Basically, beats are great, and his lyrical content rivals his idol, Nas, in every song. He's unreal, the way he plays with words "They accented like the UK" when its also "They Axe-ented like the UK" in I Gotcha. He's from Chi-City, which is where I'm from, but there's no bias here, he's the savior of hip-hop

This combo of food and liquor makes me wanna throw up. No reason for the hype...I guess it just disapoints on a grander scale cause of it. I rather eat some Chicken and Beer...not cheap liquor and stale food. Boooo this album!!!

Great black album

Great debut album, if talent related to album sales he would be doing 50 cent numbers.

A PHENOMENAL debut album from Lupe Fiasco. Engaging originality in the subject matter of the lyrics and great production. It's a damn shame that people like Shop Boyz will sell while Lupe will have to peddle out amazing albums year after year to try and get recognition.

If anybody can see this album as less than a 9 or a 10 then you know nothing about hip hop or music in general because the skills showcased on this album is incredible. The storytelling, the metaphors, beat selection, concepts and lyrics are all original and great. I met Lupe and I asked him to sign this album instead of the Cool because I think this one will be the one we remember in 10 years.

This is without a doubt the best rap album in the last 15 years! Lupe definitely gives Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, Common, Kanye and all the other rappers in the game a run for there money in terms of being a story-teller and poet. Great, great album.

This is the best hip hop album ever created. Number 1 on my top ten hip hop albums of all time and shortly followed by the cool. It's hard to decide whether the cool or food and liquor is better but I'd have to go with food and liquor only because nobody in the history of the genre has ever put out such an extraordinary piece on a debut album. I still listen to the album the entire way through at least once a week and it's been over 2 years.… Expand

DUDE LUV how can u say this is a bad album. at the most there is 2 bad weak songs on it. are u tipsy or jus deaf. BEST ALBUM OF 06!!!!

Classic.

far too overprocduced, his lyrics are completely uninteresting and he can't keep up with the pacing of the beats. overhyped to the extreme.

lyrically and conceptually absolutely amazing. challenges donuts and game theory for best hip hop album this year.

Great album. It is easily one of the best albums of the year.

Best debut rap album since Reasonable Doubt

Best album to come out (Until Ye's on December 11th. Im praying for that release date Kan!).

Intellegent lyrics all around. This is what Hip-hop should be. Enjoyable and Amazing Production.

quite possibly the best album of the year.. lyrically stimulating verses filled with extended metaphors and vicious wordplay over these infectious beats makes this album a hip-hop classic in my eyes.. it sucks that ignorant people cant apprecate the album because they cant decipher his rhymes but ohh well, he is the truth

Honestly, this is kind of overrated and pretentious. The rapping and lyrics are generally great, but the hooks are rather anoying with a couple of exeptions. Should have been delivered more raw with less commercial aspirations, then this could have been a contender for classic status. Lupe has great potential, but needs some songcraft honing and better production.

Definitely the future of hip-hop. Common sense and real thoughts in a sea of 'club tunes'. People don't just have to dance all the time. But if you want to, you still can with this album. Good under any state of mind. Brilliant, even.

The thing that makes Lupe's music so good is that he talks about things that are important in the world not cars, big screen tvs and gettin some. Its shame his album hasnt sold more copies this guys music is pure genious.

Love his lyrics.. his beats are fire and he's just great overall.. he's bringing something new to what is now called hip-hop!

One of the best debuts I've heard by anyone in a long, long time. Full of brilliant songs.

Better than most mainstream hip-hop, but it's by no means perfect, and there are much more skillful and innovative artists out there.

da best album of 06 so far

Fantastic album, really well built and with great collaborations.

Excellent representation of Lupe

Can be categorized alongside Arrested Development, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, De La Soul, Nas, The Roots, and John Legend. None of the songs are classics (or particularly original), though 'Kick, Push' comes close. He is young and has time and the potential to develop as an artist into something special, but needs to avoid being a cliche.

This album is bangin' from beginning to end...a MUST have for '06 and the rest of your life!!!

Best album of 2006 so far.

A refreshing, insightful approach to Hip-Hop music that hasn't been around since the hay-days of A Tribe Called Quest, or the advent of Eminem. Completely original style and music sampling, just short of genius. A must buy, by all means.

Best Cd Of The Year

This is the best album i've herd all year the beat the lyrics are all whoa.

Best Rap Album of the Year

This is classic Status. The only drawback that most people may find in this is there is really no standout track, U know how you can tell what will be the next single on most Cds it's just about impossible to tell on this one. But my man is representin' My State to the fullest. It's better then rhymefest(Blue collar was great but "Food & Liquor" is ridiculous) It's better then College Dropout and Late Registration. It will take a few times through to catch the lyrical content in this one but If he don't get at least mentioned in the New Artist awards next year I'm not ever watch another award show again, I say this is one above The Roots "Game Theory" So that makes this cd. Best Hip Hop album of the year in my book.… Expand

Best rap album I've picked up since The College Dropout. definately worth every penny.

THE best hip hop album of the year by far and the best to come along in a loooong while. Lupe's bringing intelligence back to the game and does it in fine fashion. Looking forward to the follow-up.

Best Rap Album of the Year

Lupe has gifted us with the most lyrically creative hip hop album in a long time. His innovation is spectacular, and refreshing to listen to. Perfect 10.

he's not rapping to his potential, and the beats are styrofoam nu-soul garbage. it could've been a good album, had it been produced by someone with vision. linkin park fans should keep their opinions to themselves.

a breath of fresh air in the monochromatic hip hop game

A solid CD from start to finish (okay, I didn't listen to all 11 minutes of the Outro....) It's as if Lupe took his notebook of poetry and sketches on society and set them to music...with the help of some of the best producers (Jay-Z and Kanye West) and collaborators such as Jill Scott. This is not traditional hip-hop...what to make of songs such as Kick, Push; Instrumental; and Hurts Me Soul, where he disses Jay-Z! Lupe is like the one honest person that you know that says everything he feels, whether or not that makes him popular. I didn't think there would be a better rap CD than Fishscale this year, but Food & Liquor may be the best overall CD of the year; certainly the most original.… Expand

sweet, sweet CD. Nothing bad about it.

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor is a classic hip-hop album. If you have any respect for the genre, you will love this album.

top class album, My second favorite rapper at the moment!

This guy is beyond amazing. Lyrically a genius. It's hard to believe that this album never sold well.

He's not THAT great of an emcee. The production isn't quite that strong and the lyrics and flow aren't masterful. He certainly shouldn't be drawing comparisions to Jay-Z and Kanye let alone Nas and Rakim.

Classic.

Lupe Fiasco is a Genius!!! This Album is as Hip Hop as any other Album that will ever be released; It is a Classic among some of the Greatest Hip Hop Albums of All-Time such as Ready To Die, Reasonable Doubt, Illmatic, The Chronic, Capital Punishment, Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, and The Marshall Mathers LP; Lupe is the Best Rapper Alive in my opinion and no one in the Game can compare with him Lyrically or Intellectually.… Expand

This will go down as one of the best hip-hop albums of all-time.

Great, great album. Probably, the best album of it's kind since Jay-Z's "The Blueprint".

Probably, one of the best albums in the last 10 years or so. This guy has a tremendous future ahead of him.

Lupe is hip-hop's savior.

This shit is the shit...cop it, listen, and use something else to break weed up on.

Lyrics of Talib united with the flow of Jay-Z, an unstoppable combination!!!

Excellent album. I enjoy a good majority of the songs. My favorite would definately be Kick, Push.

this is arguably the greatest cd made, ever

This album may be quite as NY Times says it is, but it beautifully pokes at todays culture.

one of the top five rap albums of all time. nuff said

This album was the best album of 2006, as far as hip-hop. Lupe was robbed of that Grammy. Subject matter & beats are all over the charts, which is what makes this album so lovable. Everybody can bob their head to at least one song. It's even got some spoken word going on at the beginning. I can't wait for The Cool to come out. Hopefully, it'll be just as good as his debut.

How Clipse got rated higher than Lupe...is a mystery, even though i loved Hell hath no fury...this is such a better album....production wise, and of course lyrics...Can't wait for the follow up which is called the cool, and it's due in the summer

thank god for Lupe...he is an original and may have resurrected hip hop from the dead...! best album of 06!

Best Hip Hop album I've heard as a whole in a while.

everything is hot!! even his beat!!!

I love this cd, but why is food & liquor higher voted then The Cool? wow.

Finally; a rapper talking about SOMETHING. Familiarize yourself with the concepet before listening to the concept tracks. (go to wikipedia or something).

Lupe is a true lyrical master. Skillfully crafting stories, wordplays, and perfect utilizing the beats that are amazingly done as well.

A great album. Good beats and good rhymes. You like hip-hop buy it !

The best Hip-Hop album of the year, It is up there with Kanye West's College Dropout. There isn't one bad verse on the album.

Its pretty incredible and immensely likable. The beats are just cracking and lupe is one of the best rappers out there. blending hip/hop and soul together to give an extraordinary atmosphere. The album is no masterpiece by any means, but the songs he say she say and sunshine (the best song on the album) are hip/hop soul classics, some of the best music i have ever heard in hip/hop. best songs- real, kick-push,he say she say, sunshine and pressure are in a league most artist will never reach in music!… Expand

Don't let his name mislead you. Hip Hop was not at a good place in that year (and its status has progressively gotten worse with a few sparks here and there). Nas' Hip Hop Is Dead was an alright effort but ultimately lacking. Jay-Z's so-called comeback didn't make impact. Kanye didn't release a single album that year. Eminem was in relapse. There wasn't anything of interest from the South, the dominant side of hip hop in terms of mainstream. Luda's album was bizarre, T.I.'s was a drag, even OutKast's long-awaited soundtrack was mediocre at best. So is there even a "best rap album" of 2006? Thankfully, we have a winner. Food and Liquor is one of the most pleasurable listens in a while dominated by one of the most refreshing voices in a VERY long time. No thug talk. No cocaine stories. No half-baked, misogynistic, and clumsy songs about **** and butts. Finally, we have someone who has a clear mind and vision on what he is to accomplish. This album is actually an implied threat to hardcore and gangsta rap. Instead, Lupe is somewhat of a geeky type of rapper. If others talk about coke, Lupe talks about robots. Others ride fancy cars, Lupe talks about skateboards. But yet it is far beyond material possessions. Kick, Push is a song about a young skateboarder who "kicks and pushes" on despite rejection. This isn't really a song about boards but rather a song about the lack of acceptance because of one's identity. The message is not struggle or happiness but rather hope in times of hostility. Another notable track, Hurt Me Soul, is Lupe's tirade on the sad side of life. Essentially it is a compilation of different views, from a prostitute to a slave. Lupe instead of ranting on the whores like a rapper would usually do, he sympathizes with their position even showing dislike towards hip hop for its degradation of women. Other tracks to note are The Cool and The Instrumental, two inventive storytelling raps. The background, though, gets a bit weird and corny. American Terrorist features a strange mix between orchestra and Arabian, which really don't fit for these songs. Pressure is also a pointless track that features a Lay-Z Jay-Z verse. Nonetheless, the album is so much better than the albums that did come out. But it isn't the best of the year. That would be Hell Hath No Fury by Clipse.… Expand

Food and Liquor was a well-rounded album touching on a variety of issues, ranging from the struggles of growing up in the streets to misguided racism. Named hip-hop’s savior by many Lupe Fiasco was able to make an album that redeemed hip-hop through bringing out the true face of hip-hop. Lupe brought back a smooth flow over smooth tracks with the repetitive use classical instruments such as strings and pianos in multiple songs. The song “Hurt me Soulâ€� embodies Lupe’s perspective of what he thinks hip-hop has become. In the first verse he clearly lays out how hip-hop has dissipated from what it used to represent. Lupe says that now hip-hop seems to be about “glamorized drug dealingâ€� and “gangster rap based moviesâ€� making these “poor living conditions and ignorant wisdomâ€� seem cool and hip for the sake of money by Hollywood and the media. As anyone who grew up amongst this turmoil can relate, there is no logic of how these unwanted unhealthy lifestyles became popular. But then again I suppose that it is within human nature to be drawn toward evil and immorality. While the rest of the world glamorizes his lifestyle Lupe says in “Hurt me Soulâ€� that growing up he remembers living in housing complexes with leaking ceilings and having to use pots to catch the rain water and that this is far from anything that should be idolized. Through his songs Lupe was able to clearly show himself to the world and not only brought out the unpopular and nerdy side of hip-hop that the world barely knew about but Lupe Fiasco also brought back the true form of hip-hop.… Expand

Great album, one of the best, if not the best hip hop album of all time. He has hands-down the best lyrical flow in the game, "Hurt Me Soul' is arguably one of the best, most meaningful songs ever.

First of all the people who reviewed this as a negative have no understanding of Hip Hop whatsoever. They obviously didn't listen to the lyrics at all or just dumb. 'DudeLuv' I suggest you listen to something like Soulja Boy because you do not understand Hip Hop. This is one of the most original, profound, ingenious and intelligent Hip Hop albums of all time. If this can't be acknowledged as one of the greatest, then there is no hope for Hip Hop fans or the genre itself.… Expand