Food & Liquor [PA] by Lupe Fiasco

Pros: Several good tracks, music with a purpose.
Cons: Some shaky tracks, overproduced in areas, questionable rhyming, some horrible hooks.

Saying that there are high expectations for Chicago emcee Lupe Fiasco debut is a bit of an understatement. Some more attuned to the underground might have picked up on the burgeoning talent when he took Kanye West’s “Diamonds” single, and ...

Pros: Interesting stories and hot beats.
Cons: The 12-minute "thank you" song. What were you thinking?

When reviewing Kanye West's "Late Registration" a year or so ago, this is what I had to say: "Touch The Sky" rides pounding drums and a bright horn-filled Curtis Mayfield sample. It's the album's one true "party" track, and it's only slightly ...

Pros: Dope lyricism, excellent production, diversity in topics, creativity.
Cons: A few weaker songs and an overlong outro keep it from being completely perfect.

Nowadays, many Hip-Hop fans are quick to throw around the word "classic". In this age that we're in now, we're surrounded by mundane artists who can remake the same song over and over again and not catch any flack for it. These talentless hacks subject ...

Pros: Sincere rhymes, complex topics, dope beats, pretty consistent.
Cons: Repetitive, awkward flow, the outro has side effects of extreme aggravation.

Hey everyone - sorry if anyone was concerned I was gone. Didn't intentionally take a hiatus, but stress and schoolwork built up a lot so I haven't posted recently. But I'm going to be much more frequent now, so hopefully the few weeks I took off ...

Pros: Refreshing outtakes on social/political issues; skilled rhyming; consistent production
Cons: Too much reliance on conscious material; album could have been trimmed at both ends

More than ever – and especially in 2006 - the hip-hop world is desperate for a savior, someone who can single-handedly pull everyone else from the creative muck that has plagued much of rap for at most a decade. Sorry folks, but I don’t buy ...

Pros: His outlook, the 70's vibe of much of the music. No tired and menacing posturing.
Cons: Outro, where the gratitude gets absurd and tedious.

Wow. It seems like only yesterday that I was praising Nas as a rapper to whom I can finally pay some real respect. Oh sure, Snoop and Dre are entertaining enough, 2Pac has his place, and even dudes like Ice Cube and Public Enemy have some kind of ...

Pros: great beats, great lyrics, great flow
Cons: at times bizarre

The Chicago scene is one of the main reasons for my recent hip-hop kick. First, Kanye West came out with the stunning Graduation, loaded down with old-school samples. And as I started getting interested in this type of music, his co-conspirator ...

Pros: Intelligent, Catchy, Humorous, Focused, Diverse, Classic
Cons: "Outro"

"The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr" Hands down, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor is the best hip hop album released in 2006. Besides the track “Outro,” the album has ...

Pros: Some solid production, Lupe is a skilled emcee
Cons: too soulful, not enough variation

As much as a lot of us don’t like to admit, Kanye West has done a lot for hip hop in the past few years. Most importantly – with the release of his own two albums (one of which was very near to being a classic) and Common’s Be - which in my ...

Pros: Succeeds in crossing multiple genres while maintaining its identity as a hip-hop album.
Cons: Intro and Outro tracks. Bottom-loaded with skippable tracks. The album length.

I just realized that it has now been over two years since my last review on Epinions. Holy crizzap! And on top of that, I realized that I have neglected to review any hip-hop albums, even though it is one of my all-time favorite musical genres. ...

Pros: An intelligently put together album, a modern-day classic
Cons: We have to wait another year for more rhymes out of this witty wordsmith

Coming into 2006, hip-hop heads and music critics alike predicted a mundane year for hip-hop releases, and with good reason. With the exception of a handful of albums, the scene has been greatly lacking in originality over the last 24 months. But in the ...

Pros: Great concepts, comes hard with realness, not afraid to be different.
Cons: Jay-Z appearance, I have to wait for his next album.

Lupe Fiasco, a Chicago born Muslim MC who has been taking the hip-hop community by storm. His debut Food & Liquor is proof that not only can he lead hip-hop music into a new spectrum, but this dud can flat out bring it. It's been a while since I ...

Pros: Top notch production & Conscious lyrics.
Cons: A couple fillers that did'nt quite match the feel of the album.

Hip hop has gone through many phases, some good and some not so good. The early 80's brought us dookie chains, the 90's brought us mafioso nicknames and expensive jewelry; Now the new millenium brings us skateboards, art, positivity, and most importantly ...