Lupe Fiasco confuses the shit out of me. I might have more of a love/hate relationship with him than I do with any other emcee out right now.
His great material is great. His shitty material is really shitty and made even more disappointing by the fact that you know, I know, and we all know he can do better. It’s one thing for a career “D” student to get the occasional “A” or “B,” but Lupe is a solid “B” student who (somewhat inexplicably) gets zeros on a good chunk of his exams.
Lupe’s fifth album, Tetsuo & Youth, is supposed to be out later this year. A track with pop music’s current “it” boy, Ed Sheeran, whiffed in the sales department, so we’ve moved on to “Mission.” The message is admirable-kick cancer’s ass!-and the vocals of prostate cancer survivor Charlie Wilson add some gravity to the tune. The shiny production is a little weird, but either Lupe’s message outshines the twinkiling synthesizers, or it’s not as annoying as it would be on, say, a 50 Cent song (not a random association–“Mission” does kinda sound like “AYO Technology.”
Anyway, check it out and let us know what you think.