Lupe Fiasco’s second album, The Cool, is without a doubt one of the most anticipated albums of the year, mostly off the strength of Lupe’s debut album, Food & Liquor. Food & Liquor was one of my favorite albums of 2006, so I was definitely excited to see what Lupe had in store for us on this second album. From reading all of the different articles and interviews with Lupe about The Cool, I could tell that this album was going to be quite different from his debut, both musically and lyrically, and I was right.

The Cool isn’t really a concept album, as Lupe has stated in various interviews, but it is highly conceptual to say the least. I still don’t understand why people are describing this album as “street,” because it really isn’t even close; it’s just darker. The album starts with one of the most annoying and unnecessary spoken word performances I’ve ever heard in my life. The following track, “Free Chilly,” could easily serve as an intro as well, and kind of does in a sense, considering there aren’t any lyrics and it’s only about a minute long. “Free Chilly” is pretty much a heartfelt shoutout to Lupe’s incarcerated business partner. Somehow, the slow, dramatic beat on “Free Chilly” transitions pretty well in to the first real track on the album, “Go Go Gadget Flow.” Fans of fast-rapping Chicagoans, like Twista and Do or Die, will surely enjoy this track, where Lupe raps double-time about himself and his city, and puts on an impressive display of lyrical dexterity.

The next song, “The Cool,” was one of my favorite songs on the album, before I even heard the whole thing. This is where Lupe gets in to his conceptual mind frame and further describes, The Cool, who is someone constantly chasing all of the material things that people long for in our society, represented by a female character named The Streets. The song is essentially one big metaphor, where Lupe describes our culture’s strange obsession with money and fame, by creating this character, The Streets, an attractive female in this case, which represents all of these things. This is interpreted through lyrics like “Her eyes glow green with the logo of our dreams, the purpose of our scene, an obscene obsession for the bling.” The production on this song from Chris & Drop is excellent and especially fitting, with a dark synth melody and some haunting background vocals to accompany Lupe’s lyrics.

After the second single, “Superstar,” The Cool gets a little bit more upbeat and positive with three bangers in a row. “Paris, Tokyo” is a song about Lupe’s international travels and his unwavering love for his wife. Soundtrakk kills the production on this song as well, providing a smooth, 80s influenced beat for Lupe to spit his quirky lyrics over. The next track, “Hi-definition,” is a pop-inspired track, featuring a guest verse from Snoop Dogg. Seriously, how can you go wrong with a Snoop Dogg feature? After two verses of Lupe’s back to back metaphors and staccato, upbeat delivery, Snoop Dogg brings an interesting laidback element to the song and provides a fitting yin to Lupe’s yang.

The upbeat tracks continue on “Gold Watch,” where Lupe gets a little cocky and essentially congratulates himself on his newfound success. One of Lupe’s weirdest most contradictory messages is his professed love for name-brand clothing and his expressed hatred of materialism. The third verse takes an interesting turn though, when Lupe starts to describe the things that he values in a woman. The lyrics here are some of the best on the album, especially where he says “The most coveted thing is a high self esteem, and a low tolerance for them telling me how to lean/Now, the most important parts are the ones that aren’t seen/The wings don’t make you fly and the crown don’t make you king.”

On “Hip-Hop Saved My Life,” Lupe tells the fictional story of a struggling, up-and coming rapper from Houston, named Michael (My Cool) Young. I could see where a lot of people could relate to this song and the lyrics are great, but overall, this idea seems a little corny to me, and makes this one of my least favorite tracks on the album. The album gets even more somber and dramatic with “Intruder,” featuring Matthew Santos on the hook once again. And things stay dark, but become more vibrant on “Streetz On Fire,” where Lupe further describes this fictional female character, The Streets. This is probably my favorite song on the album, as the beat sounds like something off an old Outkast album, and Matthew Santos singing another great hook. Lupe’s super fast delivery and intense metaphors on this song are pretty incredible to say the least.

“Streetz On Fire” is followed by another great track called “Little Weapon,” which is produced by Patrick Stump from Fallout Boy. Lupe makes an interesting argument for tighter gun control laws, through telling about the terrible effects that weapons have on our society. On the first verse, he tells the story of an African child soldier in the first person. Through the song, the lyrics provide detailed depictions, like “Now I don’t know much about where I’m from, but I know I strike fear everywhere I come/ Government want me dead so I wear my gun/ I want the rocket launcher but I’m still too young.” On the second verse, the lyrics get even better where he says “Cute, smile less, heartless, violent childhood destroyed, devoid of all childish ways/ can’t write they own names or read the words that’s on their own graves.”

After “Dumb It Down,” it seems like the album takes another dark and overdramatic turn, though “Fighters” and “Hello/Goodbye” are both great songs. “Hello Goodbye” was produced by the experimental British artist, UNKLE, along with Josh Homme, guitarist from Queens of the Stone Age. This song sounds like it would be incredible live, and even on the album version, the song sounds like it’s being performed in a stadium, rather than a studio. “The Die” and “Put You On the Game,” however, suffer from just sounding way too cinematic and overdramatic, and “Go Baby” is probably the weakest song on the album and a lame attempt at catering to the female audience, by ripping off Gnarls Barkley’s “Smiley Faces.”

The Cool, overall though, is a great album. Fans will have a difficult time comparing it Food & Liquor just because it’s so much different, but if anything, Lupe’s metaphors have become even more creative since F&L and his taste in beats has gotten better as well. There are only a couple weak beats on the album, but on the whole, Soundtrakk and Chris & Drop provide some very impressive production. Fiasco fans will love this album and it will definitely attract some new fans as well. Lupe’s growing fanbase will be disappointed to hear about his exit from hip-hop after his next album, LUPEnd, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he just creates another name and raps under that. Remember, we’re dealing with one of the smartest rappers around here and Lupe is a perfect example of smart being the new gangsta.