I find in Lupe what the a large portion of the game is missing, imagination and sensitivity. He is not the most charismatic, energetic or swagtastic but he is one of the most lyrically out of the box mc's around. I put emcee's (and almost everything) in classes. Their is the class of 87/88 Kane,KRS,Rakim, 94 Biggie, Jay-z, Nas, Outkast , 03/04 Ye,50,Game . Then there is the everybody after that class without diverting too much off subject there 5 maybe 10 truly talented spitters since 05. And when I look at them all Lupe resonates the most with me. I previously mentioned his sensitivity, I don't mean in the whiny connotation often applied to it but the open awareness to the plight of others connotation. He speaks for the disenfranchise african, the latchkey kid, the skateboarder and so many more. Like Kanye he is an everyman emcee. He is not without flaws and faults, one in particular is his beat selection. He often chooses awkward off putting tracks for the average beat connoisseur. His mix tape beat selections don't suffer from this as much as his official releases do. I however usually find the rhymes so enchanting that I can endure the beat. Understandably others may not have that kind of patience for his offerings.
I can not fairly or intelligently critique Jay Electronica because I have not given the attention a review deserves. I found that he is a lyrical beast on the few offerings but as I mentioned in the previous post reminds me of GZA. For all the brilliance of GZA's opus Liquid Swords I think I may have listened to it four times in 14 years because of his voice. For all of the mix tapes of Jay Elec floating in cyberspace I have not completely listened to one. I must give credit to the producer side of him as an artist. He is a dope producer from the joints he has done for himself, Nas and others. I will report further once I have taken some songs to the wood shed.
4 comments:
This guy! Yes, I'd agree that he's in that rare field of MC's. Notice I said MC. I was thinking about this today. Who is in the top 10 right now. Not the ALL TIME list but right now...I'd have a hard time placing him but I would think that he should be included although he's not of this class of MC'c (really). I'll get back to this....
There are those XXL's who put out a yearly class, but very rarely am I moved so I say from 05-010 and he is top 5.Now when you throw the cory gunz and the new dudes over the last year or two only I would be hard pressed.
You're spot on with your LF take. The brother's beat selection can be problematic for me. However, as some spitters try to flirt with the "look Ma, no pad" approach - I'm glad that Lupe has sat down with a notepad and put some thought back into the game. More importantly, I'm glad to see somebody put together a project with one central theme a la Busta's Y2K-themed series of albums. When it's a collection of songs that all fit together to reflect an MC's thought for a period of time in their life, you don't get throwaway music.
True indeed Reg, his thoughtfulness is what continues to draw me in.
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