Why didn't Lupe Fiasco achieve long mainstream success? | r/hiphopheads

[ISO]

F&L and The Cool were really nice starts. I never crowned him like some, I took a wait and see approach. But I was impressed with how he started. The Jay-Z connection and Kanye feature is why I gave him a shot. He outshined Ye in one verse on "Touch the Sky". Also the mixtapes were good too. I could tell he was heavily influenced by Esco as well. The Problem is he took a 3 year gap before "Lasers" came out. "The Cool" dropped late 2007, so he was able to ride that in 2008. But it was like an eternity in Hip Hop . So much in the game had changed in 2009, 2010 and then 2011 when he finally dropped. I also don't think it had to do with "Commercial" records. "Kick and Push" was a commercial song, I gotcha" was Commercial, "Superstar" was Super Commercial with that pop hook. He did those on his first two albums. He was rapping about skateboards for crying out loud.

Sure the Label issues didn't help but Atlantic felt vindicated when "Lasers" came in at #1 on the Charts. They were like "See Lupe, do it our way". Ironically, "Lasers" would be kind of his last Big album. "Show Must Go On" and the Trey Songz record were clearly meant for radio and sales. Since that LP, Charts and sales wise it's been downhill. I also agree that his Political views may have hurt him at the time. Most people knew Lupe could get deep lyrically but once he started getting overly political, it turned some people off. I didn't care about that stuff. I only focus on the music. You can see the quality went down. I still think he can be proud of his overall career. Most rappers flame out after 2 albums. They are lucky to get 3. I think his overall catalog is just OK but there are some strong highlights in it. You could argue it was Lupe success that paved the way for Kid Cudi, Drake, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, K Dot and the next generation of those new rappers. Kanye normally gets that credit but he was not young like Lupe was.

F&L and The Cool are glorified 3.5 mic albums and his verse on Touch The Sky was basic and short.

His connections and the climate he came Def helped him.

I like Kick Push but at the 50th anniversary of hip-hop performance it really stood out to me how corny some of his singles are. I also wouldn’t say he paved the way those guys were coming regardless.

 

[Street Knowledge]

F&L and The Cool are glorified 3.5 mic albums and his verse on Touch The Sky was basic and short.

His connections and the climate he came Def helped him.

I like Kick Push but at the 50th anniversary of hip-hop performance it really stood out to me how corny some of his singles are. I also wouldn’t say he paved the way those guys were coming regardless.

I don’t like F&L nearly as much as I did in 2006

 

[frush11]

His music has never been that good. Dude can write and all. But actual music, heh.

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

There were a few missteps in Lu's career. Some he has been very public and candid about, especially during his IG lives and interviews he's conducted. A couple of things:

-Lu's manager being in prison (this effected a lot of negotiations during his career)

-Dissing Obama during his time as president, WHILE TRYING TO PROMOTE A NEW ALBUM (Lu himself said this put a stop to a major rollout he was working on and cut most of his media/music connections).

-Signing to Atlantic because he thought Jay was going there. This is one of the biggest miscalculations because it led to a delayed album (Lasers) and him being musically stagnant after releasing the classic known as The Cool. Jay would go on to Def Jam (camel moves).

-Labels actively stopping their artist from collaborating with him (spoke on it during an IG live session). This started happening after speaking on Obama (see earlier reference).

-Kendrick beef? Lu was open at one point about Kendrick taking parts of his persona or creative ideas for himself (Kung Fu Kenny, DAMN being able to be played in reverse a la Tetsuo, Black Panther soundtrack cover, etc). Apologized years later, mentioned that while he still thinks he's the better lyricist, Kendrick makes better music.

-SLR rapping style. Lu is in my top 5 as far as artist are concerned but not everyone wants to play the DaVinci Code to digest music. His music is layered and very complex at times, making it a task for new listeners, since music has been dumbed down for the casual consumer.

Yet, despite all this, he's released some of the best music since being independent. Not a fan at all of these latest singles though.

His first album Food and Liquor got leaked EIGHT MONTHS before the album dropped and the shyt almost got shelved. He had to record large parts of it over and add new records.

His career was legit cursed from the start.

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

I really think Chilly getting knocked changed him in such an immeasurable way. Maybe he's not as preachy and isn't as conscious as he became to be if his partner doesn't get booked.

 

[CrimsonTider]

His first album Food and Liquor got leaked EIGHT MONTHS before the album dropped and the shyt almost got shelved. He had to record large parts of it over and add new records.

His career was legit cursed from the start.

I don’t think this affected him in a real way

 

[CrimsonTider]

F&L and The Cool are glorified 3.5 mic albums and his verse on Touch The Sky was basic and short.

His connections and the climate he came Def helped him.

I like Kick Push but at the 50th anniversary of hip-hop performance it really stood out to me how corny some of his singles are. I also wouldn’t say he paved the way those guys were coming regardless.

Yeah I mentioned in this thread that Lupe’s push is what separated him from other backpackers of that time. Looking back the resources behind him we’re massive

I don’t like F&L nearly as much as I did in 2006

That’s because Lupe is not good at making music, his beats and hooks are terrible.

 

[O.Red]

If Lupe came out in 2002, he woulda been a gangsta rapper on Rocafella in the same vein as Freeway & Beanie

I don’t know if he woulda been able to pull off his transition from hood hustler lyrics to conscious rap as seamlessly if he prematurely dropped the OG version of Food & Liquor recorded from 2002ish or 2003 to 2005

Funny you say that because Lupe started around 2000-2001 and literally was a gangsta rapper

 

[Rapmastermind]

F&L and The Cool are glorified 3.5 mic albums and his verse on Touch The Sky was basic and short.

His connections and the climate he came Def helped him.

I like Kick Push but at the 50th anniversary of hip-hop performance it really stood out to me how corny some of his singles are. I also wouldn’t say he paved the way those guys were coming regardless.

I'd say their both strong 4's actually with F&L being 4.5 possibly. I like "F&L" better because the lead up with the Mixtapes, bootleg then album. "The Cool" was cool but at the time people were acting like it was the best album ever. It was a good sophomore though. Everything else has been hit or miss. I did scratch my head at Lupe doing a "5th Anniversary F&L" (I could have swore Anniversary releases for Albums and movies started at 10) that was a little pretentious. But I did like the bonus cuts. Lupe singles were only OK for me. It was always his deep and album cuts that did it. "Touch The Sky" as a nice mainstream introduction for him, set everything off after that. As for influence, I'd argue again Lupe was the youngin before a lot of those guys. I wasn't shocked "Nothing on You" was his song originally.

 

[THEREALBRAND]

Anybody that thinks Lupe would have been more successful in a different era is crazy. The only reason he really stood out initially was that he focused on lyrics at a time when every other new artist was either chasing a catchy hook or trying to make a dance. His music was decent at the beginning of his career, but it got over hyped because he was seen as being unique. If he came out five years earlier or five years later his career would be looked at a lot less favorably.

 

[NoHalfWay]

Funny you say that because Lupe started around 2000-2001 and literally was a gangsta rapper

Lol that’s exactly why I said it. I know his origins very well

When Lupe was young that nikka was on songs with Stack Bundles, E Ness, Un Kasa, and others rapping bout slangin dope, shooting nikkas, fighting cases, and gaming hoes

He didn’t even wanna do Touch The Sky with Kanye cuz he wasn’t feeling it & that wasn’t his lane them 1st & 15th indictments made homie switch his style 180 although Lupe has always been a nerd but a street dude no less

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

I don’t think this affected him in a real way

His music completely changed..........pre and post Chilly getting knocked.

He was spitting street shyt pre Chilly getting booked.

 

[Awesome Wells]

People have to realize that Lupe is one of the first artists who came out fighting against being in a 360 deal. The songs he wanted to put out vs the tracks the label was okay with weren't anything alike. Atlantic had a very clear direction they wanted him to go in, and they weren't about to chill on putting the pressure on him to follow that lead. Which is why he was boycotting for a minute.

His singles were a lot of tracks they kept in the vault, that were pre-written and produced, and ready for him to just add lyrics to. Whole structures of songs done by in-house writers that the label felt anyone could write sh*t to that would chart, and all Lupe would have to do is basically write within the bones and that was a song. The songs he turned down from them were given to dudes like B.o.B. They were literally making him record songs he didn't want to, and then took the songs from him and gave them to other artists, lol. They did that with "Nothin on You" and B.o.B won a damn Grammy with it. It took Lupe forever to be able to actually make the kinda sh*t he wanted to, and he still gave us two very dope albums and mad mixtapes in the beginning.

 

[ISO]

I'd say their both strong 4's actually with F&L being 4.5 possibly. I like "F&L" better because the lead up with the Mixtapes, bootleg then album. "The Cool" was cool but at the time people were acting like it was the best album ever. It was a good sophomore though. Everything else has been hit or miss. I did scratch my head at Lupe doing a "5th Anniversary F&L" (I could have swore Anniversary releases for Albums and movies started at 10) that was a little pretentious. But I did like the bonus cuts. Lupe singles were only OK for me. It was always his deep and album cuts that did it. "Touch The Sky" as a nice mainstream introduction for him, set everything off after that. As for influence, I'd argue again Lupe was the youngin before a lot of those guys. I wasn't shocked "Nothing on You" was his song originally.

The beats and hooks are too underwhelming for strong 4 mics.

 

[CrimsonTider]

His music completely changed..........pre and post Chilly getting knocked.

He was spitting street shyt pre Chilly getting booked.

What I’m saying is doubt there was a more impactful song than “kick, push” on the album