By shelz.

Another Thanksgiving is in the books and what do you have to show for it?  A bloated belly, a kitchen full of dirty dishes and probably a hangover if you snuck out of your auntie’s house in order to make it to the club despite the one traffic cop per square foot rule in effect on the holidays.

Wait. There is one more leftover you can count if you were wise enough to be sitting in front of your PC (or Mac for you techno snobs) yesterday, Lupe Fiasco’s contribution to your turkey day, Enemy of the State: A Love Story. And if you were, you know upon first listen that young Lupe does not come in peace and he’s not trying to share the grown folks table with any of these Hip-Hop jive turkeys. While the project does contain some contrived and layered metaphors that simply showcase the fact the he can flip a phrase 10 different ways, he also has some real things to say.  So all of you opportunists, industry evil doers and purveyors of superficial monosyllabic nonsense need to know, Lupe is putting your lame asses on notice.

He fashions himself as rap savior, the profound yin to Hip-Hop’s depthless yang.   He also gives a big fat fuck you to the doubters and those with short memories as he lends lyrical credence to the idea that recent slights have “lit a fire under him like pots and pans.”  Even if you find the reasoning behind his step out of the shadows a bit puerile, you can’t deny that Mr. Fiasco’s words have never played in the shallow end of the pool. Perhaps he’s ready to reconcile that talent with his place in the industry. Maybe MTV proved to Mr. Fiasco that he can’t rule the roost from the periphery. And maybe Enemy of the State is a sign that Lupe is ready to put down the skateboard and step both feet into the cipher.

The tape is a tease, just a taste of what he has to offer running a little less than 40 minutes.  However, the popular tracks combined with Lupe’s grand sense of self and unique way of spinning his thoughts confirms everyone’s favorite cliché.  Big things come in small packages.

The self big ups come fast, furious and often.  He describes the fear he puts in other rappers hearts on “Turnt Up.”  He claims his mind can achieve the clarity of a Hip-Hop mystic yogi on “Yoga Flame.”  There is even some talk of putting his face on Mt. Rushmore. And to show you he has a heart, Lupe even gives you a pass if you don’t catch all the intricacies of his bars because he knows you need two heads like the king of clubs to figure it all out.

More than anything else though, there is an overwhelming bemoaning of the state of Hip-Hop and the folks in it. Lupe suggests on the Timbaland-produced “Say Something” that he’s ready to eat these “backbone-less and wingless, bunch of chickens on the strip, coming for they fingers till what they throwin’ up is meaningless.”If you can live through Diddy’s auto tuned crooning on “Angels Remix” you’re treated to an interesting take on the evils of the music industry.  Think what you want about the track, it’s the perfect underpinning for Lupe’s observations on the two-faced nature of the beast. On “Yoga Flame” he explains the bait and switch tactics the more thoughtful in the game have to employ to catch the attention of a dumbed-down audience. 

Lupe Fiasco is arguably the most talented lyricist of his generation and it appears we have found him seething a bit in the Indian summer of his discontent.  “Fire” laid the groundwork for his latest blaze and if he continues on this path with Friend of the People (his rumored Christmas mixtape release) and his upcoming studio album, we might get to see the rest of these rap dudes start to sweat and Lupe complete the ascension that has been right in front of him for years.

DOWNLOAD!!http://usershare.net/klg8z9dlyjtx

 4 Out of 5 (Cause It’s Free)

Follow shelz on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/shelzp

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Check out Planet Ill’s page on Essence.com

Follow us on Networked Blogs