I’ve been very open about my feelings for these two albums as I think they are two of the greatest pieces of art to ever come from the Hip-Hop genre.

Lupe has sadly become criminally under-appreciated as a whole.

Now that Drogas Wave has had its 1-year anniversary, how do you rate these albums against each other?

Poll result (30 votes) T&Y (15 votes) Vote DW (15 votes) Vote

because I feel like I’m still digesting the first one. And the Pharoah Height EP.

I haven’t always known what to make of Lupe, but I’m glad we’ve got him. Amazing talent.

Even when I started getting into it I favored the Wave section, but over the last 6 months this is my most listened to album and that final stretch of Cripppy thru Mural Jr is some of the best music of the decade. Only thing I'm not feeling about the album is too much Nikki Jean, but otherwise I love it. It's in my top 5 of the decade.

T&Y is also great, Mural is one of my favorite songs of the decade, and like DW, was a slow burn before it finally clicked.

Lupe had a hell of a decade.

and it’s not even close. I love T&Y, too. Still listen to it all the way through. It has some songs that I don’t exactly love, but can tolerate. DW, on the other hand, is absolutely flawless, in my eyes. It’s so well put together and has some of Lu’s most well-crafted songs...including probably my favorite Lupe song: WAV Files.

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i really think its Lupe's masterwork personally
I know everyone here was all about Drogas, but that shit fell flat for me for the most part.
Those fake spanish and Jamaican accents on Wave? lol. And the beats on Drogas didn't really grab me. There were definitely still some good tracks in there (Haile Selassie, Cripple, King Nas), but compared to T&Y? its not even close IMO. But i know some cats feel the exact opposite. All good.

I love that album. Tetsuo and Youth was too esoteric for me, but I'm glad other people liked it. I could follow the narrative/concept much better in Drogas Wave.

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It annoys tf outta me that the concept of Drogas Wave only runs for less than half the album. Then it's just a bunch of tracks. Some of them very good tracks, but still. If you're gonna make a concept record, make a concept record.

And bruh. Do not give me 24 track fucking album.

--

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As an album I want to put on and zone out to (in the best way): T&Y. All the best aspects of Lupe are on display on that album yet it avoids feeling overly bloated for most of the record (it's a bit long, but...).

BUT

As a (mostly) concept album, Drogas was exceptional in its structure and narrative and in many ways outruns T&Y.


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T&Y is more efficient but drogas is so good too. cant vote on this yet.

I find that T&Y flows better straight thru than WAVE does.

For me, I tend to listen to records on WAVE in pieces....where as on T&Y once I got rid of the interludes and Blur My Hands (I really dislike that song) I can bump it all the way thru.

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>I find that T&Y flows better straight thru than WAVE does.
>
>For me, I tend to listen to records on WAVE in pieces....where
>as on T&Y once I got rid of the interludes and Blur My Hands
>(I really dislike that song) I can bump it all the way thru.

though I actually like the interludes. I do really hate Blur My Hands though.

And sometimes I'm not in the mood for Chopper.


That said, its an amazing album and his most consistent imo. If I had to pick his best, it would be between T&Y and The Cool. I'd probably lean The Cool, but that is probably nostalgia.

DW is definitely third though, and excellent as well.

which was the point I guess.

I'm still baffled how Tetsuo & Youth wasn't on every album of the year list when it came out. Love Lupe and wish he got more love.

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Not to make it a debate but I really felt that album deserved the praise that To Pimp A Butterfly got.

I also agree that if I go with T&Y it’s due to how concise it is. 12 songs and 4 interludes; which I don’t mind.

Wave is a long listen but I do love everything on there.

It just seems like there’s one dot I’m not connecting to push it over the top.

With that said, I don’t think there’s any question it’s the best double album in hip-hop and I know that those debates are ultimately pointless but it sucks that Lupe isn’t in conversations like that.

I go with T&Y because I think the album as a whole flows better from beginning to end.
I agree with you tho: both of these joints are among the best pieces of work ever produced in the genre

T&Y gets my vote, but it was important due to deeply
personal reasons, which isn't a fair reason, but it
is a reason

That said:

Drogas Wave does continue to grow

I saw the video for Cripple was was like:

"Yep, that's one of the best songs ever made"

... before DROGAS Light dropped, Lupe was speaking on why he decided to do two different versions of DROGAS, and he said something along the lines of wanting to separate "champagne Lupe" (Light) and "moonshine Lupe" (Wave), and it was evident in each of the finished products that he was successful in doing that

However, I personally believe Lupe is at his best when the two are successfully fused together. And I believe that T&Y was his best and last piece of work with the two Lupes merged. The lyrics beat you over the head, but the beats made them go down easier

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but man it's hard. on the strenght of both these albums I've gone back and gotten into Drogas Light, though nowhere near as good as these two it's a solid entry in his catalog IMO.

Both these albums stayed in constant rotation for me, but I feel like i've heard Drogas Wave more than T&Y and i go back to it more, at least recently. on my Spotify year end wrap up it was my #1 album.

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I dig the content and song writing more on T&Y.

I don’t want to need an encyclopedia and / or google to listen to an entire album.
I’m all for learning through hip hop, so more power to Lupe and guys like him
that stretch hip hops boundaries, adding more interesting content and concepts through imaginative lyricism.
But DW is an extremely dense body of work, a bit too complex for me to actually want to listen to it a lot. It’s not something I found myself wanting to just play in the truck, or cleaning around the house. It’s def a headphones album, but not for its mix.
I can liken it to a thesis for a masters.

-----
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I will say that Lupe does a great job in my opinion of making his dense art easily accessible. I feel as though I can throw on his albums and simply enjoy the vibe, musically and lyrically, without actually focusing on the content or lyrics.

That due to him still writing these dense lyrics to the beat and maintaining a flow and rhymes scheme that works musically as opposed to solely lyrically.

Most lyrical MCs fail at that and you can tell they don’t write to the music.

That’s an extremely hard thing to accomplish and it makes me appreciate Lupe and his music even more.

For one, both are incredible records. Not great. Incredible.

But T&Y is definitely a more complicated listen than
DW.

DW is much easier listening.

Not even close.