Lupe Fiasco's The Cool


Lupe Fiasco's The Cool is the second studio album by Chicago-native rapper Lupe Fiasco. It was released on December 18, 2007, by 1st & 15th Entertainment and Atlantic Records. Recording sessions took place during 2006 to 2007, with Lupe Fiasco himself, alongside Charles Patton serving as the records executive producers. A concept album, The Cool was based upon the song and a title character from his debut album, Food & Liquor. The album features guest appearances from Gemini, Snoop Dogg and Matthew Santos, while the production was provided by Patrick Stump, Soundtrakk and Unkle, among others.
The album debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard 200, selling 143,407 copies in its first week. The album debuted as the number-one rap record and remained for 9 weeks. To date, the album was a certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for the Best Rap Album.

Background

While Fiasco was recording his second album, his father died of type II diabetes, his good friend Stack Bundles died, and his business partner and mentor—Charles "Chilly" Patton—was sentenced to 44 years in prison. When asked about the album's dark side, Fiasco replied:
Lupe Fiasco's The Cool expands on the story with Fiasco telling on the track, called "The Cool" from his debut album. Fiasco introduces the characters the Streets and the Game. The album tells the story of the little boy from "He Say, She Say" who grew up without a father, and the people that step in to raise him are the Streets and the Game, with The Streets playing his female love interest and The Game his father. Speaking on the concept Fiasco said:
Fiasco also stated that there are plans to spin The Cool into a horror-themed radio program, and a comic book. The album was also personalized into a promotion in the form of a skateboard design contest, hosted by imeem, which was won by Sluglife, the show name for designer/artist Lawrence Ervin.

Recording

In an interview with MTV News, Fiasco explained how he planned to record The Cool:

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200, selling 143,407 copies in its first week in the United States. In its second week, the album rose to number 14 on the US Billboard 200. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 7, due to the success of his first single, "Superstar" featuring Matthew Santos. That single reached into the top five on these singles charts.. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for the shipment of 500,000 copies in the United States.

Critical response

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 77, based on 30 reviews. Entertainment Weekly said "Sonically, he's got the same kind of gratifying ADHD going on. Some tracks, like 'Paris, Tokyo,' contrast his Twista-style rapid-fire delivery with a lazy rhythm that's close to smooth jazz which can be compared to A Tribe Called Quest. 'Hello/Goodbye,' at the other extreme, has U.K. electro outfit Unkle providing a tense rock feel." The New York Times, hailing the album as "one of the year’s best hip-hop albums," added that "The songs only grow more urgent as Lupe Fiasco expands his sociopolitical perspective. 'Intruder Alert' starts as a wary love song and broadens its topic to immigration. 'Little Weapon,' produced by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, looks at children with guns, from child soldiers in Africa to high school shooters. AllMusic said, "He is one of the most clever artists around, and as far as telling stories with rhymes goes, he's way up there, best exemplified by 'Hip-Hop Saved My Life' and 'Gotta Eat'."
In a less enthusiastic review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis felt that Fiasco indulges occasionally in "sanctimonious moralising" on what is an otherwise successful album. Entertainment Weekly named The Cool the 10th best album of 2007 in their year-end list.

Track listing

;Sample Credits
Information taken from Allmusic.

Release history