I'm OBSESSED with this album.

"Now, ready to capitalize on such promise, Fiasco has returned with his second offering, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. A largely conceptual tour-de-force, the album's title is inspired by a standout track from Fiasco's debut, a hustler-turned-zombie epic also called "The Cool." This time around, Fiasco introduces three new characters - Michael Young History (The Cool before his death), The Game (a male personification of a hustler's damaging influences), and The Streets (a female embodiment of an urban area's corrupt allure). The potent sense of thematic execution comes across perfectly on "The Coolest," a highlight of Lupe Fiasco's The Cool that serves as a prelude to the earlier track, "The Cool." Detailing Michael Young History's fall from glory to tragedy at the hands of his lover, The Streets, Fiasco employs his unique brand of imagery: "If the rain stops and everything's dry / She would cry so I could drink the tears from her eye." Elsewhere, Fiasco strays away from his characters to comment on his own rise to fame, an issue that clearly causes discomfort. Look no further than the first single, "Superstar," produced by Fiasco's closest collaborator, Soundtrakk, and beaming with poignant unease: "A fresh, cool young Lu / Trying to cash his microphone check, 2, 1, 2 / Wanna believe my own hype, but it's too untrue / The world brought me to my knees, what have you brung you?"Primarily produced by Soundtrakk, and also featuring contributions from a diverse array of atypical instrumentalists (including Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump), Lupe Fiasco's The Cool is evidence that Fiasco is anything but average. Rather than follow up a monumental '06 year - capped by his three Grammy nods, four BET Hip Hop Award nominations, and recognition as GQ's "Breakout Man of the Year," amongst other accolades - with an obvious attempt to further crossover, the young wordsmith has crafted a dense, dark, and atmospheric examination of life's pleasures. Whether negative or positive, what people consider to be "cool" ultimately dominates their every move, and Fiasco is completely aware of this. In hip-hop's popularity contest, Lupe Fiasco is the observer, a thinking man brave enough to dictate the acute thoughts that his peers ignore. Now, that is cool." 10/07
--From http://www.lupefiasco.com/