Lupe Fiasco

One of my favorite R&B artists hooking up to sing the chorus on a single from one of my favorite rappers album means that I am in heaven listening to this track. John Legend provides a soul filled chorus and piano playing that Lupe rips with his story telling rhymes on this laid back song from Lupe’s upcoming Lasers album. This sounds like it could be a feel good radio single because Lupe keeps it simple and doesn’t dive into his intricate word play, think of a little bit slower and more depressing “Superstar”. I don’t think this is an authorized leak so fully expect a Twitter rant from Mr. Fiasco in the next 24 hours. Shouts to YAF for the download link.

Download: Lupe Fiasco ft. John Legend – “Never Forget You”

I’ll let Andrew over at FSD break this down for you since I was going to rant and say the same thing.

6 minutes of mayhem from Mr. Fiasco.

Over the past few days, seemingly out of the blue, rappers like Soulja Boy and Lil B have come out of the woodwork to address Lupe in some form or fashion.  I guess Lu is the smart rapper du jour for this young (and often misinformed) generation.  In a recent interview with XXL Magazine, Soulja Boy, when asked about his lyrical prowess, quipped:

“I don’t want to be super-Lupe-Fiasco-lyrical and n***** don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about,”

Say word?  That’s what we’re on?  I feel like we’ve heard this all before – a case of deja vu, if you will.  I understand that Lu’s complex rhyme patterns and extended vocabulary might go over the head of the casual hip-hop fan (or human being), but some of you are just plain listening too slow.  So what if you have to rewind the verse a few times to get to the Tootsie Roll center of aTootsie Pop; many of us find joy in putting the puzzle together.  I guess that’s not fun for everyone, huh?  Remember when rappers used to brag about being “Super Lyrical”?  That title was once a badge of honor.  Pun is probably doing barrel rolls in his grave as you read this.

Respect the game you play youngin… download below the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Quick, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Young Buck? If you’re like me and guessed crying to 50 Cent, then high five. If somehow you guessed a collaboration with Lupe Fiasco, then you should know this song off of Buck’s Back On My Buck Shit: Vol. 2. In all honesty, Young Buck, Lupe, and Drumma Boy (the producer of this track) meshed together surprisingly well, giving us a song about radio that for once isn’t about how radio sucks. “AM/FM” is a feel-good track that acts as an ode to hearing your favorite song being played on the radio. Both rappers deliver, and Young Buck manages to bring some impressive lines, especially in his second verse (“I’m an alien tuning into the satellite / Breaker, breaker, get my volume right / Starships and rockets sittin’ on 26′s…”).

Download: Young Buck – “AM/FM” feat. Lupe Fiasco

This song reminds me a whole lot of “Governmentalist” by Joss Stone with Nas. The strong female vocals over the blues riff at the beginning had me thinking that it was almost a rip off the song directly but after the verses started you can hear the difference. Common and Lupe are two of my favorite rappers of all-time making this an immediate choice to instantly go into rotation. This song was created for the Gatorade Replay Series which gives old high school teammates chances to settle old scores, which sounds cool but dangerous to me haha. Grab the download below the break courtesy of GWHH.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was just thinking this morning that Big Sean has gotten shafted with these G.O.O.D. Friday tracks. He represented at the BET Cypher and delivered arguably the best verse, and now he does the same on “Don’t Look Down”. This song can be viewed as a prelude to the “Runaway” short film that will drop later today. The beat has a great soundtrack feel to it with its march rhythm and big texture, and the verses from Lupe, Ye, and Big are all as solid as one would expect (Dante stays on the hook for this). “Don’t Look Down” continues to demonstrate Kanye’s ever-growing love for distortion and bitcrusher filters, which might rub some the wrong way, but I believe it would probably sound great on a final, fully mixed track. After the jump, grab the download link and check out the (supposed) tracklist for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lupe gives his last single over to the newly formed All City Chess Club which is about as close as we got to a modern day Wu Tang. Lupe, Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, The Cool Kids, Blu, Diggy, B.o.B. and Dosage are all members of “the club” and I am down with all of them except for Charles but I can put up with a verse if it means I get to hear all the rest on a track. The remix goes on for over 8 minutes, which isn’t hard to imagine when trying to fit so many artists on a song, but Lupe has the best verse on his own joint although I got to give props to Asher for also bringing it on the first verse. I don’t know if an album would work for these guys but I am all for them doing dope ass remixes to songs mixtape style and there are so many different kinds of artists on here that there should be something for everyone.

Download: All City Chess Club – “We’re Beamin’” (Remix)

The Lupe/Kanye/Pharrell power trio is back for only their second original track since their conception in 2007. How dope would it be if they released an EP? Kanye, if you’re reading this (who am I kidding, of course he is), consider bundling a  CRS EP with Watch The Throne. The heads of most rap fans would collectively explode if you did, but we’ll worry about the mess. Back to the track at hand, “Don’t Stop!” sees all three emcees in full form over a quick, pressing beat. The drums have a go-go feel, which builds up to its peak with the horns in ‘Ye’s verse. Considering how these G.O.O.D. Friday have been getting better and better, I’m expecting the last one to be nothing short of biblical.

Download: CRS – “Don’t Stop!”

Every now and again a song comes along that borrows heavily from a the sample and it forces me to look up the sample and that is the case for “Bad Don’t Seem So Wrong”. The sample I found out is from a group called Garfield and the song is called “Private Affair” released in 1977 and the beat by Dirty Werks reminds me a little bit of Kno from the CunninLynguists. Lupe joins Trae for the track and adds the first verse which only heightens the anticipation for Lasers or whatever he wants to call the “shelved” album which is probably delayed for publicity purposes. I had a big Houston phase from about ’05 -’07 when it was blowing up and I always liked Trae’s unique sound and he is a good guy on top of it. “Bad Don’t Seem So Wrong” is off of Trae’s upcoming mixtape called Ban Tha Truth releasing on September 28th.

Download: Trae Tha Truth ft. Lupe Fiasco – “Bad Don’t Seem So Wrong”

Yeah we got nine lives / But they got nine knives / We only get one chance / And they get nine tries.

Off of his upcoming AirBorne mixtape, Diggy gets some of his friends to help him out on this spaced-out track. I wasn’t expecting that “oh yeah!” sample, but it was pretty clever how it was put to use in this song. Lupe brings one of the stonger verses of his to be heard in a while, and even Pharrell spits a mean verse. Diggy ends it off, and while he doesn’t deliver a knock-out punch to put “Oh Yeah!” to rest, he does manage to avoid being lost in the shadows of the two verses that preceded his. This will definitely be a project worth downloading once it drops, so stay tuned for that.

Download: Diggy – Simmons – “Oh Yeah!” feat. Lupe Fiasco & Pharrell