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

[Momentum]

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 so 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.

They made him do Next to It and Old School Love. Atlantic dumbasses told him if he didn't bring them singles over those beats his album wouldn't drop.

 

[the cool]

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

What was the concept of this album?

 

[Romell]

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

Just dropped. I haven't created a thread yet since I haven't peeped it.

http://www.thirteen.org/programs/tavis-smiley/rap-artist-lupe-fiasco/

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

What was the concept of this album?

Philosphy history & youth

 

[Rigby.]

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



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



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



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.



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.

If he's releasing a TC2, it's gonna be named TC2. You act like that name is set in stone lol

 

[Versa]

"Any love less than unconditional is so
Under-Christian, it's unrepentant
The physical part of my church
Emits the invisible arts of my work
To make gold from garbage is not the alchemical point of this math
But truth be told it's the pursuit of gold that turns the goal of men into trash
The soul's gold and they turning gold into cash
And your reflection is your connection to more collections of more directions and paths
If your reflection is a mask, then you're reflective of mass
To see yourself just look at me then split your reflection in half"



"Punching on the glass
Scared that some killer might fukk him in the ass
Staff getting rigid, wasn't gonna take away the visits
Segregate nikkas by theyself and make 'em stay with it
Wicked, swung the shank around on a mop string
They had to pull him out the cell with a SWAT Team
That's a cop team, they sent hella cops, to stop, the helicoptering
Man, he thought that he'd fly away, like a kite, take flight
Like a letter on a string, like propellers on a wing
But the kite was the key
They made electric chairs for his dying days
Last meals, no appeals for him to try and stay
On Death Row like Suge and the late Pac
Maybe he could dig a tunnel out of A Block
And wear gloves for the razor-wired gate top
Scared thugs going crazy in a caged box
Looking at the world through the TV
And they gone, rapping over beats from the tabletops
Ay! That's how it is in a police state
When your life is just a number and release date
When you're rehabilitated so correctly
And let's hope that's how you're living when you're set free"

Whole verse was but the bold was imagery at its finest.

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

"Any love less than unconditional is so
Under-Christian, it's unrepentant
The physical part of my church
Emits the invisible arts of my work
To make gold from garbage is not the alchemical point of this math
But truth be told it's the pursuit of gold that turns the goal of men into trash
The soul's gold and they turning gold into cash
And your reflection is your connection to more collections of more directions and paths
If your reflection is a mask, then you're reflective of mass
To see yourself just look at me then split your reflection in half"



"Punching on the glass
Scared that some killer might fukk him in the ass
Staff getting rigid, wasn't gonna take away the visits
Segregate nikkas by theyself and make 'em stay with it
Wicked, swung the shank around on a mop string
They had to pull him out the cell with a SWAT Team
That's a cop team, they sent hella cops, to stop, the helicoptering
Man, he thought that he'd fly away, like a kite, take flight
Like a letter on a string, like propellers on a wing
But the kite was the key
They made electric chairs for his dying days
Last meals, no appeals for him to try and stay
On Death Row like Suge and the late Pac
Maybe he could dig a tunnel out of A Block
And wear gloves for the razor-wired gate top
Scared thugs going crazy in a caged box
Looking at the world through the TV
And they gone, rapping over beats from the tabletops
Ay! That's how it is in a police state
When your life is just a number and release date
When you're rehabilitated so correctly
And let's hope that's how you're living when you're set free"

Whole verse was but the bold was imagery at its finest.

He blazed this the intricate levels to this is just

 

[Versa]

Random 10th listen notes

- Every listen is giving me a new favorite song. My favorite from this one is Dots & Lines which was probably my least favorite on listen one...

- Trouble and Trae got the two best verses on Chopper besides Lu to me

- Still having a hard time determining which season is my favorite between Winter and Fall. Summer is great too, but it's the shortest one, and thematically besides Dots & Lines it can't compete with the other 2. One of the reasons I don't like like the idea of playing it backwards is because I feel the album gets deeper, darker,more thematic and more moving the further along you go. I like the pace and tone of that.

- Listening to the lyrics, Madonna is sad as fukk, but the production is beautiful. Song is mad deceptive in that regard

- I still have no idea wtf "I love you like you're Mexico" means

- Lupe sounded like he was having the most fun on Adoration of The Magi, and it's not surprising to me that it's his favorite off the album.

- Fall is the best interlude to me. Sets the dreary, lack of hope feeling that the songs on that section embody. Winter sounds straight out of a horror movie and gets you prepped for the dark turn the album is about to take. Summer is the most beatuiful and light, and the songs that fllow are most light and fun. Spring is a soothing, light outro that plays while you think back about wtf you just experienced.

- How dope would it have been if the 3 songs off Lost in The Atlantic played after Spring as a bonus/hidden track type of deal? You think the album is over then the beat to "Lillies" starts to play . Mighta been too much though. nikkas might melt into a pool of liquid or some shyt when boy start spitting on "Mazinger"

- TRON might be the best beat on here forreal forreal.

- Sumo you up off that turf boy. Tsunami you up off that surf board

- SPACE WAVY

- nikkas was really on here saying this album is 3.5 mics yet wanted their posts afterwards to be taken seriously and not scrolled past brehs

If he's releasing a TC2, it's gonna be named TC2. You act like that name is set in stone lol

He has referred to the album that follows this as Skulls for well over a year now - maybe 2. The lineup has been said by him to be Tetsuo & Youth, then the Black Vietnam joint album with S1 and then Skulls his 6th solo album. The reason people feel Skulls will be where The Cool story line continues is because the The Cool is an undead character with a rotten hand made of bones so an album with a ghastly title such as "Skulls" fits that, because he released teaser pictures involving The Cool and The Streets after TY's release date was confirmed which led people to believe he was in the studio now working on his next album, because there is no reference to The Cool at all on TY which eliminates the theory that this album is where The Cool would return, and because The Cool II sounds mad goofy and nobody wants that to be the title

Give me Skulls: The Cool's Return, Skulls: Michael Young History's Untold Story, just plain ol' Skulls, The Cool: Skulls, or even The Coolest. Anything but The Cool II please!

 

[intilectual recipricol]

- Listening to the lyrics, Madonna is sad as fukk, but the production is beautiful. Song is mad deceptive in that regard

- I still have no idea wtf "I love you like you're Mexico" means

Also, Mexico is heavily Catholic, lots of prayers to the "Madonna" mother of Jesus...

 

[Momentum]

He has referred to the album that follows this as Skulls for well over a year now - maybe 2. The lineup has been said by him to be Tetsuo & Youth, then the Black Vietnam joint album with S1 and then Skulls his 6th solo album. The reason people feel Skulls will be where The Cool story line continues is because the The Cool is an undead character with a rotten hand made of bones so an album with a ghastly title such as "Skulls" fits that, because he released teaser pictures involving The Cool and The Streets after TY's release date was confirmed which led people to believe he was in the studio now working on his next album, because there is no reference to The Cool at all on TY which eliminates the theory that this album is where The Cool would return, and because The Cool II sounds mad goofy and nobody wants that to be the title

Give me Skulls: The Cool's Return, Skulls: Michael Young History's Untold Story, just plain ol' Skulls, The Cool: Skulls, or even The Coolest. Anything but The Cool II please!

Wasn't all of this supposed to be in the triple disc LUP.E.N.D set?

 

[Versa]

Wasn't all of this supposed to be in the triple disc LUP.E.N.D set?

Not that I know of.

Glad LUPEND never happened in retrospect cuz we never woulda got this. Glad Lasers happened too.

 

[NoHalfWay]

because there is no reference to The Cool at all on TY which eliminates the theory that this album is where The Cool would return,

Does TRON count since he's rapping in the perspective of The Game?

 

[We Major]

I've not listened and loved a hip-hop album as much as this since Life Is Good.

 

[Versa]

Does TRON count since he's rapping in the perspective of The Game?

Where are you getting that he did that? Break it down breh.

 

[NoHalfWay]

Where are you getting that he did that? Break it down breh.

I guess it derived from that tweet he had of The Game picture with the song's title

But Lupe's delivery & flow comes off more sinister akin to Put You On Game.

Then there's certain lines that catch my attention

"Redacted vision through these dark shades"

Both "The Streets" & "The Game" wear dark shades

"Coolest, tulips, flowers, fall from the towers
Like balls from Galileo to lay low
Ignorance that the world isn't ours, the gall
Give them all showers"

Give them all showers could be interpreted as lead showers. Which is giving somebody a full clip, along with the fountain of youth metaphor.

"Sumo you up off your turf boy" = street gangs fighting over turf
"Tsunami you up off your Tsurf board" = sex slang, diseases knocking these hoes & nikkas on their asses (Which go backs to characteristics of The Streets broad)

Just how I interpret it