My personal favorites include Daydreamin’ with Jill Scott Kick, Push Hurt Me Soul and the Outro. Grammy-nominated without being corny or predictable.Įvery song is a winner. Hip hop doesn’t get better than this: Smart without being overbearing. It ranked #23 out of all albums for the entire DECADE. He melds with Pink Floyd, slams Paul Wall to the floor, and freestyles like its scripted. It is the 5th best album of the entire 2000s, and it gave you, free, more than most other 20th Century rappers made you PAY for. Lupe’s entire 1/15 run of mixtapes is incredible, and this one is the best of the bunch.

Lupe Fiasco – Fahrenheit 1/15 Part II: Revenge of the Nerds (2006 mixtape). A truly great concept record.Īs with Food and Liquor, nearly every track is essential listening, but my personal favorites are The Coolest Paris, Tokyo Dumb it Down (a scathing indictment of the music industry) and Run Game. It tells the story of a kid called The Cool (who appeared on Lupe’s first album), and a cast that includes Locket and Game and Streets. His second studio album is almost as good as his first. “Mural” is a transcendent rap song–easily the best song of 2015. It was the 13th best album of the 2010s decade. Tetsuo and Youth is the most complex of his best three, with long-form songs and much less accessible beats. And they’re pretty much interchangable on this list. Mixtapes aside, the top 3 studio albums on this list are three of the greatest rap albums of all time. Slow Down turns William DeVaughn’s classic “Be Thankful” song–one of the earliest hip hop soul jams–on its head. Shayla G Up offers the spotlight, generously, to a truly gifted female rapper. Jesus Walks makes better use of the beats than Kanye. Pen and the the Needlez shows his brilliant lyrical artistry. Lupe’s first mixtape in a trilogy of three of the greatest mixtapes of all time. This one is all Gorillaz beats, which work nicely under Lupe’s clear tone and crisp delivery.īest cuts: Heat Under the Baby Seat I Don’t Feel So Good Make Sure You Getta Shirt.įahrenheit 1/15 (Part I – The Truth Is Among Us) (2006) The “worst” of the Fahrenheit mixtapes is still fascinating. And even when it misses the mark, it’s a fascinating listen.įahrenheit 1/15 (Part III – A Rhyming Ape) (2006) As with most of his experiments, it lands well. Where that story showed the plight of the rapper in an apocalyptic future, Drogas Wave shows is a fantasy based on what happened to men like Lupe in the past.Ī short mixtape that finds Lupe crossing the boundary between indie rock and rap while taking shots at Jay-Z and Clipse. It’s dense–not an easy listen–but very rewarding–along the lines of the brilliant Deltron 3030 album. The “wave” in the title knocks a bunch of kidnapped Africans destined for slavery off a boat, and the album tells of their adventure surviving the ordeal (they get the power to live underwater and spend their existence sinking other slave ships). So, it’s not a great album–but it’s got more than a handful of good songs: Strange Fruition, ITAL (Roses), Around My Way, and Lamborghini Angels.įrom here on out, every album on this list is genius and excellent. In fact, I’d forgotten it existed until I started doing this list. It’s not terrible, but it’s not memorable. As a result, this is not a memorable album.

Lupe’s fourth album finds him trying to get back to the brilliance of his first two but not quite ready to abandon the pop-leaning production of Lasers. It’s good, but a bit heavy handed.įood and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Part I (2012)

This mixtape came out after Lupe participated in the Occupy Wall Street protests. It’s perhaps not a coincidence that the title of the album has the A superimposed over an O (for “Losers”).įriend Of The People: I Fight Evil (2011) It has a few hits, but is overall forgettable. Move along.ĭespite having Lupe’s biggest song ever, The Show Goes On (double platinum single), Lasers is not a strong album.

Lupe Fiasco has made only two bad albums. Do yourself a favor and go get these albums. He exploded on the scene by killing both Jay-Z and Kanye on their own track, Diamonds, and then released three of the best mixtapes of all time, one after the other. Lupe is one of the most interesting voices in hip hop.

Lupe fiasco mixtapes tracklist