The Cold Cut

Another late night, another great track that I can't not write about. Lupe Fiasco's latest 'The Cool' is leaking like nobodies business, and I've only heard the results this afternoon. 'Dumb It Down', the last track to break camp, is a brilliant verbal tirade of abuse against the rap industry. And lets be honest: it deserves it.
"pour champaign on a bitch
(dumb it down)...
you'll sell more records if you
(dumb it down)..."
Go on, admit it. The rap industry is rapidly deteriorating, and individuality is a rarity nowadays. There are three or four topics which conclusively find their way into rap and hip hop songs, and you don't need me to list them. So 50 Cent makes shed-loads of cash from a song called "I Get Money", with abysmal rhymes and a great beat? Who the hell buys this shit? I could make you a better beat on a drum machine or Garage Band... Why would you want to listen to someone telling you how rich they are, when there are numerous alternative rappers who have more talent, and actually deserve the cash? Well, at least we have one young guy going against the current; Lupe probably doesn't even know the meaning of the word stereotype.

Food And Liquor, Lupe's first album, can be bought here.

The Cool (December 18th) can be pre-ordered here

Lupe Fiasco- Dumb It Down (ft. Gemstones & Graham Burris)
Lupe Fiasco- Superstar (ft. Matthew Santos)
Lupe Fiasco- The Coolest

I wonder how Mr. Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent) must be feeling at the moment. My bet is hysterical: how else would you be feeling when the most stupid promise of your life was looming over you? Let me elaborate: At the VMA's and on SOHH.com last week 50 Cent stated that he would retire if Kanye West's new album Graduation outsold 50's latest offering Curtis. And guess what? Well, Graduation outsold Curtis, and not by any small amount- in the week since both were released Graduation has sold 250,000 more copies than Curtis, and thus 50 is presented with a bit of a problem.

I don't have anything against Fiddy- I've listened to Get Rich Or Die Tryin' and The Massacre a great deal (haven't we all?) and lets just say I'm not averse to it. And even though Kanye has a tendency to act like a prick at times (VMA's anyone?), I love his music, and also the fact that he's a unique spin on the word rapper. For proof, how many other 'rappers' write songs like Family Business and Mama- both odes to the family life and all thats great about it-? Not many is the answer: most other rappers- 50 included- write about the textbook stuff, you know, guns, sex etc and so on.

My standing (after hearing most of both albums) is that Kanye comes out of this all as the superior rapper: Graduation is a brilliant album, full of life and raps about it (See Good Life in particular), and the production is solid, with a good selection of guest artists -barring Chris Martin on Homecoming, my least favourite song and the Mos Def featuring Drunk And Hot Girls)- to back West. 50 Cent, on the other hand, comes off much worse, with Curtis sounding completely flat and dead throughout. The raps are mediocre, and horrendous songs like AYO Technology shouldn't really be committed to record, at least not at this stage in his career.

But lets take 'me' out of the equation: 50 Cent made a promise, and I hope he keeps it, and in the process becomes one of the first rappers to actually retire, rather than just hanging around in the background like Jay-Z and Eminem. Either way it will be interesting to see how he responds to the fact that he has lost.

My advice is to pick a side- once the internet gets sorted out at school I'll post a few tracks to help you decide...