This is my point: there's been a lot of conversation, pre-Tetsuo & Youth, about an audience not "getting" Lupe, right? I think that's more of a cause/effect with Lupe's style of writing, not a result of an insecure/unfair audience not wanting black artists to be smart. A big reason he has an audience in the first place is because of how smart his music has been, so this "listeners are insecure/they don't want black artists to be smart" idea just doesn't hold weight to me.

If he doesn't care if his audience gets it or not, then he doesn't have an obligation to speak in terms that they understand. Which is fine. But if people don't get it, I don't think it's their "fault" for not getting it; that's just one of the consequences that comes from making art that is challenging/dense/abstract. Some people are going to get it and/or like it, and some people won't.

Either Lupe doesn't realize that some people won't get it; he knows people won't get it but doesn't care; he makes his art that way for the sake of challenging his listeners to listen more closely; or he intentionally makes it that way so that only some people will get it. None of us really know which one/combo of those reasons applies, but the burden of making an audience understand is on the writer/creator. That just may be a fundamental disagreement we have on the relationship between artist and audience.

I think you're misplacing this idea of critics being insecure/unfair, and black artists not being allowed to be smart. It's definitely a valid idea in general, but w/Lupe, I think it's a deflection from the fact that Lupe sometimes just makes music that's tough to catch onto or isn't always dope musically.