Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth (Discussion thread)*Stream*

[reserved_one]

Madonna went from being my least liked song to one of my favorites now. been in my head all day
The hook is just infectious "Madonna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, na, na, na, na"


I might be in the minority, but this has a chance of being better than The Cool in the long run and The Cool is one of my all-time favorite rap albums.

 

[reserved_one]

I still don't know if it will surpass Food & Liquor tho... I think it might. Am I'm buggin?

 

[Momentum]

I still don't know if it will surpass Food & Liquor tho... I think it might. Am I'm buggin?

My list:

1. The Cool
2. F&L 2 (due to the strength/cohesion of the last 5 tracks alone)
3. F&L 1
4. Tetsuo
   
5. Lasers

I don't fully understand Tetsuo yet, maybe once I fully decode it I will elevate it.

It's also CRAZY to consider he has this discography along with his mixtape works and he's ONLY 32... we could eat for another decade.

 

[intilectual recipricol]

My list:

1. The Cool
2. F&L 2 (due to the strength/cohesion of the last 5 tracks alone)
3. F&L 1
4. Tetsuo
   
5. Lasers

I don't fully understand Tetsuo yet, maybe once I fully decode it I will elevate it.

It's also CRAZY to consider he has this discography along with his mixtape works and he's ONLY 32... we could eat for another decade.

..............

1. Tetsuo & Youth
2. The Cool
3. Food & Liquor
4. Food & Liquor II
5. Lasers

 

[ReasonableMatic]

I can't stop playing it, man. It's like Nas, Canibus, Twista, and Mos Def merged into one man. there's nothing Lupe can't do with words. Modern day heiroglyphics and sanskrit combined.

The album is like a musical matryoshka doll:

From Wikipedia: also known as Russian nesting doll, refers to a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo. Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long and shapeless traditional Russian peasant jumper dress. The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby turned from a single piece of wood. Much of the artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be very elaborate. The dolls often follow a theme; the themes vary, from fairy tale characters to Soviet leaders.

When you play the album backward, you get the analogy perfectly: each song is a complete statement by itself, but as you continue to play the songs it becomes clear they each fit inside the next, building to a bigger magnificent whole. The other similarities are clear: the artistic intricacy; the layers, the complex representations of gender ("Little Death"), each doll following a theme...

When you play the album forward it's as if Lupe tranformed the rap game into a video game of his own song, and on the final song he beats the entire game... Proceed to the next level, indeed.

This is the first album I've heard that has quintuple entendres... there are complicated mathematical and linguistic theories boiled down to their essence in couplets... I honestly think someone could write a 250 page book of critical essays on the themes and theories explored on these songs. shyt is just

"Such is life: odd as Egg McMuffins at night..." Lupe manages to connect inflexible moral codes of love and marriage to the absurdity of time-specific divisions of meals, and the hypocrisy of puritannical values as well as fast food industry practices. "is it slippin' like permission? Am I trippin' like field." Lupe had me feeling like a child again, connecting his confusion over love, religion, and politics to those childhood recollections of school that wash over us like a fever-dream.

FACTS! Lu's droppin Fabergé egg's all over this album

From Wikipedia: A Fabergé egg is one of a limited number of jeweled eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé and his company between 1885 and 1917. The most famous are those made for the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers, often called the 'Imperial' Fabergé eggs. The House of Fabergé made about 50 eggs, of which 43 have survived. Two more were planned for Easter 1918, but were not delivered, due to the Russian Revolution.

After the revolution, the Fabergé family left Russia (see House of Fabergé). The Fabergé trademark has since been sold several times and several companies have retailed egg-related merchandise using the Fabergé name. The Victor Mayer jewelry company produced limited edition of heirloom quality Fabergé eggs authorized underUnilever's license from 1998 to 2009. The trademark is now owned by Fabergé Limited, which makes egg-themed jewellery.


Mannn fukk it, THIS IS LUPE'S BEST ALBUM HANDS DOWN

The concept of this album is just

I find myself randomly picking up gems all throughout this album

After all the labeldrama he went through with Atlantic I couldn't imagine him droppin an album like this..
He basically dropped his Hell Hath Not Fury with this album..
This album displays his greatness as an artist to be able to deliver when it matters the most
Tetsuo&Youth is by far his more COMPLETE album to date

I'm gonna let this album marinate for a couple months before I fukk around and drop the C word in the heat of the moment but this album is just

 

[Figaro]

Whats this shyt about playing the album backwards?

 

[ROFL_GUY]

Whats this shyt about playing the album backwards?

the tracks

spring/summer confirm this. follow from there

 

[intilectual recipricol]

FACTS! Lu's droppin Fabergé egg's all over this album

From Wikipedia: A Fabergé egg is one of a limited number of jeweled eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé and his company between 1885 and 1917. The most famous are those made for the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers, often called the 'Imperial' Fabergé eggs. The House of Fabergé made about 50 eggs, of which 43 have survived. Two more were planned for Easter 1918, but were not delivered, due to the Russian Revolution.

After the revolution, the Fabergé family left Russia (see House of Fabergé). The Fabergé trademark has since been sold several times and several companies have retailed egg-related merchandise using the Fabergé name. The Victor Mayer jewelry company produced limited edition of heirloom quality Fabergé eggs authorized underUnilever's license from 1998 to 2009. The trademark is now owned by Fabergé Limited, which makes egg-themed jewellery.


Mannn fukk it, THIS IS LUPE'S BEST ALBUM HANDS DOWN

The concept of this album is just

I find myself randomly picking up gems all throughout this album

After all the labeldrama he went through with Atlantic I couldn't imagine him droppin an album like this..
He basically dropped his Hell Hath Not Fury with this album..
This album displays his greatness as an artist to be able to deliver when it matters the most
Tetsuo&Youth is by far his more COMPLETE album to date

I'm gonna let this album marinate for a couple months before I fukk around and drop the C word in the heat of the moment but this album is just

"Call me Lu the Giant's goose or just Faberge Pe" -

 

[GoldenGlove]

Has the interview he did with Travis Smiley been uploaded online yet?

 

[FlyRy]

5 mic album

but that farts line wil forever get the from me

i know this was discussed though

 

[Versa]

If he really go through with this The Cool 2 business its possible

The next album is called Skulls and a lot of people feel it will be The Cool's ssuccessor.

You dont understand... for so long I could just be like "Pac is the GOAT" and it was never in jeopardy. I mean 3000 makes me feel like that sometimes, but I need more stuff. But Lu got so much material ranging from so many topics and POV's and the earliest shyt was on the level of the GOAT lyricists ever. The insight was on the same level as a Chuck D. But this Tetsuo & Youth is undeniable. I got some soul searching to do

The Cool thing(no pun intended) is with his freedom from Atlantic there's no reason to think he can't keep this going with complete creative control. They pretty much gave him that with TY and we got an instant classic. Don't know if he can top this, but even if he swings for the fenced and doesn't connect with grand slam like TY we still could get an inside the park home run like FL or TC

The superbowl last night has me so salty still, bout to put TY on for my tenth listen and vibe out before hitting the weights

wow, after reading up on the history of banjos and how they're made (rings ain't sounds they circles) I have a greater appreciation for Dots & Lines, I wish I was music savvy enough to explain it, but somebody here will do so in due time
-5 strings (and a line, and a line, and a line, and a line, and a line)
-the actual intro and outro banjo tune being played in the musical equivalent of sacred geometry

my favorite album ever with another unveiled layer. I'm gonna share this with others if you don't mind.

Madonna went from being my least liked song to one of my favorites now. been in my head all day
The hook is just infectious "Madonna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, na, na, na, na"


I might be in the minority, but this has a chance of being better than The Cool in the long run and The Cool is one of my all-time favorite rap albums.

It's better breh. The Cool is great but this is the next level in every way - better production, more cohesive, better hooks, more layered lyrically, even more artistically ambitious. I feel the only thing stopping people from making the call that this is better is nostalgia and also giving TY time to digest and be fully deciphered. I'm confident enough in what I've heard to say this is his best work and his third classic.

..............

1. Tetsuo & Youth
2. The Cool
3. Food & Liquor
4. Food & Liquor II
5. Lasers

We have the exact same order. The top 3 are all a 5/5 for me, advanced if that counts is a 4.5, FL2 is a 3.5 and Lasers is a 2.5 or a 3.

 

[Versa]

Madonna went from being my least liked song to one of my favorites now. been in my head all day
The hook is just infectious "Madonna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, na, na, na, na"


I might be in the minority, but this has a chance of being better than The Cool in the long run and The Cool is one of my all-time favorite rap albums.

Momma said my son..never been no killer

Momma said my son...never been no gangster

No drug dealer, no gang member

Mama said my son....never been no troubleeeee. Mama said my son....never been no troubleeeee

One of the things I appreciate most about this album is despite it being so heavily dense, layered and in some regards abstract, it manages to be so relatable and digestible to black people across the world. Those lines on Madonna hit hard because we all seen black mothers who've lost their sons to the streets say those same words in newspaper articles or news segments. Anyone who has lived in or currently lives in the hood can see the imagery painted and the message conveyed in Deliver. We get a deep look at the mind of a black man who grew up in these conditions through chopper. While we all collective rage in light of the unjust and racist system we are living in, Prisoner 1 2 drops at the perfect time. When the hook to part 2 comes on and he talks about locking nikkas up and throwing away the key I think not only of corrupt law enforcement but even c00ns like sherry shepard who disrespect natural black hair on national television, don lemon's fruity ass proudly selling out for white people and the nikkas who continue to embody the street life and hate themselves and their own through their actions. While I mostly want to see all of us get it together, unify and progress, sometimes you get so frustrated that you wanna put all them nikkas away and throw away the key like the coast guard watching me. Then God reminds you that they are victims in the grand scheme and we must be patient with them and not give up hope.

And beyond topical and timeless black social commentary, you get general stuff like the temptation and ills of the world in little death, drug trafficking in body of work, not selling your soul/integrity/staying true to yourself in Dots & Lines, walking away from a bad relationship(between man and woman, artist and label, etc) on No Scratches and a bunch of other stuff. And that's just the surface level shyt.

Lu talk all that goofy shyt on Twitter but still dropped a very black conscious album targeted primarily at a black audience in the grand scheme of things. Really glad the content is still there cuz dude definitely had me worried. I never in a million years thought when I heard Next 2 It that I'd be getting this.

 

[Dboy41]

My list:

1. The Cool
2. F&L 2 (due to the strength/cohesion of the last 5 tracks alone)
3. F&L 1
4. Tetsuo
   
5. Lasers

I don't fully understand Tetsuo yet, maybe once I fully decode it I will elevate it.

It's also CRAZY to consider he has this discography along with his mixtape works and he's ONLY 32... we could eat for another decade.

His indie album is gonna be on some next level shyt. I feel it. Is it still gonna be skulls? Nucca stay changing his album ideas

 

[IShotTheSheriff]

Very glad I gave this album a listen.

It's true, when you get into these listening moods, less meaningful music just won't cut it anymore.

I'm looking at my playlist full of rich gang, gucci mane, etc like

 

[NoHalfWay]

I never in a million years thought when I heard Next 2 It that I'd be getting this.

Song was a banger tho

His indie album is gonna be on some next level shyt. I feel it. Is it still gonna be skulls? Nucca stay changing his album ideas

I guarantee he won't become indie. He has a lot of offers on the table.
The next Lupe project is Black Vietnam. A group effort with S1 scheduled to drop this summer/fall.