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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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The Cool
by Lupe Fiasco
The sophomore album for the rapper from Chicago features artist such as Snoop Dogg, Pooh Bear and Unkle.
| LABEL: |
Atlantic/Wea |
| RELEASE DATE: |
18 December 2007 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rap |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
RapReviews.com
The Cool picks up right where "Food & Liquor" left off, once again using his Muslim background and Chi-Town sensibilities to inform his perspective without being rigidly bound by either.
91
MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
He makes UNKLE and Fall Out Boy sound fresher than Tricky Stewart.
91
Entertainment Weekly
It turns out randomness makes for a surprisingly unifying concept.
91
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Though its conceptual component feels fuzzy and abstract at best, The Cool oozes geek chic with terrific songs, smart, dense lyrics, and nimble, eclectic production.
90
The New York Times
Lupe Fiasco and his producers--mostly Soundtrakk--have clarified the lyrics and brought out the hooks. The result is a three-act allegory that’s also one of the year’s best hip-hop albums.
90
Delusions of Adequacy
This is certainly a breath of fresh air in what was a slow year for hip-hop.
90
Dot Music
This is rap of mesmerising, addictive quality, written and delivered by a master in charge of every aspect of his craft.
89
Austin Chronicle
Make no mistake, The Cool's stuffy and its plot a bitch to decipher (only four joints detail the story), but every 16-bar verse is stuffed, even the glitzy Snoop collab, "Hi-Definition," with zingers garnishing crates of encrypted metrical compositions that demand critical analysis from student groups of no more than four, no less than two to a table.
89
Lost At Sea
The music is what makes Lupe's pretensions palatable.
81
Pitchfork
Whether he delivered on the full extent of what he wanted to achieve is up for debate; luckily, he's good enough that even when he comes up short, he's still better than most.
80
Boston Globe
Fiasco builds on that promise [in "Food & Liquuor"] exponentially with the triumphant Cool, which gets extra style points for bringing back the idea of the headphones hip-hop album.
80
Village Voice
A neat trick folded into The Cool is that Lupe proves rap is still creative enough to indulge bugged-out ambitions, and he doesn't just brag about what a smart-ass he is.
80
Rolling Stone
The Cool goes for softer, jazzier R&B hooks, yet the lyrics are even tougher in their street-level attack on hip-hop materialism.
80
Q Magazine
This doesn't disappoint, adding emotional depth to his complex rhyming and heft to the productions. [Mar 2008, p.103]
80
musicOMH.com
Lupe Fiasco's intelligent lyrics and strong beats keep him a comfortable arms-length away from hip-pop, without displaying any signs of the arrogance of a Kanye West, just an intelligent social awareness.
75
Los Angeles Times
Though there's much to admire about Fiasco's idealism and poetic skill, he can also be annoying the way an excessively, politically correct person in your social circle can be annoying.
70
PopMatters
The Cool becomes another quite good 70-minute album that could have been a damn flawless 50-minute album with a bit of editing.
70
The Phoenix
Lupe’s new sophomore disc, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool (Atlantic), is way too long.
70
Spin
Fiasco approaches his second album as if it's his last chance to get all his conflicted ideas out into the open.
70
New Musical Express
This Chicago MC keeps high-concept gibberish to a minimum, packing his second album with rhymes about robots and skateboards that nonetheless roll with the sort of swagger which leaves other brainbox rappers red-faced and grasping for their inhalers.
70
The Wire
The best cuts come courtesy of Chi-town's Soundtrakk, whose Native Tongues love knows no bound, while newcomers Chris & Drop provide notably solid beatwork for 'Gold Watch.' [Apr 2008, p.71]
68
cokemachineglow
'Superstar' boasts a sanguine hook and a sophisticated mess of rhymes about fame and backlash and fandom and such. Unfortunately much of the rest of the record lacks this clarity, and while the first part of that “sophisticated mess” description remains valid the second part becomes dominant.
60
Drowned In Sound
A comparatively sterile shadow of its predecessor.
60
The Guardian
You're left with an album that succeeds despite itself, but succeeds nonetheless.
60
Urb
There's a psyche-rock track with UNKLE on here, for chrissakes. But yeah, dude has skills.
60
All Music Guide
Even considering the over-abundance of elaboration on all fronts, it's a credit to Lupe that he has made an album that cannot be processed after one or two listens, and if you have the time, its inscrutability turns into mere complexity.
60
Sputnikmusic
Surprisingly, The Cool works as an album despite its many obvious flaws: the pop tracks are as good as anything from his debut, and his attempts to branch out are at least hit and miss, with exciting tracks like ‘Little Weapon’ and ‘Dumb It Down’ breaking the monotony of his soapbox moments.
60
Blender
The CD is loosely tied together by a browbeating concept that condemns the glorification of Scarface-style violence and disposable pop-rap, but the moralism is as trite as a Tony Montana reference.
40
NOW Magazine
The problem is that he hasn’t yet developed a signature sound that immediately identifies a track as his own, nor is he capable of writing the sort of provocative rhymes that stand out.
40
Uncut
This simply sounds like junior Jay-Z. [Mar 2008, p.96]
The average user rating for this album is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 125 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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