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Lupe Fiasco is one of the most exciting and unique artists that rap has produced in the last few years. As the genre slowly falls away from the so called “corporate rap” that characterized the late 90’s and spilled over into the 21st century, it is people like Lupe Fiasco who will be changing the face and sound of rap music. Following in the footsteps of such big names as Jay-Z, Outkast, and most notably Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco’s newest album “Lupe Fiasco’s the Cool” is a bold journey into unconventional beats and hooks, creative lyricism and refreshingly meaningful subject matter. It’s also amazingly good music.

Lupe sets the tone early on The Cool, starting the album with a monologue berating the intolerance, violence, injustice, and abuse which gets passed off as cool in the media and popular culture. This theme is the glue which holds this album together, with songs exploring both the superficial cool he resists, and the true cool he is driving towards. Songs like Superstar, Hip-Hop Saved My Life, and Dumb It Down take a critical look at the direction popular music is headed, and the expectations of its stars. Little Weapon, Intruder Alert, and The Die take a hard look at the violence, drug use and insensitivity that seem to saturate modern life. Finally, songs like Free Chilly and Fighters express his desires for a better and more peaceful world, one where we have freed ourselves from the disease and the addiction that is the cool.

The strength of this album lies in its creative beats and the smooth-as-butter flow of its lyrics. Gold Watch, one of the best songs of the album, is simultaneously backed by the shouts of an angry woman and a stripped down piano progression, creating an aggressive and tense tone. Little Weapon, a song about child soldiers, features a haunting military snare drum and earthy chants, creating a mood of violent gravity. My personal favorite song, Hip-Hop Saved My Life, has some of the best flow on the album, building slowly up to the last verse which still raises hair on the back of my neck. Streets on Fire and Hello/Goodbye are haunting frenzies of lyricism with heavy combinations of snare beats and melancholy synthesized backup. Every song on the album has something to offer either in its lyrics or beats.

That isn’t to say that The Cool doesn’t have its fair share of duds. Hi-Definition is largely a self indulgent duet with the ever-popular Snoop Dogg that seems to break the mood of the album. Gotta Eat is another miss, with an annoying guitar based backing track and little further development of the ideas in the rest of the album. Put You On Game is a dark and cryptic song accompanied by an all-too-cliché shotgun based beat. Even these songs, however, aren’t throwaways, and deserve at least a listen. As I said before, every song has something to offer, these are merely the least of the bunch.

As much as it’s fun to be critical of this album, and investigate its various nuances, in the end, it’s just good music. It is easily accessible, and yet provides much insight to the persistent listener. Put it on at a party, at the gym, or while you’re doing your homework, because there’s something here for everybody. The Cool truly lives up to its name, and I look forward with great anticipation to where Lupe Fiasco brings the rap genre next.

GT Wrobel