Pizza Recap: Lupe Fiasco at Canopy Club
The year was 2007. Food & Liquor, the debut album by Lupe Fiasco, had been bumping on every misfit skater kid's iPod for the past year, and at this point I could probably sing along to "Kick, Push" in my sleep. This was the hottest hip-hop album of the year, featuring production by Jay-Z and Kanye West and it was already controversial, because of almost being canceled six months ahead of release due to being leaked online. It was the debut album from an unknown artist that was hailed by critics as "the savior of hip-hop" and a major revival of the conscious rap style of Chicago and New York from the 90's. Why was a white kid from the suburbs whose main struggle was a crippling addiction to World of Warcraft (not exactly the album's target demographic) listening to it? I wish I had a more compelling story, but to be honest, I was moving to a new school and they had a copy of the CD in the half off bin at Target when I was picking up my supplies and I liked the album art. As a high school kid without any knowledge of hip-hop, Food & Liquor was not just my introduction to Lupe Fiasco, but to the genre as a whole and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the album has had a big influence on my life. Where are we at nine years later?
As of January, it's official that Lupe doesn't want to be relevant. He's done, you guys. 00's (pronounced "oh-tees") rap's rising star has extinguished himself, and the man who has toured and been in groups with Yeezy, Jay-Z, J Cole, Pharrell, and many more of hip-hop's finest is still touring, but only for fun and he's liable to drop out of his own tour before the end of the year. He's quit Twitter and he's quit Facebook, but come back to both, and his newest album's art is a painting done by the man himself. After the release of Tetsuo & Youth, he's finally free of perhaps one of the most unhappy and painfully long record contracts in history with Atlantic and has at various times claimed to be done with rapping forever even though he's still sitting on five albums' worth of material. Pitchfork said it best, "this is a man who seems exhausted by his own career." His set at the Canopy Club last week was still a wild ride, though, and makes me wonder what a Lupe show at full power would feel like.The Canopy show started late and Lupe only took to the stage after about twenty minutes of beats from his backing DJ. Since Food & Liquor, I have listened to many (read: a thousand is not too many I don't have a problem) hip-hop albums and been lucky enough to attend quite a few shows and I've honestly never seen an artist who seemed less enthusiastic to perform his new material than Lupe. After stopping to ramble through some pretty funny stories about his last visit to Champaign, talking some smack about his victory over pro Street Fighter player Daigo, and giving props to his bus driver and designated-head-nodder-guy onstage, he stopped his set completely for 15 minutes. During that time, he completely gutted Kid Cudi and was so harsh in his criticism that he had me and others in the crowd feeling uncomfortable. "Lupe Fiasco does not and never will fuck with Kid Cudi," he concluded. Shortly afterward, he played "Kick, Push" and the crowd went gaga and then he tricked us into singing all of "Superstar" for him while he stood onstage and danced like a goon. In short, it was one of the realest and weirdest shows I've ever been to.
For all his public beefs and heartbreak at the hands of labels and producers, Lupe Fiasco has held tight and Tetsuo & Youth is definitely the best thing he's put out since The Cool. Overall, although I can't say he's my favorite artist anymore, Lupe will always have a special place in my heart as the artist that got me into hip-hop and I have major respect for the man for doing things his way and not wanting to be "yesterday's superstar." You can check out some of his paintings in Chicago at the Ed Paschke Art Center until 11/30.