, I still have it. I keep meaning to delete that thing. That's 60-80MB I could be using for an old In Flames album or something.*

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Not only did I grow up in Queens when that album came out(read: heard it all the time), but I got it from a friend a couple of years ago just to see why everyone thought this was lyrically the greatest rap album ever(since many call him the greatest, but most will only get behind Illmatic as a great album). I listened to it many more times than I wanted to. Don't like the music, don't like the way he flows to the music, but I ignored that just to listen to the lyrics.

It was fine.

Don't see what all the hubbub is about.


*just checked to see if I deleted it yet. Nope, I still have it. I keep meaning to delete that thing. That's 60-80MB I could be using for an old In Flames album or something.*

Illmatic was just the beginning.

Not to turn this into a NAS thread, but "It was written" is a 2x Plat classic. "I Am" has some fire tracks..."Ny State of Mind" pt2...

Nastradamus was a failure.

Stillmatic w/ exception to "Braveheart Party" is a dope album through and through... "One Mic", "What Goes Around Comes Around", "Rewind"....just some great songs.

and "God's Son" is a classic too... "Made you Look"

...and I haven't even gotten to "The Firm".

Then there's collabos w/ AZ and Mobb Deep amongst other; Nas/Mobb Deep "Eye for an Eye"....classic.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Illmatic was just the beginning.

Not to turn this into a NAS thread, but "It was written" is a 2x Plat classic. "I Am" has some fire tracks..."Ny State of Mind" pt2...

Nastradamus was a failure.

Stillmatic w/ exception to "Braveheart Party" is a dope album through and through... "One Mic", "What Goes Around Comes Around", "Rewind"....just some great songs.

and "God's Son" is a classic too... "Made you Look"

...and I haven't even gotten to "The Firm".

Then there's collabos w/ AZ and Mobb Deep amongst other; Nas/Mobb Deep "Eye for an Eye"....classic.

That's all good, but please just show me the genius. At this point, I'm not debating with Nas fans anymore. I just would like to see a detailed explanation, using an entire verse as an example, showing why his stuff is on another level from every other rapper.

That's an official request. Take a verse, break it down, show me the deeper meaning/wordplay/cleverness that makes Nas the best in your eyes.

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

That's all good, but please just show me the genius. At this point, I'm not debating with Nas fans anymore. I just would like to see a detailed explanation, using an entire verse as an example, showing why his stuff is on another level from every other rapper.

That's an official request. Take a verse, break it down, show me the deeper meaning/wordplay/cleverness that makes Nas the best in your eyes.

I'd say since God's Son...Nas has been on a different level. Ain't too many people rapping about much nowadays. There's a whole lotta **** goin on in this world, and JayZ is still partying at the club, Eminem is rapping about his internal battles/feelings, and Andre3000 is still digging out chicks. Regardless, Nas/Jr. Gong team up for a classic.

Take Nas' verse in "Patience":

Who wrote the Bible? Who wrote the Qur'an?
And was it a lightning storm
That gave birth to the earth
And then dinosaurs were born? damn
Who made up words? who made up numbers?
And what kind of spell is mankind under?
Everything on the planet we preserve and can it
Microwaved it and try it
No matter what we'll survive it
What's hu? what's man? what's human?
Anything along the land we consuming
Eatin', deletin', ruin
Trying to get paper
Gotta have land, gotta have acres
So I can sit back like Jack Nicholson
Watch niggas play the game like the lakers
In a world full of 52 fakers
Gypsies, seances, mystical prayers
You superstitious? throw salt over your shoulders
Make a wish for the day cuz
Like somebody got a doll of me
Stickin' needles in my arteries
But I can't feel it
Sometimes it's like 'pardon me, but I got a real big spirit'
I'm fearless.... I'm fearless
Don't you try and grab hold of my soul
It's like a military soldier since seven years old
I held real dead bodies in my arms
Felt their body turn cold, oh
Why we born in the first place
If this is how we gotta go?
Damn.

For me...a lot of what I like about Nas isn't his superb wordplay, and flow-skills but his ability to give me something to digest that is healthy for me...gives me something to think about, and isn't the McDonald's-brand hip-hop that is out today.

More on the way...

[Streets]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

More on the way...

Save your breath... I've done this before. Posts #49 and #55 in http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2038473910 for example. Some people just dont like Nas, and that's fine. For me...

1. Lupe Fiasco
2. Nas
3. Royce
4. B.I.G.

[mattlanta]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOedT_pLZqg

Lupe Fiasco ft. Bruno Mars - Nothin on You (Original)

Not sure if you guys heard that yet.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

I'd say since God's Son...Nas has been on a different level. Ain't too many people rapping about much nowadays. There's a whole lotta **** goin on in this world, and JayZ is still partying at the club, Eminem is rapping about his internal battles/feelings, and Andre3000 is still digging out chicks. Regardless, Nas/Jr. Gong team up for a classic.

Take Nas' verse in "Patience":



For me...a lot of what I like about Nas isn't his superb wordplay, and flow-skills but his ability to give me something to digest that is healthy for me...gives me something to think about, and isn't the McDonald's-brand hip-hop that is out today.

More on the way...

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.

Save your breath... I've done this before. Posts #49 and #55 in http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2038473910 for example. Some people just dont like Nas, and that's fine. For me...

1. Lupe Fiasco
2. Nas
3. Royce
4. B.I.G.

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.

[trobinson97]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOedT_pLZqg

Lupe Fiasco ft. Bruno Mars - Nothin on You (Original)

Not sure if you guys heard that yet.

Glad B.O.B got it in the end.

Spoiler

Ugh....no homo.

[JBH3]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

The below lyrics are from Nas/Damian Marley's co-Album "Distant Relatives". The song in question is called "Patience". The hook is the word patience in some sort of African dialect.

Who wrote the Bible? Who wrote the Qur'an?
And was it a lightning storm
That gave birth to the earth
And then dinosaurs were born? damn
Who made up words? who made up numbers?
And what kind of spell is mankind under?

Keeping the frame of reference w/ the song title I think a lot of what is said... asking questions of who wrote the bible, how did we all get here, etc. is just a reference to the song title. No one knows, no man can say w/ certainty why we are here, and all you can have is patience.

Everything on the planet we preserve and can it
Microwaved it and try it
No matter what we'll survive it
What's hu? what's man? what's human?
Anything along the land we consuming
Eatin', deletin', ruin
Trying to get paper
Gotta have land, gotta have acres
So I can sit back like Jack Nicholson
Watch niggas play the game like the lakers
In a world full of 52 fakers

Decrying the American way of life? Angry at what we've become as Americans maybe? At the same time mad at himself for falling into the same trap via being scarcastic/condescending to the luxury of sitting courtside like Jack (hey that kind of rhymes ).

Gypsies, seances, mystical prayers
You superstitious? throw salt over your shoulders
Make a wish for the day cuz

I take this as sort of wondering why people conduct these rituals. The person conducting them has no idea what they're really doing, and what they're doing is in fact NOT doing anything a la "Make a wish for the day cuz", stop wasting your time, do something to help your situation, or have patience that good will come your way. Throwing salt over your shoulder is not going to bring good luck.

Like somebody got a doll of me
Stickin' needles in my arteries
But I can't feel it
Sometimes it's like 'pardon me, but I got a real big spirit'

Perhaps referencing God ("somebody got a doll of me"), and the pain he's been put through a la "stickin needles in my arteries". But he can't feel it...so its perhaps the sin he has committed that he has not repented for or that he will be punished for, and he tries to affirm to himself that he has a big spirit, that he is a good person at his core.

I'm fearless.... I'm fearless
Don't you try and grab hold of my soul
It's like a military soldier since seven years old

I held real dead bodies in my arms
Felt their body turn cold, oh
Why we born in the first place
If this is how we gotta go?
Damn.

Stating how he's been desensitized since a youngster, and that his soul is much older. Questioning if he would've rather existed than to not have existed. Telling of the pain he's felt, not that he may have caused, and trying to use that to affirm his "big" spirit and his internal feeling of being good individual. I suppose asking the powers that be to have/show mercy on him.

In the end...it doesn't matter because you just have to have patience. No one knows.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Official Lupe Fiasco Thread

Thanks for doing that, man.