Lets start with the Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor 2 album cover.
It’s classic Lupe Fiasco and so brilliant, similar to his Friend Of The People mixtape cover, your left asking yourself WTF. This is exactly the reaction that Lupe wants from you.
Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)
The album isn’t without it’s fair share of controversy, Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free) the first release from the album which sampled Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “T.R.O.Y.” was the first bump in the road leading up to the release of this album.
When Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth dropped “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” 20 years ago, the celebrated rap duo was still reeling over the unexpected death of their dear friend Troy “Trouble T” Dixon of Heavy D & the Boyz.
What began as the most personal of lyrical eulogies soon became an iconic hip-hop track.
When Lupe Fiasco remade the T.R.O.Y. instrumental for Around My Way, Pete Rock decide to let his thoughts be known.
“No disrespect to lupe fiasco and i like him alot but TROY should be left alone. Feel so violated,the beat is next to my heart and was made Outta anguish and pain. When it’s like that it should not be touched by no one,”
Tweeted by Pete Rock.
The thing about the T.R.O.Y. instrumental though, it’s not an original composition, since it samples from jazz musician Tom Scott’s 1967 song “Today.” It is possible that “Around My Way,” which was produced by Simonsayz and B-Side, sampled the original.
This is also not the first time Lupe has paid homage to Pete Rock either, he once freestyled over the “Reminisce” beat for his “Dopeboys” freestyle with Wale and Kardinal Offishall.
Pete Rock said he didn’t have a problem with Lupe but just didn’t appreciate the remake.
“I’m not flattered @ all. Dat shit is wack, and the producer should be ashamed of his fuckin self. Smh,”
Lupe’s response to this situation was that he started tweeting other songs that sampled ”T.R.O.Y.” including Mann’s J.R. Rotem-produced “Reminisce” and a remixed version of the song which featured Journalist, Mr. Cheeks and Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth themselves.
Finally Lupe took the high road and tweeted a YouTube link to the original Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth video with the hash tag “#20YearsLaterStillTheBest.”
Lupe Fiasco Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free) Music Video
Bitch Bad
Moving on from that, we arrive at the second single “Bitch Bad” which when you first see the title, if it were from any other artist you’d know what the song was going to be about.
This is not the case when it comes to Lupe, the song addressed the double standard placed upon the word “Bitch” or “Bad Bitch.”
It wasn’t a “Old dude trying to kick knowledge to me” kind of record, it was catchy and simplistic in it’s delivery.
It was then followed by a music video that fit the context of the song exactly, which garnered Lupe a ton of praise and sparked discussions on Twitter, Blogs and the web as whole.
The music video added a visual story line to the song’s lyrics and guided you through the mind of Lupe, as he narrates the video.
Lupe Breaks “Bitch Bad” Music Video
Some argue that it’s a none-topic, and Lupe just made the song for conversation’s sake with no real goal in mind beyond that, which is a valid point but either way it worked.
Lupe Breaks Down “Bitch Bad”
Lamborghini Angels
Lupe random choice in album covers is only matched by his clever choices in song titles.
Don’t be fooled by the head banging beat and the snappy hook, there is serious stuff happening on this record.
Lupe continues to push rap’s topical boundaries, Lamborghini Angels touches on religion, pedophilia, scientific cures and more.
“With her eyes to the ceiling and the needle to her brain
He looks back into the crowd, wipes the blood and then explains
How she slipped from this existence to the realm of the deranged
Her becoming must be halted to reverse what she became,”“With his crucifix inside his pocket said his mission is divine
Put his Bible on the bed and then he touched on his behind
Told him take off all his clothes and put your penis next to mine
Now the little boy think it’s normal because they do this all the time”
That’s heavy stuff, and something you weren’t expecting with a title like Lamborghini Angels.
This was quickly followed by a music video for another single off the album called Battle Scars which features Guy Sebastian.
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