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Lupe Fiasco Proclaims 'The Cool' His Best Album: 'I'm Not Bullshittin''
Lupe Fiasco's 'The Cool' has been certified platinum by the RIAA. Here, he talks to HipHopDX about the achievement and where he ranks the album in his catalog.
hiphopdx.com
Lupe Fiasco has hit another career milestone as his second album, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, was just officially certified platinum by the RIAA for sales of more than one million units.
Released on December 18, 2007, the Chicago lyricist’s critically acclaimed LP spawned the hit single “Superstar” featuring Matthew Santos, and includes fan favorites “Hip Hop Saved My Life,” “Little Weapon,” “Paris, Tokyo” and “Dumb It Down
Almost 15 years after hitting shelves, The Cool has given Lupe his first ever platinum plaque for an album, which he told fans last month (September 1) was something he “always wanted” to achieve for his team.
“Just got the 1st Platinum Album of my career… The Cool,” he tweeted. “Always wanted one of these for the team [prayer emoji].” He ended his tweet with a nod to late West Coast rapper Nipsey Hussle, writing: “The Marathon Continues…”
Atlantic Records confirmed to HipHopDX that The Cool officially achieved platinum certification on September 29, 2022.
Speaking to HipHopDX, Lupe Fiasco explained why The Cool reaching platinum status is particularly meaningful, and where he ranks the album among the rest of his catalog.
“Hip Hop puts a lot into sales and certifications,” Lupe told DX. “So to achieve this milestone is great. It’s one of the things I’ve always wanted — the only thing that I hadn’t achieved in rap or in Hip Hop.
I’ve sold millions of records. I have platinum singles and multi-platinum singles: ‘Superstar,’ ‘The Show Goes On,’ and all that stuff. So I’ve had platinum plaques. But I’ve never had a platinum album. Food & Liquor’s gold, Lasers is gold, Food & Liquor 2 is gold, but I’ve never had a platinum record. So for me, it just solidifies my presence in the space and it puts me in a new kind of category.”
What makes the achievement even more special for Lupe is the fact that he crossed the million mark during the streaming era, which he uses as a benchmark for relevance.
As far as where he ranks The Cool in his discography, Lupe crowned it his best and used sales to justify his position. “Where would I rank it? It’s my number one selling record,” he told DX. “I’ma start doing that, whatever sold the most is the best. That’s just easy, right? Who had album of the year? Whoever sold the most records. Cool? We’re done here. The Cool sold the most records so that’s the number one record.”
After being given the opportunity to recant his statement on the basis he might have been being facetious, Lupe doubled down on his stance. “Listen, I’m not bullshyttin’. Number one. It’s number one.”
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