To say Lupe Fiasco’s commercial entry into the Hip Hop game was empowered with perfect timing somehow shortchanges his immense talent, yet it’s still a factually based notion. The year 2006 remains infamous for the year Hip Hop’s pendulum tilted on the Southern arrow on its compass; from some fans’ perspective, it was equitable to cardiac arrest prognosis: the end was near or at best, its life force would forever take on a new blood type. Ringtone rap — an exoskeleton for the varying snap and crunk subgenres – ran just as rampant as the cell phones themselves, artists of all spectrums struggled to properly sell albums as Internet pirating had finally become the norm, whereas it was a custom previously reserved for the tech savvy. T.I. won over the masses with the year’s only platinum rap certification and Nas donned an undertaker’s garb and called for a Hip Hop funeral. Shiny suits had evolved into Gino Green Global t-shirts and Coogi sweaters but the gateway to the promised land was once again a flashy single above all.
Leading up to Food & Liquor’s street date of September 19, 2006, Wasalu Muhammad Jaco had been beefing up his stock as the game’s number one draft pick, much to the delight of his then record label home of Atlantic Records, who were in pursuit of those oh-so-coveted first-week album sales numbers. Hailing from Chicago’s West Side, Lupe has successfully fed the streets with the requisite freebies via his Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series and they demanded the full course. So much to the point where, like many albums of the pre-Digital Age, it leaked well ahead of schedule. True-school Lupe fodder like the call-to-anarchy “Spaze Out,” as well as records that upheld the album’s gentrification theme in “Ghetto Story” and “Hustlaz Song” were ultimately lost in favor for a handful of records that focused on netting universal appeal. An audio movie in “Theme Music (To Drive By)” also paid the ultimate sacrifice on the studio floor, leaving its magnificent wordplay that illustrated one of the most reckless acts of gangbanging forever without a future in Best Buy and Target.
Even with the album’s original purity erased like the morning after prom night, Lupe was able to rise to the challenge and deliver a buffet of food for thought that nonetheless would have stuck to ribs had the climate of emceeing not been so dismal. Penned by Andres Hale, the original HipHopDX review praised Lupe for its double entendre-laden bars that stuffed cleverness from a ghetto-raised youth not afraid of the world that generally dictates the course of one’s life. The unapologetic “American Terrorist” is catchy enough for radio in terms of its musicality but was much too real to be tacked on to a Nextel phone’s database. Not to mention it flourished with eloquent wordplay.
“Just imagine an American-based Christian organization planning to poison water supplies to bring the Second Coming quicker, Nigga!” — Lupe Fiasco
When it came to parenting in the hood, there was the serene “He Say, She Say,” which, with a clever sleight of his pen, reflected both a father and son’s unification when no bond existed. Tales from the hood, streets and crypt were all joined in the afterlife on “The Cool,” a picturesque story of an undead hustler that was so vivid, you could feel the dirt the antihero removed from his clothes as he rose from his tomb in search of the path that led him there. Featuring a very uncharacteristic Kanye West beat, the record would go on to serve as the template for Lupe’s sophomore album but that’s another story for another day.
New additions in The Neptunes-produced “I Gotcha” and the fantastically inviting “Daydreamin’,” complete with Jill Scott vocals that send shockwaves through the soul, solidified Lupe’s hypebeast gold-member status where “Kick, Push” earned him a membership. Unlike most albums that carry a classic distinction, Food & Liquor isn’t renown for time-stopping guest appearances but his good buddy Jay Z, who had just shaken off a short-lived retirement, popped up on a new and improved version of “Pressure,” only to be bested by the new kid on the block. Think that time Michael Jordan figured Allen Iverson was just a rookie. Yeah.
And Coast … Lupe’s debut single was A Skatetboader’s Night Dream.
Producers Prolyfic and Soundtrakk scored the bulk of Food & Liquor with a supporting cast of a smattering of talented beatsmiths (Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, favored G-Unit soundman Needlz, Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman). The Chicago-based producers would achieve modest success working elsewhere but the album’s somber yet enlightening collection of instruments would go on to be their biggest claim to fame.
Lupe would go on to elevate the Jedi on his cinematic storytelling abilities (2007’s The Cool), learn how to satiate radio (2011’s Lasers) and even nail running a marathon in reverse (2014’s Tetsuo & Youth). The Jill Scott-assisted “Daydreamin'” would go on to nab a 2008 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. As for those first-week album sales, who gives a fuck. The hood is rarely represented in equal parts lyricism and realism from those who lived it and much like the urban establishments it was named after, Lupe’s debut still holds a special place in the heart of the community.
An album 10 years later still in rotation. Thank the most high for LF
Drogas Light on the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy Was Banging SLR this morning. amazing.
Track 10 is the coldest,if only lupe and kanye west would collab like that again…
This comment is the one I was lookimg for. Honestly, Kanye has never produced a beat like that…. Shit! And Lupe’s storytelin on there? Fucken wow.
I was listening to this album for like a whole year when it dropped. I mean it doesn’t happen just like that, the beats, the flows, the lyrics, OMG
Only two albums i loved that much since then (yeezus, summertime ’06), one of the best rap debut lps of all time
Damn, so many memories, thank you Lupe <3
A perfect 5? no way, good album but nowhere near perfect, highly overrated.
Go listen to Meek’s new album
U must b like 20 ya fav rapper prolly lil yachty or some shit u don’t know music dumbass and even if u don’t like the artist u still gotta respect the art of work step ya game up
You got it right im exactly 20 lol… but wtf is a lil yachty? my favorite rappers are Black Thought, Nas, Guru and a ton of other ones… Lupe is one my favorites, i was just stating my opinion, i didn’t say it’s garbage or anything… i simply said it’s overrated and that’s a fact, chill out dickrider.
Trent you’re a funny guy, I remember when I commented saying I’ve been a fan of HipHopDX since Food and Liquor was the highest rated album, in a plead to have my music posted. You deleted the comment, and a few weeks later, you write this article. I feel one step closer to finally having my dreams come true. A posted song on HipHopDX. Much respect, this album was as influential for me as Reasonable Doubt. This perfect rated album motivated me much more than words can describe. It showed how different your site was to actually have it rated above any other artist. Ya strived to go against the grain, now hip hop has become belittled to fake rap beefs. Thank you HipHopDX for being a huge part of my life. Ya made me the coolest kid in college, I heard all the latest songs first. Bumping it in my dorm. That’s what’s it’s all about. New song posted yesterday: Room 306.
We don’t delete comments, sir. Our spam filter is meant to catch errant links, racial and homophobic slurs. With the amount of comments it catches on the daily, sometimes the moderation process gets behind us and we don’t get to weed out ones that are good to go. Simply have your PR submit the music to media@hiphopdx.com and we’ll go from there!
Does your spam filter weed out truthful statements about the website?, you’re the only hip hop publication that rates a Beyonce and Drake album 5/5, gossip more than Hollywood with editors that are less credible than the readers you write for
Obviously it doesn’t weed out false statements because neither one of those ratings ever happened. Have fun digging through the archives!
Classic enough said. Lupe made being smart and nerdy cool
They say I’m infected, this is why I injected
I had it aborted, we got deported
My laptop got spyware, they say that I can’t lie here
But I got noooo place to gooo
I can’t stop eatin, my best friend’s leavin
My pastor touched me, I love this country
I lost my earpiece, I hope y’all hear me
‘Cause it huuurts meee soooul
Powerful LU right here, if you haven’t heard Pharaoh Heights, check it out on Youtube.
classic album…whatever happened to this Lupe.. well I guess he still got it, but this album was classic like a cutlass.
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years this masterpiece dropped. Still my favorite and most influential album I ever heard. I was 16 when this one dropped and I was hooked. Been a Lupe fan since.
Great article. Slight factual error though, Tetsuo & Youth came out in 2015.
Still a classic
It’s definitely a solid album but I don’t know about a 5/5 honestly.
KEEPING IT REAL, THIS ALBUM HASN’T AGED WELL. THE BREATH CONTROL ON THIS IS AMATEUR SHIT.
no one born before 1989 thinks this album is even good.
I was born in 1988 and this album happens to be in my top 5 all time favorites.
Go suck a dick, pussy.
not a classic but a good album
this is what backpack music is
What this trash?
One of the best albums of the decade. A few only decent songs make it not a perfect album
Classic hip-hop shit
definitly a classic top 5
Lupe fandLiquor