I agree with most of it. Great job expanding on the Infinite Jest comparison, and great job of interpreting the album while summing up Lupe as an artist. Sincerely glad to see you actually discussing music instead of just trolling.

I don't agree with the "they would admit that “not getting it” is the fault of the reader, not the writer" idea. Because the artist/writer is the one with the medium, and he's the one who is addressing an audience with his work. The burden is on the writer for his audience to understand; the burden is on the teacher for his students to understand. Lupe is the one with the pen. I'm not saying that he has to adjust his art to make it legitimate art, because he has all of his freedoms/choices as an artist; but if he wants people to understand him, it's his job to make them understand. Lupe seems to sometimes have what Writer Steven Pinker refers to as "the curse of knowledge: a difficulty in imagining what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know." Here's an article he wrote about this: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cause-of-bad-writing-1411660188

Tetsuo & Youth does sound natural and free in a way that his last two albums didn't. He does sound focused on creating something great that he stands behind, and I'm satisfied. I bought the record. I think there's a lot of merit RE: black kids not being able to be smart like white kids, but I don't think that his last two albums being panned/ignored critically is a situation of critics being unfair and not self-assured. I think it's a matter of Lupe 1.) having that "curse of knowledge," 2.) the interpretation that Lupe is intentionally going over heads.

And if you were right RE: what you said about critics with Lupe, what's the reasoning for them not feeling that way now? Tetsuo & Youth is getting props across the board: 86 on Metacritic, great reviews from fans and everywhere I've seen. I think it's perfectly reasonable to believe that Lupe made a record this time that is much better and more sincere-sounding than his last two, and that critics and listeners alike are happy to see that.