Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Infobox Album
Name = Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
Type = studio
Artist = Lupe Fiasco


Released = Start date|2006|9|19
Recorded = 2001–2006
Genre = Alternative Hip Hop
Length = 72:14
Label = 1st & 15th, Atlantic
Producer = Jay-Z (exec.), Charles "Chilly" Patton (exec.), The Neptunes, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, Craig Kallman, Needlz, Soundtrakk, Prolyfic, Brandon Howard
Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:j9knu3edan8k 2006]
* "The A.V. Club" (A) [http://www.avclub.com/content/node/53066 2006]
* "Entertainment Weekly" (B+) [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/music/0,6115,1540570_4_0_,00.html 2006]
* "The New York Times" (favorable) [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/arts/music/18choi.html?ex=1316232000&en=b5f8be8f072ddd7d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss 2006]
* Pitchfork Media (7.9/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/38658/Lupe_Fiasco_Food_and_Liquor 2006]
*PopMatters (8/10) [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/6969/lupe-fiasco-food-and-liquor/ 2006]
*
* "Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/11498267/review/11925372/lupe_fiascos_food__liquor?source=album_reviews_rssfeed 2006]
* Stylus Magazine (B) [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/lupe-fiasco/food-and-liquor.htm 2006]
*"The Village Voice" (favorable) [http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0640,fleming,74649,22.html 2006]
This album = "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor" (2006)
Next album = "Lupe Fiasco's The Cool" (2007)Singles
Name = Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
Type = studio
single 1 = Kick, Push
single 1 date = April 18, 2006
single 2 = I Gotcha
single 2 date = August 8, 2006
single 3 = Daydreamin'
single 3 date = September 11, 2006

"Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor", commonly referred to as "Food & Liquor", is the Grammy Award winning debut album of American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released on September 19, 2006 on 1st & 15th Entertainment/Atlantic Records (see 2006 in music). The album features production from The Neptunes, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, Craig Kallman, Needlz, Soundtrakk, Prolyfic, and Brandon Howard. Jay-Z, Chill, and Lupe Fiasco himself are credited as the executive producers for the album.

Originally, the album was reported to have debuted at #12 on the "Billboard" 200; however, due to incomplete Nielsen SoundScan reports, the album actually debuted at #8. [cite news | title = "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor" A Smash Debut | publisher = Static Multimedia | url = http://www.staticmultimedia.com/content/music/news/news_1159572123?info=music | accessdate = 2007-05-22 ]

The first international single off the album was "Kick, Push." The song stated Lupe's love for skateboarding. The second single in Europe was "Daydreamin'" (featuring Jill Scott) which features a sample of I Monster's "Daydream in Blue." The second single in the U.S. (and the third international single) was "I Gotcha" which is produced by The Neptunes. The song's video was featured on MTV's "Making the Video." Lupe held a poll on his MySpace profile, where fans were able to vote for which song they wanted to be made into a music video. [cite news | title = Lupe Fiaso - The Instrumental (Behind the Scenes)| publisher = HipHopDX| date = 2007-04-30 | url = http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/videos/id.136/title.lupe-fiaso-the-instrumental-behind-the-scenes | accessdate = 2007-05-22]

The album was nominated for 4 Grammy Awards including Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 49th Grammy Awards. It's fourth nomination produced a win as it won the Best Urban/Alternative Song at the 50th Grammy Awards for his track "Daydreamin'" featuring Jill Scott.

Overview

Initial reception

Internet buzz preceded the release of "Food & Liquor", [cite news | title = Lupe Fiasco Speaks On 'Food & Liquor' Being Leaked To Internet | publisher = HipHopDX | date = 2006-04-17| url = http://allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=5576 | accessdate = 2007-05-22 ] and he was on Rolling Stone's 2006 "List of Artists to Watch". [cite news | title = 10 Artists to Watch 2006 | publisher = Rolling Stone | date = 2006-09-07| url = http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11544785/10_artists_to_watch_2006_lupe_fiasco_the_noisettes_jibbs_silversun_pickups_paolo_nutini
accessdate = 2007-05-22] Heralded as the potential "savior of Hip-Hop" by both critics [cite news | title = Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor | publisher = HipHopDX.com | date = 2006-9-27 | url = http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/reviews/id.693/title.lupe-fiasco-food-liquor | accessdate = 2006-09-20 ] [cite news | title = The Rise and Fall of Lupe Fiasco | publisher = hiphopmusic.com | date = 2006-10-17 | url = http://www.hiphopmusic.com/archives/002062.html | accessdate = 2007-05-30 ] [cite news | last = Baber | first = Anthony | title = Fiasco kicks, pushes his way to the top of the rap game | publisher = Michigan Daily | date = 2006-09-09 | url = http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2006/09/19/Music/Taste.Of.Chicago-2284369.shtml
accessdate = 2007-05-30 ] and rap luminaries such as Kanye West and Pharrell Williams, [cite news | title = Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor | publisher = JBHIFmusic | date = 2006-09-07 | url = http://www.jbhifimusic.com.au/Lupe+Fiasco/Lupe+Fiascos+Food++Liquor | accessdate = 2007-05-22 ] [cite news | title = Jay, Pharrell & Kanye Say: "Lupe Fiasco's The Future Of Hip Hop" | publisher = PartyPeeps2000 | date = 2006-07-10 | url = http://www.partypeeps2000.com/news/6272/1.aspx | accessdate = 2007-05-22 ] his guest appearance on West's hit single Touch the Sky only further fueled the hype surrounding him. The album is widely considered a hip hop classic.

Title origin

The title of the album refers to the vast amounts of Food and Liquor stores that exist in Chicago, which is his hometown. The title is also a philosophy that Lupe believes about human nature and he goes on to elaborate:

Album leak

Earlier in 2006, the album was leaked twice: in March 2006 and May 2006. However Lupe stated that he would still release the album with new and revised tracks.

Content

ubject matter

Fiasco covers a wide variety of subjects on the album. "Kick, Push" tells the story of a young skateboarder. The lyrics follow the skateboarder through many stages of his life such as his childhood, finding love, marriage, and adulthood (It is also understood to be an extended metaphor for hustling). Although the literal meaning of this song is skateboarding, the actual meaning of the song is rejection, and being criticized for doing what one loves. On "The Instrumental" Lupe addresses addiction to "boxes," or television. "He Say She Say" deals with the story of a child without a good father-figure and the effects that it has on the child. This child grows up to become "The Cool," one of the main characters which Lupe bases both of his albums on. "The Cool" follows the story of a dead man who rises from the grave and returns to the hood where he lived and died. "Hurt Me Soul" deals with Lupe's conflicting feelings about Hip-Hop, stating in the lyrics "I used to hate hip-hop. Yup, because the women degraded. But Too Short made me laugh, like a hypocrite I played it." He even references Jay-Z's (who is an executive producer of the album) line "I never pray to god. I pray to Gotti" on D'evils. The chorus features Lupe rapping from the perspective of various people who tell their problems in the world. On "American Terrorist", Lupe discusses his Muslim religion and racial profiling. He discusses the history of America terrorizing its own citizens and others. For example the song opens with,"We came through the storm, nooses on our necks, and a smallpox blanket to keep us warm." The album ends with Lupe reading a list of people who helped with the album (similar to that of "My 1st Song" by Jay-Z and "Last Call" by Kanye West).

Production

"Food & Liquor" was handled by a variety of different producers some lesser-known such as Soundtrakk, Needlz and Craig Kallman, while also having tracks produced by well-known producers such as Kanye West, Mike Shinoda and The Neptunes. On "Kick, Push", Soundtrakk provided lush strings and horns as the backdrop. Strings are prominent through the album particularly on songs such as "Hurt Me Soul", "He Say She Say", and "Daydreamin'". "Daydreamin'" contains a sample of the well-known song "Daydream in Blue" by I Monster as the chorus. "American Terrorist" contains a middle-eastern style beat provided by Prolyfic. The Neptunes provided a more synth and keyboard based beat on "I Gotcha". Brandon Howard provides a lush piano loop on "Kick, Push II". [cite news | title = ALBUMS :: Food And Liquor | publisher = ProdBy: The Net #1 Source For Hip Hop Productions and Discographies | url = http://prodby.altervista.org/album_list.php?album=Food%20And%20Liquor | accessdate = 2007-05-22 ]

Reception

"Food & Liquor" was considered a critical masterpiece by many critics. It earned an 83/100 on "Metacritic", [cite news | title = Food & Liquor by Lupe Fiasco | publisher = Metacritic | date = 2007-05-22 | url = http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/fiascolupe/foodandliquor | accessdate = 2007-05-30] a website that calculates reviews and averages the score, an 83 represents "Universal Acclaim." It received perfect scores from "The Onion" [cite news | last = Rabin | first = Nathan | title = Lupe Fiasco: Food And Liquor | publisher = The Onion | date = 2006-09-20 | url = http://www.avclub.com/content/node/53066 | accessdate = 2007-05-30 ] and "HipHopDX". HipHopDX remarked that the music was ahead of its time, "When you are this far ahead of your time you have to remember that it will take even longer for the average listener to catch up." [cite news | last = Hale | first = Andreas | title = Album Reviews: Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor | publisher = HipHopDX | date = 2006-09-20 | url = http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/reviews/id.693/title.lupe-fiasco-food-liquor | accessdate = 2007-05-30 ] "Prefix Magazine" called it the best hip-hop album of 2006. [cite news | last = Berkman | first = Seth | title = Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor Review | publisher = Prefix Magazine | date = 2006-09-19 | url = http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/L/lupe-fiasco/food-%26-liquor/2617 | accessdate = 2007-05-30 ] The album was also nominated for four Grammy Awards (three in 2007, one in 2008) and won Best Urban/Alternative song at the 2008 Grammy awards for "Daydreamin'."

Track listing

Credits

* Wasalu Muhammad Jaco − executive producer, main performer, composer
* Chill − executive producer
* Jay-Z - executive producer, featured vocals
* Sarah Green – featured vocals
* Gemini – featured vocals
* Jonah Matranga – featured vocals
* Iesha Jaco - featured vocals
* Jill Scott – featured vocals
* Matthew Santos – featured vocals
* Soundtrakk – producer
* Prolyfic – producer
* The Neptunes – producers
* Mike Shinoda – producer
* Craig Kallman – producer
* Kanye West – producer
* Needlz – producer
* Chris & Drop - producer
* Brandon Howard – producer
* Chuck Anderson – artwork [http://www.nopattern.com/]

References

External links

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