In April, Lupe Fiasco embarks on a monthlong tour of major markets in support of his forthcoming album, We Are Lasers. Or is it called Lasers now? I’m not sure.

B.O.B., the talented ATL artist who will finally (fingers crossed) see his debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray come out via Atlantic on April 27, opens.

• 3/05: Bridges Auditorium, Claremont, CA
• 4/07: House of Blues,Boston, MA
• 4/09: House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ
• 4/10: Irving Plaza, New York, NY
• 4/13: 930 Club, Washington, DC
• 4/14: Royal Oak Theatre, Detroit, MI
• 4/16: Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI
• 4/20: Peoria Civic Center Theatre, Peoria, IL
• 4/23: University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
• 4/26: House of Blues, Houston, TX
• 4/27: House of Blues, Dallas, TX
• 4/29: Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO
• 5/01: House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
• 5/02: House of Blues, Los Angeles, CA
• 5/05: Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
• 5/07: Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA

(all dates) w/B.O.B.

Lupe Fiasco will complete a few college dates this fall. He also issued a new YouTube video touting a slate of artists on his 1st and 15th imprint, including Sarah Green, Mathew Santos, Gemini and Hey Champ. It’s been over three years since Lupe launched the label, though — when is it actually going to drop some music (besides his own)?

• 10/23: Memorial Gym, Nashville, TN
• 10/26: Voodoo Island/City Park, New Orleans, LA
• 10/31: Congress Theater, Chicago, IL
• 11/06: Minges Coliseum, Greenville, NC
• 11/07: Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
• 11/12: Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA
• 11/15: Jorgenson Theatre for Performing Arts, Storrs, CT
• 11/17: Elmira College, Elmira, NY
• 11/22: SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY
• 12/05: University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Here’s the YouTube video:

Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool
Atlantic

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Lupe Fiasco isn’t above recycling ideas. If Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor had a tone reminiscent of Kanye West’s Late Registration, then Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool opens with “Go-Go Gadget Flow,” a bounce rap with a title similar to Gnarls Barkley’s “Go-Go Gadget Gospel.” Even the cover art looks like Thrice’s artwork for The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II, which was released over a month before The Cool. For all of his brazen originality, which he demonstrates on The Cool in spades, Lupe sometimes has difficulty thinking outside of the box.

It is possible to enjoy The Cool without having to pick apart its central concept, a moralistic tragedy about a fledging MC selling his soul to the devil for success. It takes a close listen reveal that these songs aren’t necessarily coming from Lupe himself, but a third character he has created: Michael Young History, a.k.a. the Cool. On “The Coolest” he makes clear the Cool’s descent into a deal with the Streets. “She said she’d give me greatness/Status/Placement over the others/My face would grace covers of the magazines of the hustlers/Paper the likes of which that I had never seen/Her eyes glow green with the logo of our dreams,” he raps. Subsequent cuts such as “Superstar,” a somewhat pretentious arena rap that oddly grows more appealing with repeated plays, subtly twist Lupe’s themes on fame to reflect the Cool’s increasingly distorted perspective. As the Cool collapses in a hail of bullets (“The Die”), loses his soul to the Streets’ master the Game (“Put You on Game”), and turns into a zombie (“Fighters”), Lupe walks a thin line between full-blown conceptualism and accessible, personal songwriting with remarkable skill.

The music, mostly produced Soundtrakk, reflects Lupe’s ambitions to make hip-hop that rocks on a scale similar to Coldplay and Radiohead. (On “Hello/Goodbye,” a breakbeat track produced by UNKLE, Lupe even sing-raps in a flat, nasally vocal similar to Tool’s Maynard Patrick Keenan.) The keyboard notes are watery and amorphous; “Paris, Tokyo” even approaches the softness of contemporary jazz. That Soundtrakk would take his cues from Coldplay’s piano cheese testifies to the cross-cultural appeal of the latter’s soothing, comforting sounds. Still, a funky guitar lick or some noisy dissonance would be nice. However, when compared with his overwrought, string-laden miasmas on Food & Liquor, Soundtrakk actually shows some restraint. Despite its sickly sweet grooves, “Paris, Tokyo” is a nice breezy song about love and international travel. The haunting, “Intruder Alert” could have been made during the early 90s, the era of kitchen-sink dramas such as 2Pac’s gangsta rap ballad “Brenda’s Got a Baby, as Lupe rhymes about a woman recovering from rape.

The Cool is a bravely ambitious album, but it’s not a great one. It often threatens to tumble from the weight of its bombast. “Little Weapon,” a song Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy produces with a heavy emphasis on pounding percussion and glittery xylophone effects, brings surprising life to The Cool’s lumbering prog hip-hop. For the most part, that sort of lightness is sorely lacking here, even if The Cool’s overwhelming portentousness yields some small rewards such as “Superstar” and “Gotta Eat,” the latter an effective ode to the code of the Streets.

Above all, The Cool reflects the danger of being a deliberate strategist who sacrifices little to raw naturalism. (See the self-proclamatory “Dumb It Down” for proof.) To be fair, hip-hop stars tend to be too aware of their supposed superiority, and all too ready to proclaim whatever they do as a masterpiece or a classic. Contrary to most of his peers, Lupe is truly a vivid and fascinating MC and, sometimes, an innovative theorist. The only thing holding him back is self-consciousness.

It’s December 18, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool is in stores, and the Chicago MC has been working overtime to promote it. XXL cover (albeit with nine other so-called “Leaders of the New School”)? Check. “TRL”? Check. Placement on MTV’s “The Leak” a week prior to release? Check. High-profile guest spots from Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy and Snoop Dogg just so he can piss off a few Okayplayer.com conservatives? Check. TV appearances on “Rap City” and “The Sauce”? Check. Classic single on par with 2006′s “Kick, Push”? Uh, not yet.

Unlike last year, when Lupe Fiasco wasted several months on sporadic spot dates for Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, dude has already booked a monster U.S. tour that kicks off in January. Check out the itinerary below and see if he’s hitting your town, and then — if you haven’t seen it yet — watch Hype Williams’ mock-operatic video for Lupe’s “Superstar” single.

• 12/18: Irving Plaza, New York, NY
• 12/27: Pipeline Café, Honolulu, HI
• 01/10: Roseland Theatre, Portland, OR
• 01/11: Showbox, Seattle, WA
• 01/13: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
• 01/14: House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
• 01/15: Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
• 01/17: House of Blues, Los Angeles, CA
• 01/18: House of Blues, Las Vegas, CA
• 01/19: Sunshine Theatre, Albuquerque, NM
• 01/20: Gothic Theatre, Denver, CO
• 01/22: Emo’s, Austin, TX
• 01/23: House of Blues, Dallas, TX
• 01/25: The Roxy, Atlanta, GA
• 01/27: Sonar, Baltimore, MD
• 01/28: The Norva, Norfolk, VA
• 01/30: 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
• 01/31: The Fillmore at TLA, Philadelphia, PA
• 02/01: Stuart C. Seigel Center, Richmond, VA
• 02/02: Nokia Theatre, New York, NY
• 03/01: Yale University, New Haven, CT
• 03/25: Great Hall, Fredricksburg, VA

And here’s the video for “Superstar”:

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www.lupefiasco.com
www.myspace.com/lupefiasco

Well, it’s almost the end of November and, despite my initial skepticism, it seems that Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool will indeed be out before the end of the year, reaching stores via Atlantic on December 18. But it almost didn’t happen, thanks to an absurd controversy nicknamed “Fiascogate.”

Most online rap geeks are familiar with the contours of the matter, so I won’t get in too deep on it. To be brief: Lupe Fiasco participated in a tribute to A Tribe Called Quest during the “VH-1 Hip-Hop Honors” on October 5. During his performance of “Electric Relaxation” and “Award Tour,” Lupe flubbed some of the lyrics. Several bloggers, and many posters on the Okayplayer.com chat boards, criticized Lupe for the error. In response, Lupe noted that he hadn’t been a fan of Tribe when he was growing up, and wasn’t knowledgeable about their music. This led to a huge torrent of criticism, with many Internet heads castigating Lupe for not knowing about one of the best hip-hop groups ever. Adding fuel to the fire, Q-Tip noted that he was aware Lupe didn’t know their music, and only added Lupe to the tribute after his label brokered it. The controversy grew so big that MTV.com felt obliged to weigh in.

In the immediate aftermath, a lot of bloggers claimed that they wouldn’t support Lupe. A month later, who cares? Lupe doesn’t have to be a hip-hop scholar — he’s an artist, not a professor. Leave the studies to the journalists and others who present themselves as “hip-hop experts.” All Lupe has to do is achieve his stated goal, which is to make good music. And to all the Internet gangstas that front their knowledge of Tribe, how many of them listened to the Last Poets, Amiri Baraka & Sunny Murray, H. Rap Brown, Bob Kaufman and Allen Ginsburg?

But let’s get back to the album. Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool is a concept album centering around several characters, including a thug-turned-zombie called the Cool (who first appeared on Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor), a criminal called the Game, and an evil seductress called the Streets. It’s a morality tale about poverty and temptation.

”For me, personally, it represents three negative influences that surround Lupe Fiasco: The want and the need to be Cool, the attraction of The Streets, and the evils of The Game itself. First album I was like, it’s everything, daydreaming robots! This one represents more of where I really came from… You really have to listen, because it’s subtle, and you can get lost if you just listen to it in one massive thing. But I think once people listen to it over and over and over, the story will start making itself clear,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

Production for the album is handled by Soundtrakk, Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, UNKLE, and Chris & Drop. Two singles have already hit the streets: a teaser cut, “Dumb It Down,” and the lead single, “Superstar,” with singer-songwriter Mathew Santos.

The track listing for Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool is listed below.

• 1. “Iesha Poem”
• 2. “Free Chilly”
• 3. “Go Go Gadget Flow”
• 4. “The Coolest”
• 5. “Superstar” (feat. Mathew Santos)
• 6. “Paris Tokyo”
• 7. “High Definition” (feat. Snoop Dogg & Pooh Bear)
• 8. “Little Weapon”
• 9. “Hip-Hop Saved My Life” (feat. Nikki Jean)
• 10. “Gold Watch”
• 11. “Street on Fire” (feat. Mathew Santos)
• 12. “Hello Goodbye”
• 13. “Gotta Eat”
• 14. “Dumb It Down” (feat. Gemini & Graham Burris)
• 15. “The Die” (feat. Gemini)
• 16. “Put You on Game”
• 17. “Fighters” (feat. Mathew Santos)
• 18. “Go Baby Go”

www.lupefiasco.com
www.childrebelsoldier.com
www.myspace.com/lupefiasco

Back in May, I noted with some amusement that Lupe Fiasco planned to release another album before the end of the year. It was going to be called Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, named after one of the tracks on his acclaimed debut Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor. I didn’t take it seriously…most rappers talk up projects well before they’re completed. (See Dr. Dre’s Detox, et cetera.)

Well, the summer’s almost over, and Lupe Fiasco continues to insist that The Cool will hit stores in 2007. However, it has been pushed back from October 31 to November 20. Most of the production, it seems, will be handled by Pro and Soundtrack — the guys who drew some criticism for overproducing Lupe’s debut. Fiasco previewed two of its tracks, “Us Placers” and “Superstardom” (feat. singer-songwriter Matthew Santos, last heard on Food & Liquor‘s standout track “American Terrorist”) during a showcase set at Lollapalooza this month.

According to a Billboard story, Fiasco is also relying on a few cliches, namely the “supergroup” concept and the “retire before I fall off” concept. The former is in regards to CRS (Child Rebel Soldiers), his pairing with Pharrell Williams and Kanye West.

“I’m just wearing down,” he told Billboard. “My whole energy for making hip-hop music is slowing down. I’ve been doing it for seven years. I still don’t think I’m famous. I’ll do what I have to do to promote my next album, but I’m not enthused about doing seven albums. I’ll do my three, and then I am going to keep moving to the next phase of life and maybe grow trees.”

Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool will arrive via 1st and 15th and Atlantic Records.

www.lupefiasco.com
www.myspace.com/lupefiasco
Plug One review: Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor

Even as he prepared to drop the critically acclaimed Food & Liquor last September, Chicago phenom Lupe Fiasco told anyone who’d listen that he wanted to quickly follow up with another album. Now, according to a Billboard.com news item, the Muslim rapper is heading into the studio to work on a new project called The Cool.

While Lupe gave away few details, he says he wants to collaborate with Pink Floyd (is it Roger Waters or the David Gilmour-led trio?) and hopes to have the album out by October 31 via his Atlantic-distributed imprint 1st & 15th. I’m always skeptical of release dates, especially if an album isn’t complete, but it would be nice to get another Lupe Fiasco joint this year. Meanwhile, what’s up with the Gemini album?

While you wait for The Cool, you can see Lupe procrastinate with a handful of summer gigs at various national festivals. Tour dates are below.

5/11: Columbia College, Chicago, IL
5/27: UCLA Intramural Field, Los Angeles, CA
7/06: New Center, Detroit, MI
7/08: Lake Michigan, Milwaukee, WI
7/10: Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, CT
7/12: Meadowbrook Center, Gilford, NH
7/29: Toronto Islands, Toronto, ON
8/03: Grant Park, Chicago, IL
9/03: Seattle Center, Seattle, WA

7/06: Comerica CityFest, schedule TBA
7/08: Summerfest w/Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Flynnville, Blue October, more TBA
7/29: Wakestock, schedule TBA
8/03: Lollapalooza, schedule TBA
9/03: Bumbershoot Festival, schedule TBA

Plug One review: Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor

www.lupefiasco.com
www.myspace.com/lupefiasco

Lupe Fiasco
Food & Liquor
Atlantic

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

The term “backpacker” has become a pejorative. Originally used to describe early 90s rap groups like Black Moon and Lords of the Underground, who rocked backpacks in “Who Got the Props”-era publicity stills, it is now used as code for hopelessly “underground” artists who seem angrily out of touch with current trends. Lupe Fiasco may be the most popular MC in recent memory to embrace the insult. Near the end of the video for “Daydreamin’” the Chicagoan hops onto a skateboard, a gleaming cream-colored backpack casually swinging from his left shoulder. That an artist as sleek and cool as Lupe Fiasco could be regarded by some rap fans as a nerd (along with Kanye West, whose high-school years were more Ferris Bueller’s Day Off than Weird Science) speaks considerably to the increasingly limited roles African-Americans can successfully adopt.

On Food & Liquor Lupe aka Lupin III is painfully conscious of his otherness, a skateboarding, drug-and-alcohol free Muslim amidst a generation of self-proclaimed crack rappers. His insecurities, which he masks as universal truths, fuel an album that is not only fresh and exciting, but hectoring and heavy-handed. It bears resemblance to West’s Late Registration, with sweeping orchestral strings typical of a Hollywood movie score. Newcomer Gemini (an R&B artist on Lupe’s boutique imprint 1st and 15th), Sarah Green and Jill Scott pepper the choruses with plaintively heartfelt vocals, making for songs as soul-searing testimony. Sometimes the formula works: On the graceful anthem “Kick, Push,” Soundtrakk’s weighty backdrop turns Lupe’s narrative of growing up as a skateboard kid into a profound tour de force. Elsewhere, as with “Sunshine,” the same producer proves too overwhelming.

With the stage set for performance as consciousness-raising, Lupe’s verses often feel weighted down, even when he’s tossing off rhymes as deft as the third verse on “Just Might Be OK,” where he describes the
mind state of a young thug in Westside Chicago. “I’m cool/ I don’t foretell bests/I ain’t the nicest MC/I ain’t Cornel West/I’m Cornel Westside/Chi-Town Rivera/Malcolm eXorcise the demons/Gangsta leanin’/Who traded in his kufi for a new era/Chose a .44 over a motherboard/I ain’t accredited, institute graduate/I ain’t from Nazareth/My conception wasn’t immaculate/I didn’t master no calculus/A good addition to the rap audience/I backflipped on the mattress they slept on me on,” he raps.

If only a few of the songs are standouts (like “Kick, Push” and “I Gotcha”), then none of Food & Liquor is truly disappointing. Lupe’s raps are consistently amazing, from the U.S. government-indicting “American Terrorist” to the hip-hop lament “Hurt Me Soul.” Food & Liquor’s ambitious scope nearly overshadows him, but his dexterous wordplay shines through.