Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Last Holiday season (2006), Lupe Fiasco burst onto the hip-hop/rap scene with his untraditional hit single, Kick, Push about a young romance based on skateboarding. This past holiday season (2007), Lupe Fiasco released his sophomore album, The Cool. One of the best indicators of promising greatness in an artist or band is the amount of growth shown in his or her sophomore album. In the past year, Lupe has grown musically – and lyrically – since his debut album, “Food & Liquor.” Lupe Fiasco has intentionally avoided the idea of what it is to “be cool” in the rap and hip-hop industry by telling stories through his lyrics and music. The title, The Cool comes from the track off of Lupe’s first album, “Food & Liquor.” The lyrics to the chorus of this song read, “This life goes passing you by/It might go fast if you lie/You go and you live then you die.../If life goes passing you by/Don't cry/If you breaking the rules/Making your moves/Paying your dues...Chasing the cool.”

Lupe is concerned with the direction hip-hop is headed and is concerned that hip-hop music has become consumed with rappers and their lifestyle while no longer focusing on the art of hip-hop and rap. Lupe follows up the song, The Cool with, The Coolest on his sophomore album. This song follows the life of the man described in the song, The Cool before his death and his journey to become “the coolest nigga.” He warns at the end of the song, “And keep your faith, as we chase/...The Cool” This song definitely works as an introduction to the “tales” of The Cool that are woven throughout this album.

The entire album is based on the history and life of The Cool, Michael Young History, and his destruction due to his lover, The Streets. As her name represents, it is “the streets” that have ruined rap music, and Lupe finalizes this idea in one of his final tracks, Hello/Goodbye (Uncool). This song chronicles the end of Michael Young History’s life, which ultimately, would lead right up to the song The Cool on his first album. Lupe prophesizes what happens to those who are consumed by the life of streets in the second verse of the song, “He once was a hero they don't love him no more.” Talent is not just found in a hit song or a lifestyle or a fad, and Lupe Fiasco is absolutely aware of this. He, therefore, has created another incredible, smash album that focuses on this message, and in the process, has totally and completely proven his worth as a great and promising artist in the hip-hop music industry.