I saw Lupe at lollapalooza right after or before The Cool. Might have been in between F&L and TC. Anyway. It was such an incredible performance. He was on the cusp of stardom. Full white suit. Full choir. Full band.
XO is great, whatchyu guys talking about? Imagine blasting that shit driving with the windows open at nighttime
Waiting for a time when I can actually take an hour and 40 minutes to listen to the whole thing undisturbed, but I may have to give myself a short sneak peek of the first few songs soon. Too much anticipation
WAV Files is really something special. Feels like a breakthrough somehow Alan Forever, Kingdom, Stack That Cheese, and King Nas are so good too Lots of great stuff, so much so that its a little overwhelming. Requires multiple listens which is tough because its long. Im very happy to have this album though.
I'm only through one listen. Sonically it hasn't fully clicked with me yet, but lyrically Lupe is on top of his game. So much to digest with this, and there's surprisingly very little filler, if any.
Those were all the ones that stuck out to me as well. I also really enjoyed "Jonylah Forever" and I appreciate the hell out of what he's doing on "Imagine", "Cripple", and "Happy Timbuck2 Day".
Yeah, what’s wrong with XO? Sounds like it’d fit perfectly on The Cool. I’m going through my second full listen now. A lot to digest but overall pretty good.
WAV Files is like my second favourite song he's ever done. dude comes up with the most insanely good concepts for songs
I've listened straight through about 5 or 6 times now and this album is straight fire. It's a shame most people probably won't give it a proper listen due to the length but they'll be missing out. Manilla, Wave Files, Haile Selassie, Alan, Sun God Sam, XO, Jonylah, Kingdom, Imagine, Stack, King Nas, Timbuck and Mural Jr would have made an absolute classic 13 track album, imo.
This coming out at the same time as Noname has been incredible- like two sides of the same thematic coin in a way. With Noname, we get a Chicago project that fixates on the enslavement and internal liberation of the individual; whereas Lupe's project extends outward, focusing on these same things but at a mass scale. Obviously these are very different projects sonically-speaking, but it's just something I've noticed while falling in love with them simultaneously.
I've noticed that if a rapper is from Chicago I'm more than likely to enjoy them. Maybe my most consistently enjoyed region for the genre
I'm honestly still in awe and have been for years that somebody is this good at rapping Like I have no clue how in a million years he comes up with most of his shit
It's honestly so good. I'd put it tied with T&Y right now for his third best album. I haven't listened for a few days because I've been tackling other things, but it's been in my head and I miss it.
I think it officially passed T&Y for me last night, though I'd have to go back to that one and be sure. It's definitely neck and neck at least
Lupe Fiasco: Drogas Wave Album Review | Pitchfork Loooooool, good example of why Pitchfork shouldn’t write about hip hop/rap music
Damn, this did really bad on the Billboard Charts. Landed at no. 60. Such a shame because it’s phenomenal.
That's really not too bad considering the album was released early at the last minute and I'm not sure if it's including physical sales (which were delayed to mid-October). At least, I hope those are the reasons for the low ranking.
There really wasn't much advertising, which makes sense since he's entirely independent now. Not too knowledgable on the subject but does that mean 100% of the money the album does make through sales/streams goes right to him?
the length and inaccessibility would definitely have impacted album sales too, I mean outside of existingLupe fans I can't imagine this drawing in many new people this album is absolutely magnificent I just wish he'd released it as two. the stuff like XO, Timbuck2 Day, King Nas etc that doesn't fit in with the concept should have dropped last year as DROGAS Light, and Wave should have just been the half that comprises the slave ship cycle