mixtape maestro (2.0)

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Lupe Fiasco “Double Burger with Cheese”/ “WWJD He’d Prolly LOL Like WTF!!!” Posted: 29 Nov 2011 08:44 PM PST Lupe Fiasco‘s LASERS ended up being somewhat of a commercial triumph (with sales close to half a million) and produced some career highlights in thought-provoking lyrical heavyweights like “Words I Never Said” and “Black America” (not to mention the mindless appeal of summer jam “Out of My Head”), but damn if we’re not happy we’ve finally moved past the album’s promotional cycle and all of its drama; from the record label’s behind-the-scenes antics keeping it on the shelf and the fans attention-grabbing petitioning for its release, to Lupe’s slamming (and eventual come around to mildly appreciating) the album in the press, to all the middling critical reviews that met the full-length upon it’s arrival, the whole era was just an exhausting ordeal to witness. So with its positioning as a brand new start post-Lasers, the release of Lupe’s new mixtape Friend of The People: I Fight Evil, despite not being a complete return to the soulful hip hop sound of his earlier days, is a welcome one, the set exploring what happens when a lack of label interference allows him the room to be as clever, creative and unfiltered as he wants. For “Double Burger with Cheese” that means biting a hefty chunk of Justice’s “Ohio” to back what’s essentially a threading of several plots and scenes from his favorite childhood films. It doesn’t quite reach the same degree of next-level songwriting genius as something like The Cool‘s “Gotta Eat” (and trying to decipher the connection between what he’s rapping about and the Justice “hook” will only hurt your brain), but once you figure out what Fiasco is doing here, and how it sparks one’s own fondness for the more memorable moments and characters of 80′s/ 90′s black cinema classics like Colors, Boyz N The Hood, Juice and Menace II Society (the latter of which the track owes its name), it’s difficult to come away from “Cheese” not only semi-impressed but itching to look up the flicks in NetFlix to peep Ice Cube’s turn as “Doughboy” and Wesley Snipes transformation into “Nino Brown” all over again. “Double Burger with Cheese” (DL): Download audio file (Lupe-Fiasco-Double-Burger-with-Cheese.mp3) For fans itching for more of Fiasco’s masterful fusion of social commentary depth and witty lyrical wizardry though, it’s the Fall Out Boy-esque titled “WWJD He’d Prolly LOL Like WTF!!!” that lands as a must-hear. Based around the synthy arena-rock stomp of yet another Audio, Video, Disco Justice track (this time, “On’n'On”), “WWJD” hones in on the wonky ways of American consumerism, targeting corporate giants and the public’s zombie-like obsession over their every new product. “Imagine a world where everything starts with an ‘i’/ But it still ends with a die/ Probably got an app for that you could try/ Brother iClouds, right into the great wi-fi,” he raps after pondering over his need for a diaper the next time he stands in a lengthy line for the latest hot Apple gadget; later, he dubs the offerings of Nike “Beaverton hearts with Chinese parts/ Built by the poor and designed by the smart” and offers a bit of business advice for Mickey D’s (“I think they should expand into health care/ And then you’ll have all ends covered/ Even make caskets, have it all umbrella’d”), all of which is enough to give anyone who has ever flipped out over the newest i-whatever and Air Jordan arrival a tinge of buyer’s remorse. “WWJD He’d Prolly LOL Like WTF!!!” (DL): Download audio file (Lupe-Fiasco-WWJD-Hed-Prolly-LOL-Like-WTF.mp3) Pick up Friend of The People: I Fight Evil in it’s entirety here.

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