Lupe Fiasco’s “Food & Lasers 2.”

So as I’m sure you all know, Lupe Fiasco is dropping the “sequel” to Food & Liquor (cover above) on September 25th. This is an unpopular opinion amongst the realm of the stans, but it seems to be more common with the open-minded fans. So let me come out and say it: I’m not excited for Food & Liquor 2.

“But Jay, all you ever talked about was Lupe!”

True.

But once upon a time there was this album called Food & Liquor, and it still remains to be one of my favorite Hip-Hop albums. And not just “Oh shit that line was hot!” or “Oh shit this beat is nice!” but it’s one of those joints I can’t skip a song on (Okay, maybe He Say She Say every now and then). To most people in my area it was just “from the nigga who made that stupid skateboarding song.” But to me? F&L introduced that uber dope, story telling, social-issue, can’t believe-I-didn’t-catch-that-line-and-it’s-my-50th-time-hearing-it Lupe. And it also introduced a character that pops up more than once..

The Cool. I MIGHT be reaching here but I want to say that I like The Cool more than F&L. There were a few misses on there (Go Go Gadget Flow, Snoop Dogg on Hi-Definition, That weird vocal sample on Gold Watch that took getting used to, Go Baby, etc.) But nonetheless it’s a GREAT album. And just like Food & Liquor, all it made me want is more. And it almost accomplished that with..

“Now we just got one more to go LupE.N.D.”

It was that line that made me think to myself like.. “Kinda sucks that this will be his last album.. But he’ll go out like a champ.”

Apparently something went wrong there. Very very wrong.

LupE.N.D. was slated to be a triple-disc album. That was a REALLY big deal to me. We had F&L and The Cool.. But now you’re pretty much giving us three albums in one? Dope, right? Nah. LupE.N.D. was cancelled and then eventually The Great American Rap Album became a working title; it wasn’t a great album at all. It’s honestly hard to even call it a rap album. What was it called?

Lasers. Uh. Yeah. I’m sure you all know how I feel about that. I was promoting it on Facebook, tweeting about it, and telling my friends to cop that shit. I actually bought that shit at Best Buy after school the day it released. It was like maaan all the time we’ve waited.. LUPE’S FINALLY BACK.

Well I was wrong there too.

It actually opened up pretty nicely. Skipped the second joint ‘cause I already heard it. Third joint sounded kinda boppy but it wasn’t that bad. That’s when I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now started playing and I literally had a slow-motion “What the fuck?” moment going on. So, I made it through the song and brushed it off.. Next joint was some shitty ass love song with Trey Songz. Afterwards I just became progressively disappointed.

I just.. I don’t know. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong. All the themes Lupe worked with just fell out of the sky and shit. I’ve categorized a few of his songs (as far as album joints go) over the time.. And it’s easy to pick the one(s) that don’t belong:

Love joints: Sunshine. Paris, Tokyo. Go Baby. Out of My Head.
Talk my shit joints: I Gotcha. Go Go Gadget Flow. I’m Beaming.
Positive joints: Just Might Be OK. Hi Definition. Show Goes On.
Metaphorical joints: Daydreamin’. Dumb it Down. All Black Everything.
And so on…

That brings us to the boldly titled Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album. Even though this is only the FIRST part of the album, he’s using the F&L moniker again. Meaning if it doesn’t live up the title, I might have to tap out on the next part.

To be totally honest? The only F&L2 single I’ve heard is Around My Way. Does that make me a hater? Not necessarily.

It just seems like everything that Lupe has done in regards to this album has been fueled by controversy:

• Around My Way sparked a temporary feud between him and Pete Rock. 
• Bitch Bad got Lupe all upset because some magazine didn’t like his song so now he’s leading a “boycott movement” against them.
• Lamborghini Angels is some religious joint that he actually warned about.
• And as far as Battle Scars goes, I’m not totally sure. Like I said, haven’t listened to it.

My main point is that Lupe has been acting like one of those annoying Kony 2012 ass niggas that whine and do controversial shit just for the show. I tried to keep a positive outlook since Lasers wasn’t TOTALLY his fault, you know? Atlantic definitely put their hands all over that project. But F&L2 isn’t meant to be another Lasers, right?

Different isn’t always bad, nor is progression. But you can’t blame me for wanting old Lupe to pop up somewhere. Maybe Food & Liquor 2 WILL be a good album. I can’t call that just yet.. But my expectations for it aren’t very high.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s the sequel to Lasers.