by
Lupe Fiasco
- Record Label: Atlantic
- Release Date: Sep 25, 2012
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Oct 31, 2012What 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.
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Sep 26, 2012It has its own moments of pop-leaning lightness, but there's more than enough revolutionary material here to leave the faithful satiated.
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Sep 25, 2012With 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.
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Sep 25, 2012He'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.
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Entertainment WeeklyOct 2, 2012He could use a little more production sugar to chase his socially conscious medicine on this restless, claustrophobic sequel. [5 Oct 2012, p.77]
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Oct 2, 2012Food And Liquor II feels more inspired than its predecessor from the start-not just in its florid production, a substantial improvement over Lasers' big-box synths, but also in Fiasco's rapping.
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Sep 26, 2012Making an album is a team game, and the end product isn't big enough, not quite as daring or bold as we may well have expected.
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Oct 4, 2012At best you could call Food and Liquor II a slightly above-average rap album.
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Sep 27, 2012This is a fine collection of socially inquisitive rap music that would have probably even served as a competent swan song, had Fiasco actually decided to call it quits for good.
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Sep 25, 2012A challenging set that refuses to settle for easy rhymes or facile ideas.
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Sep 25, 2012As with many of his songs, the lyrical value (clever, cerebral) is far greater than the musical value (sluggish, meandering). It's much more about delivering a message and provoking debate than replays.
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Sep 25, 2012Lupe's dexterity remains his greatest asset.
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Oct 12, 2012Some of these tracks give Lupe the room to triumph... But he falters on the frivolous "Heart Donor."
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Oct 4, 2012Food & Liquor II is fine and good. It's just not The Great American Rap Album.
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Sep 25, 2012The tunes are pugnaciously mass-market, with debts to Kanye West. Throughout, though, tracks such as ITAL (Roses) and Audubon Ballroom come inflected with righteous fury and weary humour.
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Sep 25, 2012Fiasco turns Food & Liquor II into one long tirade -- everything sucks and no one's going to fix it.
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Sep 25, 2012Food & Liquor II has the usual Lupe deficiencies: a hectoring tone ("Bitch Bad") and bombastic beats that pile-drive messages home. He's better when he relaxes a little: Songs like "Hood Now," a celebration of black cultural takeover, have a lighter touch, and hit twice as hard.
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Sep 27, 2012Fiasco is not without skills or beliefs, but neither are as refined as his self-regard.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 68 out of 94
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Mixed: 17 out of 94
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Negative: 9 out of 94
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Sep 26, 2012
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Sep 29, 2012
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Sep 26, 2012