By Sivu Nobongoza
Hip Hop Saved My life
Playful, giddy and flow-full in his half-wit intellectually condescending manner, Lupe Fiasco has finally dropped his definition of his perception of cool; not to take solace in the clearly undefined cool, but more so to elaborate the significance of being an individual in a world dominated by more sheep and fewer heroes then men.
Lu, as his homies refer to him, has held onto his guns featuring his usual suspects from 1st & 15th (i.e. Matthew Santos, Bishop G, Sarah Green, GemStones, Nikki Jean) to produce a full clip album with both bootyliciously banging beats and some rearing heartfelt thoughts. Lupe’s profound nature doesn’t diminish under his giddy-up beats and Coldplay-like choruses, but rather, his formula seems to capture an essence previously omitted by the rappers delight.
The radio dominant “Superstar” was clearly the ideal icebreaker to introduce yet another uplifting chapter in the Skater come Scholar of Life, Lupe Fiasco’s model of cool. Every time I flip a station and hear the sound of Matthew Santos hollering, “ if you are who you say you are, a Superstar…” I get Goosebumps over my Goosebumps. An actual feeling of sheer greatness transcends into my body inspiring me to thrive at being more than I can be.
His lyrics aren’t quite poetry, but apt stories that tell of tales of escaping the hood, oneself, media propaganda and the troubled world that we live in. In tracks like ‘Put you on game’ and ‘Dumb it down!’ he scorns haters and appeals to the naïve to wake up and smell the coffee…
I'm fearless
Now hear this
I'm earless
And I'm peerless
That means I'm eyeless
Which means I'm tearless
Which means my iris resides where my ears is
Which means I'm blinded
But I'mma find it I can feel it's nearness
But I'mma veer so I don't come near
Like a chicken or a deer
But I remember I'm not a listener or a seer so my windshields smear
Here, you steer, I really shouldn't be behind this, clearly cause my blindness
The windshield is minstrel, the whole grill is road kill, so trill and so sincere. Yeah, I'm both of them there
Took both pills, when a bloke in a trench coat and the locs in the chair had approached him here
And he’s clear as a ghost, so a biter of the throats in the mirror
The writer of the quotes for the ghosts who supplier of the notes to the living
Riveting is rosy, pockets full of posies, given to the mother of the deceased.
Awaken at war, 'til I'm restin' in peace
Chorus
You goin' over niggas' heads Lu(Dumb it down)
They tellin' me that they don't feel you (Dumb it down)
We ain't graduate from school nigga (Dumb it down)
Them big words ain't cool nigga (Dumb it down)
Yeah I heard Mean And Vicious nigga (Dumb it down)
Make a song for the bitches nigga (Dumb it down)
We don't care about the weather nigga (Dumb it down)
You'll sell more records if you (Dumb it down)
The most moving tracks on this album for me are ‘Fighters’ and ‘Little Weapons’. Their message attends to real matters, like genocide and lost love without being dreary and evasive. Here’s a verse from ‘Little Weapon’ that brought tears to my eyes:
“I killed another man today,
Shot him in his back as he ran away,
Then I blew up his hut with a hand grenade,
Cut his wife's throat as she put her hands to pray,
Just five more dawgs then we can get a soccer ball,
That's what my commander say,
How Old?
Well I'm like ten, eleven, been fighting since I was like six or seven,
Now I don't know much about where I'm from but I know I strike fear everywhere I come,
Government want me dead so I wear my gun, I really want the rocket launcher but I'm still too young,
This candy gives me courage not to fear no one,
To fear no pain, and hear no tongue,
So I hear no screams and I shed no tear,
If I'm in your dreams then your end is near…”
I get the feeling he’s talking about the tik pandemic, where he reveals:”this candy gives me courage…”
All in all this is definitely not your run of the mill booty shaking LP, but Lupe’s left a few tracks for the kugals and guys to shake there asses too – just in case dumb is cool, he’s got his go-go-go-go-gadget flow for those folks who want to hear him climb the beat. And not to be out done by the average rapper he even has a track or to for the club girls. This album is a godsend, which I hope, will be heard with both sides of the brain, because what’s cool to you may not necessarily be cool to me. You’re going to love it. Hip-Hop saved my life!
Superstar
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