Artist: Lupe Fiasco
Album: The Cool
Record label: Atlantic / FnF
Rating:
Reviewer: Alex Thornton

Once the darling of the Hipster-Hop scene, Lupe Fiasco found his position in question after this summer's VH1 Hip-Hop Honor's show. During the performance tribute to A Tribe Called Quest, Lupe infamously fumbled over his lines in "Electric Relaxation" then, during his Celebrity Apology Tour, he made things worse by declaring that he never even really listened to Tribe and shouldn't have been expected to know the song. Overnight, Lupe was taken down several notches in the eyes of his core audience (much of which follows Tribe religiously) and now needs to deliver in spades to hopefully bring them back around.

Good news, Lupe; you're forgiven. The Cool is a legitimate improvement over his debut largely thanks to the cohesive concept. Expanding on the Food & Liquor track of the same name, The Cool is mainly an analysis of what we all go through trying to hit the "cool points" high score. Lupe wisely avoids being heavy handed and preachy and expresses sympathy for those caught in the rat race rather than indicting them. He speaks the language of materialism on "Superstar" and "Gold Watch" to show that he's not above the fray and then gradually allows the facade to decay on it's own.

"Hip-Hop Saved My Life" tells the tale of a young MC getting chewed up and spit out by The Machine, but instead of whining about the industry's treatment of artists, he crafts a tragedy about a kid struggling in vain to do the right thing. It's that human touch that sets Lupe apart from many of his other "conscious" peers. Meanwhile, the mature concepts and multilayered extended metaphors are some truly magnificent beats, provided mostly by Soundtrakk. The various producers thoroughly explore what hip-hop is capable of and, in many cases, the tracks serve to organically enhance the concept of the song.

While The Cool arrives too late to make many of the "Best of 2007" lists that you'll read, as it turns out, it's at least in the top five rap/hip-hop albums of the year (the only problem is that it's a bit too long). Yes, really. Continue to be mad at him if you want but it'll be your loss. Other artists have gotten away with a whole lot more on the strength of a whole lot less, so go ahead and give Lupe a second chance because he's more than earned it.