The Lupe Fiasco

Is music just music? Or is it something more? They say music can alter moods and talk to you - (c) Eminem. But they also say it's JUST music - (c) Lupe Fiasco.

That statement and a few others by Lupe along with both fans and haters caused quite a bit of stir a week ago in the Twitter world. It all started with DDot Omen's calling out of Lupe because as a fan, he feels that Lupe has sold himself out for money and success rather than spitting intelligent rhymes.

Let's clear up the air a little bit.

As the homie S-Preme pointed out to me, DDot's approach to the situation was not quite successful. He came off as a hater who was just complaining because he didn't like the direction Lupe's music was heading down. After looking through his tweets, I can say that DDot's claims were presented badly, but some of the points he made are more than valid. Lupe's reaction to these statements were not ideal responses a dedicated Lupe Fiasco fan would want to hear.

Don't get me wrong now. I understand that Lu's human and that if you push enough buttons, you're bound to get an explosion. But isn't that what Lupe fans have come to admire about their beloved artist? He wasn't like the rest. He didn't let anything faze him. In short, he was thought to be the bigger man. Regardless, I've seen too many Twitter rants from this guy to just let this one slide.

I'm going to try and be as objective as possible because neither side is completely correct but both sides do have some undeniable points. And by the way, I invite you to look at DDot's and Lupe's timelines from December 11th and see the exchange for yourself.

Did Lupe's lyrics deteriorate? Yes. There it is, plain and simple. You've gotta be dumb if you've listened to his Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series and say that Friend of The People was on the same caliber as that. But does that mean Lupe fell off? Absolutely not! Lupe is STILL better than 95% of the rappers out here right now. As compared to old Lupe however, old Lupe wins by an unquestionable landslide. If you disagree, stop reading and listen to his old stuff. I'm serious. Go.

The fact is, Lupe's experimenting with new sounds and styles. If done correctly, I would have no problem. He has a lot of dubstep influence in his music at the moment. Personally, I've grown fond to dubstep so I have no problem with him trying it out in his own music. My problem lies in the fact that Lupe isn't using it well. Friend of The People sounded plain awkward to me. Sure, the lyrics were there (not as great as his old work, but still there). And sure, his message was still as politically charged as usual. But it just didn't sound right. It sounded amateurish. As Dino and LJ have pointed out, in order to rap over a dubstep influenced beat you must be able to rap dynamically (see: QuESt). Lupe's rhyme schemes have gotten overly basic and they simply do not flow well with the beats he is using. Evolution in a rapper is always nice. But when you go back to basic rhyme schemes with choppy flow and little chemistry with the beat, you seem to (in the words of Genius), devolve. I honestly don't see a progression in Lupe's music.

In all honesty, I keep listening to "Go To Sleep" just so I still have hope for Food & Liquor II. Maybe Lupe should continue working with producers like 1500 or Nothin, Soundtrakk, or Pro. If he's not too busy beefing with them, that is. In fact, Lupe should get FnF back together. "We On" is still one of my most favorite collab songs of all time. They came up together and they made each other better. But that's just a pipe dream of mine.

Being completely honest, all this tomfoolery has gotten me steering clear of Lupe's music. It's not cool to me when a very influential and unique artist starts stooping to the level of his so called "haters" in order to argue with them. C'mon Lu, you gotta stay classy. In a position of influence and admiration as yourself, you need to handle matters like this in a much better way. Your Twitter rants are getting old and tiring. They are laughing matters now. And if you're going to rant, do it democratically. At the VERY least, use correct spelling and grammar. You still ain't know the difference between their/there/they're? C'mon son.

As LJ pointed out in recent conversations that we've had, in today's stage of hip hop it is no longer efficient to follow just one artist. There is simply too much music out there for our focus to be on simply one artist. J.Cole, Big KRIT, Kendrick Lamar, QuESt and XV are just some of the many, many great hip hop artists out here in the game. Simply put, if Lupe keeps on continuing down this path (whatever path this is), he will lose fans. Don't use the argument of "he gained new fans with Lasers." You really think those fans are gonna stay fans at the first sign of Lupe doing something different? The real fans are those that understand and appreciate the work of Lupe as an innovative artist that appreciated elaborate lyrics laced with positive messages. The real fans are the ones that look strictly at his music and base their opinions solely off the quality of the music. Those fans are the core of Lupe's fan base. With this questionable behavior and feel of Lupe's music, that core will (and already is) start to fall apart. When you don't have a tight fan base, where does that leave you as an artist?

Also, don't ever call music just music. Music is an art. Music is a lifestyle. Music is a voice. You're insulting the whole industry by making statements like that. Yes, there are plenty of things more important than music but that doesn't mean that music isn't a huge part of many people's lives. It is a way of expressing a voice that some people may find hard to express in any other type of medium.

So Lupe, be irrational. Experiment. Rant all you want. But don't turn your back on your original fan base and then insult them as well. I'm still a fan. I still probably have more Lupe songs than most people reading this post. I am still EXTREMELY hopeful for his upcoming album. I'm expecting a classic. However, until Lupe proves himself to me, I'm going to continue discovering new music. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go blast Common's new album on the speakers. Deuces.