Food & Liquor, Vol. 2: the Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1 - Lupe Fiasco
Food & Liquor, Vol. 2: the Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1 Image
Metascore
70 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 53 Ratings

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  • Summary: Lupe Fiasco's third album was self-produced and features guest appearances by Bilal, Casey Benjamin, Guy Sebastian, Jane $$$, Jason Evigan, and Poo Bear.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. The Quietus
    Oct 31, 2012
    90
    What it proves to be is an exhilarating, uneven, thought-provoking, over-egged, over-long, lucid, barnstorming, soul-infused hip-hop album of a type that, as I may have mentioned once or twice or five times, you just don't get any more. Except, of course, you do, and here it is.
  2. XXL
    Sep 25, 2012
    80
    He's not always as nuanced as he's shown the ability to be, and can indeed come off preachy, so those with already established ideologies may find aspects of this album off-putting.
  3. HipHopDX
    Sep 25, 2012
    80
    With Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1, Rap's resident Judo master of juxtaposition sounds inspired again, dishing out shifting dichotomies through a scattering of deliveries without encroaching on petulance.
  4. Consequence of Sound
    Oct 12, 2012
    60
    Some of these tracks give Lupe the room to triumph... But he falters on the frivolous "Heart Donor."

See all 18 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 18
  3. Negative: 1 out of 18
  1. hiphophideout
    9
    Lupe Fiasco is a technically talented emcee, but that
  2. ajmueller95
    8
    It's good to have Lupe Fiasco back. I usually find that the production on Lupe Fiasco albums is a little different from most other emcees, and the first listen was a little jarring because of it. But once I listened to the album a second time, the tracks seemed to flow a lot better. Lupe Fiasco albums always grow on me, so I know that I'll start to appreciate the album even more as time goes on, and you are going to need a lot of listens to truly appreciate the songs. The track are jam-packed with metaphors and allusions and other things of that nature in the standard Lupe Fiasco style. With this is mind, it took me a little while to discover the nuances and subtle word plays in the songs. I'm somewhat of an amateur hip-hop listener, so I'm sure it'll take all of you a lot less time to experience all the subtle tricks Lupe pulls. This album goes into a lot of interesting themes, but you probably already know that. The standout tracks to me are "Unforgivable Youth", "Battle Scars", and "Cold War". My only major gripe is that Lupe should probably loosen up a bit. He seems to sound better when he takes things a little less seriously and relaxes. But overall, this is a great album that you all should totally listen to.… Expand
  3. sadrans
    7
    It's pretty good. A return to form of sorts. You should know that they totally incorrectly pulled the Pitchfork review, though. That one's for his first album.… Expand
  4. blogfirstlast
    4
    Extremely disappointed with this release. I guess the title mislead me. Food and Liquor was one of the best releases of the last decade. This album was nothing like the ambitious Food and Liquor. The beats were terrible and the lyrics were to focused with philosophy. Also throughout the album he had this repetitive lazy flow.… Expand

See all 18 User Reviews

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