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100The 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.
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It turns out randomness makes for a surprisingly unifying concept.
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He makes UNKLE and Fall Out Boy sound fresher than Tricky Stewart.
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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.
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90This is rap of mesmerising, addictive quality, written and delivered by a master in charge of every aspect of his craft.
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This is certainly a breath of fresh air in what was a slow year for hip-hop.
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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.
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89The music is what makes Lupe's pretensions palatable.
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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.
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81Whether 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.