Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

More than a rapper, more than an entertainer, Lupe Fiasco is a storyteller. And a good one at that. In his latest saga, The Cool, we follow the story of a young man, rising from the grave after being murdered, visiting the all too familiar streets of Urban America.

The Cool is a concept album in the truest sense. It has an obvious theme(s), involves distinct characters, and has a clear yet difficult message: “They think it’s to stand on the block/Hiding product in their socks/Making quick dime-bag dollars/Freeze/The problem is/We think it’s cool too.”

The album tackles our society’s sick fascination of crime, violence, power, sex, and fame with a fresh perspective. There are numerous MCs with a keen social awareness, but none with the special and particular lyrical skill of Lupe Fiasco. He is able to step back and look at how greed in the upper class, poverty in the lower class, irresponsibility of the media, the indifference of everyone, all somehow interconnect and with an clever flow.

Throughout the central narrative of the album there is a sprinkling with other small stories. “Superstar” tells the story of the struggles and influences faced by a high-class celebrity. “Hip Hop Saved My Life” chronicles a young man trying to make out of poverty through the more-than-often empty promise of rap stardom, before turning back to selling cocaine. “Gotta Eat” is the tale of an ambitious hustler and “Put You on Game” speaks of the many embodiments of the destructive Cool (The Cool was the only other character I could clearly make out, although it could be argued that there are more included in the album). By giving his commentary in narrative style, Fiasco makes the daunting problems facing our society understandable, grasping, commanding a response.

Although there are numerous layers, important themes and messages lyrically, there is something left to be desired in the musical delivery. Fittingly, The Cool is a very dark album, but there is a heavy rock and roll presence in the drumbeats and guitar sections that made the tracks bland and I don’t think that is the most suitable musical framework for Lupe’s style. Also, the songs had no context that I think that is a necessary thing for a concept album to have. When I think of the tracks on other concept albums -OK Computer, Dark Side of the Moon, even The Love Below - I think of how different, and worse, the album would be if the songs were not in their place but I did not get that sense listening to The Cool. The tracks were not unique enough in themselves to give the album the completeness I desired.

On the contrary, two tracks that did stand out with incredible strength: “Gold Watch” and “Gotta Eat.” Both are especially catchy and move with more classic hip-hop looping beats and funk-soul melodies—a sound more suitable for Fiasco’s lyrical presence. I hope that Lupe leans more in this musical direction for his next album that he forecasts at the end of the album as the LUPEnd. Whatever that means.

The Cool is more thought provoking than entertaining, which some might find as a positive more than others. In the end, this tale has many more things to appreciate than to simply enjoy and solidifies Lupe as one of the smartest and creatively conscious rappers in the business today.