First single, "AUTOBOTO".

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/31pih2HK5Vj1RwRXF0p6L7?si=103e29d06a4341af
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4UsypyJK6U

...just based on the title and album cover, tbh

also, good chance he painted that cover art.

Is that most of the folks the boards would have been celebrating then have either fallen off or release very little. Meanwhile Lupe, who got dragged for some pretty silly shit, has never stopped, was already great as a rapper, and has only gotten better --- regardless of where you place him, he should be on top x lists without question. Sort of fitting twist.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

Imagine being concerned with years old corny bullshit after all the dope shit Lupe has dropped. It was corny AF to be upset then but now???? LMFAO

Not to mention, folks completely missed his original point.


Lupe...immaculate rapper....for 10 tracks...jazz influenced...and dude is referencing some corny lesson shit from what? 12 years ago? more?


LOL

I had to google then searched in the archives. I was definitely afraid of posting in The Lesson back then so that's why I probably missed it lol

I get why people were mad but to still be mad about it now?

Also makes me think of something I've noticed. There are some artists who list some of my favorites as their most influential yet I do not like their music at all lol I'd rather someone grow up liking something I don't like but make something I do like than the other way around.

>I had to google then searched in the archives. I was
>definitely afraid of posting in The Lesson back then so that's
>why I probably missed it lol
>
>I get why people were mad but to still be mad about it now?

I can get being disappointed or a little upset for a week, tops.

Dude wasn't a Tribe fan like that. Maybe I can relate because I honestly wasn't either.

OkayPlayer took that shit more personal than anything else I can think of. Weirdo behavior.


But to STILL be upset about it- enough to not listen to him and to bring it up in the year of our lord 2022???? Shiiit.

Insane.


>
>Also makes me think of something I've noticed. There are some
>artists who list some of my favorites as their most
>influential yet I do not like their music at all lol I'd
>rather someone grow up liking something I don't like but make
>something I do like than the other way around.

This is a very good point/thought.


Lupe has made several Tribe-esque songs just on these last few albums...dudes are missing out.

Not sure what mythological group of Black people you are talking about, but most people who use the N-word in overgeneralizations are usually spouting some bullshit, so this is on brand.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

Drogas Wave was great so I'll definitely check out the new album

...stay retired

knew he would drop something soon so he could try to do the outshining this time

I have to suffer through an intentionally annoying chorus
Just to get into the barfest
…and then end the song with what the chorus should have been…
I’m here for it…but interesting choice

Single is cool. Definitely looking forward to the album.

https://www.ft.com/content/93535a24-5c90-43ee-bb16-58df6ef6dbb9

Rapper Lupe Fiasco: ‘It’s my job to shine light and expose the dark side’

The reluctant star on coming out of retirement, staying politically conscious and why he doesn’t like drill music

“I can take living in the ghetto, where there’s broken glass, prostitutes, empty lots and no prospects across a seven-mile radius, and make birthday cakes out of it!” says Chicago-born rapper Lupe Fiasco. “We take the least and make the most out of it... that’s what hip-hop’s sweet spot is.”

Listening to the 40-year-old (real name Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) dissect hip-hop culture is an illuminating experience, yet it’s also a surprise to hear him sounding so fired up again by the idea of rapping. Having made it big in the 2000s with two gold-selling albums, in 2016 the disillusioned emcee said he was retiring from performing altogether, a decision prompted by an online backlash against lyrics deemed antisemitic (Fiasco vehemently denies they were). In truth, even at the height of his fame, Fiasco always seemed a reluctant superstar.

Nine years ago, when his peers were busy aligning themselves with Barack Obama, Fiasco boldly criticised the recently re-elected US president at an inauguration event for turning a blind eye to Israeli violence in Gaza. Provocatively, he performed a 30-minute version of his 2011 protest song “Words I Never Said” before being forcibly removed by the heavies.

He has always been prepared to stand up for his principles, even when it has meant sabotaging his mainstream standing. One of his biggest hits, 2006’s Grammy-winning “Daydreamin’” (featuring soul icon Jill Scott), ridiculed rappers who flagrantly promoted drug use and misogyny, including the sarcastic rhyme: “Come on everybody let’s make cocaine cool/We need a few more half naked women up in the pool!”

Fiasco’s “retirement” was partly a reaction to some of the excesses of the rap industry. Yet, despite what he describes as a “passionate hatred” for the greed of the music business, he tells me it was impossible to walk away completely: “Rap for me is what I do naturally; the music business is what I choose to do.

“I care about rap, but I don’t care any more about the business side or selling records. I’ve always been a storyteller. When I was in the third grade, I wrote a play about a warring cat and mouse. I will be rapping right until the day I die.”

The artistic freedom that comes with being an independent artist (he left major label Atlantic Records in 2015) has resulted in his best album in years. In the jazz-enthused Drill Music In Zion, which will be released next month, the wordsmith reckons with the fact there were 800 homicides in Chicago in 2021. He mourns the loss of the city’s young drill artists FBG Duck and King Von, both murdered at 26 after their unapologetically macabre storytelling manifested into real-life tragedy. “Fame, all in the name of martyrdom,” Fiasco laments in one powerful new song.

“I will be blunt: I don’t like drill music,” he says of the dark sub-genre of rap that originated in Chicago and is built around warped basslines and morose lyrics. “The structure and segregation of Chicago means you could go from a Gangster Disciples to a Black Disciples hood just by crossing the street. These gangs are killing each other, so how am I going to drive through their neighbourhoods playing drill music out the window that boasts about their friends’ murders?”

Fiasco speaks from experience. “My brother was a high-ranking gang member. I have friends that are Vice Lords, so I get it. But drill scares me because I know what happens at the end of that road: most of you are going to die. We need these drill rappers to live longer, because we need their intellect out in the world. Don’t throw away your lives or your talent by being forced into unsafe situations. As consumers, I believe we need to do a better job of telling them that.”

Given the enormous global popularity of drill, Fiasco’s stance may ruffle feathers. However, anyone who has followed this artist’s career won’t be surprised by his fearlessness.

On his star-making, violin-heavy albums Food and Liquor (2006) and The Cool (2007), he balanced stadium-ready choruses about the lure of fame (“Superstar”) and black kids riding skateboards (“Kick, Push”) with deep cuts that humanised perpetrators (“American Terrorist”) and pointed out the west’s complicity in the use of child soldiers (“Little Weapon”). In this way, he helped continue the tradition of politically conscious rap in mainstream music that has inspired current stars such as Kendrick Lamar, Saba, Chance the Rapper and Noname.

In 2006’s “Conflict Diamonds”, he shone a light on slaves caught up in the trade of precious stones, highlighting the barbaric supply chain supported by bling culture: “Didn’t have a clue the rappers were helping the rapers... Burners of the businesses, and my bracelet was the fuel”. Like all of Fiasco’s best songs, it is full of double meanings waiting to be solved and helps you see the world through the eyes of the disenfranchised.

“Diamonds are shiny and fun for about an hour, right? But there’s also a dark side to how they are created,” he says now. “Have you ever seen a nightclub when the lights are turned on? It’s fucking gross. The paint is cheap, it’s sticky, the floor doesn’t match the walls. But in the darkness, you would never know any of this. It’s my job to shine that light and expose the dark side.”

In the past, he has been frank about his unhappiness with how he was treated by Atlantic Records, but since leaving the company he seems to have reached a more positive place of reflection. “Being on a major label allowed me to play to 40,000 people at Glastonbury. I travelled the world and brought those experiences back home with me. I just wish in those label meetings, where I felt degraded, that I’d shouted even louder.”

Despite only sporadically releasing music, Fiasco still attracts 4mn listens a month on Spotify and is confident his best work lies ahead of him. “We’re not basketball players, who have a limit to their bodies and taper off. Rappers only get more skilled as we get older, because we have more experiences to draw from... It isn’t about living for ever, ​​but living long enough to make a impact in the world that can’t be undone.”

‘Drill Music In Zion’ will be released on June 24

THE LION'S DEEN (FEAT. AYESHA JACO)
GHOTI
AUTOBOT (FEAT. NAYIRAH)
PRECIOUS THINGS (FEAT. NAYIRAH)
KIOSK
MS. MURAL
NAOMI
DRILL MUSIC IN ZION
SEATTLE (FEAT. NAYIRAH)
ON FAUX NEM

https://twitter.com/OnThinlce/status/1531448611644526592?t=sBRhBJwVniSmSgkpiwxzpA&s=19

for shame.

There's more in this interview here (https://www.okayplayer.com/music/lupe-fiasco-drill-music-in-zion-interview.html) but here's a relevant quote:

I think when people get the record and they hear the first track that my sister did, “Lions Deen” – she gives a great breakdown of all the different facets of what drill music is. The different types of drilling, the different types of what “Zion” means, kind of like her interpretation of that phrase. I actually pulled it from The Matrix Reloaded, so it started out as referencing that scene where the robots drill down into Zion. The last place where humanity can live and survive in the Matrix world, they call it Zion. I think my sister does a better job than me explaining it.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

https://open.spotify.com/track/7tTwAwHz8pDZOt2WVI8fmH?si=3e8f65ffb6ae4b55

Did Lupe just build all of a song's verses out of references to hands and hand gestures?

Yes, yes he did.

Also, he related the cover to PacMan on an Ebro interview and now every line feels like a potential PacMan easter egg, lol. (On KIOSK, something something about getting eaten by the blobs)

And he gave us Ms. Mural pushing Mural to trilogy status (Mural, Mural Jr, Ms. Mural) --- and it's as wild as you'd hope.

No larger opinions on the album right now (not done yet and will want a few listens) but I'm feeling genuinely grateful we've got him doing his thing.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

no complaints or bad tracks. a couple songs didnt blow me away and there were definitely some highlights on first listen but i dont think im close to beginning to digest it. thats part of what i love about lupe's music. it really does have layers and the more you go back to them the more you find. i didnt pick up on anything that you posted when i listened earlier. we will see on repeat listens.

on first listen id say its a great album.

>
>No larger opinions on the album right now (not done yet and
>will want a few listens) but I'm feeling genuinely grateful
>we've got him doing his thing.
>
~

feel the exact same way.
grateful this guy is still doing music at an extremely high level.
album sounded great first spin but can't wait to dig into even more

I thought it was just a different type of gangster rap but people seem to think drill is worse or more damaging to the community.

simplfying it a bit, but it's trap rap originating from South Side Chicago. So it's gangster rap, but it's not just storytelling and the typical "beef" you might be used to. It's actual gang members or associates advocating for real violence that leads to real people getting killed. These dudes will even release a song taunting the people killed, so you can imagine that the violence just continues and gets worse and worse.

Its going to take more time to digest but this is phenomenal.

Its already his most consistent album IMO. Even T&Y had one or two skips.


Thankful for this

Diamonds only worth what you are willing to pay
A deceptive game you are killing to play
Now I have diamonds, it's odd feeling this way
But when they start to sparkle that star-glittering glaze
It sways, takes your mind off todays
Where preachers can praise AIDS as God killing the gays
What a fucking phrase, never ceases to amaze
But when he dies from cancer, that's God's mysterious ways
Jesus saves African sold slaves

Might even be his best album. Definitely the most consistent since at least F&L, The Cool. Finally got rid of the bad hooks that often plague his releases, lyricism as sharp as ever, and jazzy production has always worked really well for him. Real happy with this album

>Might even be his best album. Definitely the most consistent
>since at least F&L, The Cool. Finally got rid of the bad hooks
>that often plague his releases, lyricism as sharp as ever, and
>jazzy production has always worked really well for him. Real
>happy with this album

I just revisited T&Y and Drogas Wave over the weekend --- they are *so* thoughtful and ambitious but also *so* bloated in their production and their length. Verse for verse, Lupe is better than ever, and conceptually both as albums and individual songs contributing to the albums, they're just on another level. And even the audacity of making these much longer-than-usual songs *and making them work* just floors me.

But it's hard to deny that they're just too long and the ideas and overall effect suffer because of it. I've come around on some of the production choices I've previously given the side eye to but even at that some production and hook choices are just ... yeah.

I think what I like about this album is that it uses concision to his benefit. It's not that he's abandoned the longer song format (that last cut is brutally good). He hasn't abandoned all his production quirks. But it's brought together here in a more chiseled shape that genuinely works.

That said, I'm not sure if this album has the highs for me that Tetsuo or Drogas Wave do. We'll see --- my opinion on those albums still changes by the day and I've been listening to them since their release, lol

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

Tetsuo and Drogas are severely overlooked masterpieces to me.

I agree they are long but man… I have a hard time finding fault with anything on them.

I need more time with this album. I love it like most of his work but it didn’t hit me as hard off the bat like the last two did.

I have this weird feeling that we're slowly getting back to something resembling thought provoking in hip-hop.

The beats are dope but almost secondary here. 10/10

I'm not quite convinced drill music is the great evil it's made out to be but I get the point. You could really make the same point about all hip hop/forms of communication if you wanted to.

Excellent music though. The rhymes are just a little bit over my head just like I like em.

Especially towards the end.

crazy I would still put this VERY GOOD album behind T&Y and Drogas Wave. That's the strength of his discography

>crazy I would still put this VERY GOOD album behind T&Y and
>Drogas Wave. That's the strength of his discography

1 Tetsuo & Youth
2 Drogas Wave
3 The Cool
4 Drill Music In Zion
5 Food & Liquor
6 Food & Liquor 2
7 Lasers
8 Drogas Light

It’s crazy that I have F&L at 5 but *shrugs*

Drill Music in Zion works more for me as a full listen.

My current ranking:

Drill Music In Zion *****
Tetsuo & Youth *****
Drogas Wave *****
The Cool ****
Food & Liquor ****
Pharaoh (EP) ****
Drogas Light ***
Food & Liquor II ***
HOUSE (EP) ***
Lasers ***


So I don't dislike any of his albums, but when it comes to replay value, everything up until Pharaoh stays in (heavy) rotation.

Also I need a Lupe Fiasco "Lost Tapes" album/project

>
>Drill Music in Zion works more for me as a full listen.
>
>My current ranking:
>
>Drill Music In Zion *****
>Tetsuo & Youth *****
>Drogas Wave *****
>The Cool ****
>Food & Liquor ****
>Pharaoh (EP) ****
>Drogas Light ***
>Food & Liquor II ***
>HOUSE (EP) ***
>Lasers ***
>

I have no problem with these rankings but I'd have HOUSE higher for SHOES alone.

Can't go wrong with that top 4...the order will probably change by the day. This new one is absolutely on that level and may end up being tops.

I hope it gets the love it deserves.


>Also I need a Lupe Fiasco "Lost Tapes" album/project
>

Definitely.

I'd also love a proper live version of F&L or a rerecorded version...the gasping still distracts me there. I will always wonder why no engineer or producer or Lupe himself didn't do something about it.

forced to choose I'd say, top 3 shift on a given day though


Drogas Wave *****
Tetsuo & Youth *****
Food & Liquor *****
The Cool ****
Drill Music in Zion ****
Pharaoh (EP) ****
Food & Liquor II ***
Drogas Light ***
HOUSE (EP) ***
Lasers ***

I'm really interested in what's coming next for Lupe. It sucks that Drogas Wave and now DMIZ are going largely unnoticed but Lupe is putting out some really masterful works now that he's gone indie.

>Also I need a Lupe Fiasco "Lost Tapes" album/project
>
>
>
>

look for an album called Lost in the Atlantic. has many loosies like Next to It with Ty Dolla Sign. Also his youtube has many of more recent freestyles and unreleased stuff

wasn't able to get into Drogas Wave but album had me nodded my head hard AF waiting in the supermarket

My only complaint is that all the beats are kinda smooth, laid back, and jazzy. If your going to name the album DRILL Music in Zion, have at least one track that bangs. I just realized a lot of my favorite Lupe tracks are him rapping over other people's beats

Kiosk was the one that hit me hardest so far

I really like this type of Lupe. It's like a rhyming blog post with a salient point. Finally remembered to listen to it while closing the bar tonight and wound up with it on repeat three times over.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I still don't know where to place it amongst his best but it's definitely up there. At times I feel like it's missing a punch that his previous two albums had but there are no low spots on it. I feel like it gets better as it keeps going too.

I'm also kind of fascinated by autoboto. Is he doing this style as a joke, as a statement, is it sincere? Does Lupe doing it put the nail in this style? lol It feels kind of like Don’t Say Nuthin’ but better executed.

Right now it feels like it will remain my favorite of albums that have come out so far this year.

I think it's the 'radio single' track to pull people in - it's got a nice beat and he flows nicely on it. That part in the hook sounds like "I'm Carrera, era, era, error, error, error, error..." to me, so I'm interpreting that as a glitch in the matrix (i.e. the real message is in the album), which ties into the whole drilling into Zion thing.

>I'm also kind of fascinated by autoboto. Is he doing this
>style as a joke, as a statement, is it sincere? Does Lupe
>doing it put the nail in this style? lol It feels kind of like
>Don’t Say Nuthin’ but better executed.

even surpassing Black Thought, Shawn Jay, GZA, etc.



http://art-------school.com/

https://ibb.co/k4m6n8C

Part of technique is making music that resonates in the heart. He's mastered the head part. But his music doesn't resonate emotionally as much.

Who does it have to connect emotionally to for you to check that box?

me. imo

you trippin'.

Granted there are a few that are up there- Thought, BlackStar, JID, Elucid, Woods' new one, Kendrick, Elzhi....I know I'm forgetting some.


But this shit right here might top it all. It might not have the highs of some of his other albums but this shit is perfect to me. Play it straight through every time. Lupe is spitting...the production is perfect for him.


My only thing is 100 Chicagos would have fit seemlessly but very minor gripe if you can even call it that.


This is just an excellent fucking album.

for me right now its between cheat codes, drill music in zion and melt my eyez

i think melt my eyez might be the one but all three are great. the elzhi one is not far behind.

I think it would've been cool to start the album with it, and then have Seattle end the album....but IDK.

I like your idea but On Faux Nem is the perfect closer to me.


Maybe right before Autoboto?

He’s such a good rapper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygUCRN65avY&ab_channel=LupeFiasco



I'm not saying I understand anything about it the first run through, but very creative. Props to Lupe man.