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Track Listings
| 1. Ayesha Says (Intro) |
| 2. Strange Fruition (Feat. Casey Benjamin) |
| 3. ITAL (Roses) |
| 4. Around My Way (Freedom Ain t Free) |
| 5. Audubon Ballroom |
| 6. B*tch Bad |
| 7. Lamborghini Angels |
| 8. Put Em Up |
| 9. Heart Donor (Feat. Poo Bear) |
| 10. How Dare You (Feat. Bilal) |
| 11. Battle Scars (with Guy Sebastian) |
| 12. Brave Heart (Feat. Poo Bear) |
| 13. Form Follows Function |
| 14. Cold War (Feat. Jane $$$) |
| 15. Unforgivable Youth (Feat. Jason Evigian) |
| 16. Hood Now (Outro) |
| 17. Things We Must Do For Others |
Editorial Reviews
In 2006, a skater kid from Chicago made his solo debut with the excellent Food and Liquor and created a bona fide manifesto that spoke to socially conscious 80s babies. In 2012, with the release of Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1, Fiasco reveals the extent of his evolution. Against a background of synthesized future pop, Fiasco deconstructs heavyweight topics with an undeniable flow.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By SAMM
Format:Audio CD
As a long-time, avid Lupe Fiasco fan from the "Kick Push" days who has listened to all his albums, and as an African-American who has been touched by Lupe's music, I really wanted to love Food & Liquor 2 (F&L2). It was easily my most anticipated album of the year.
Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to "Food & Liquor I" (F&L). It doesn't even live up to "The Cool". I would say both of these previous albums were classics of the last decade. The way he always painted sometimes heartwarming, sometimes dark and tragic stories of pain and struggle in modern urban life and the ghetto always gripped and moved me, which made Lupe one of my favorite rappers of all time.
On F&L2, I saw that Lupe has become less of a storyteller, and more of a lecturer...which is most likely a reflection of his evolving, if not eyebrow-raising extremism in the Obama age. While Lupe was always a bit of an activist and spokesperson for the ghetto and urban youth, he has seemingly become more radical in the Obama age (his extreme Obama critiques, refusing to vote, etc.), and has developed a messiah complex that is weighing down the overall enjoyment and quality of his music. I say this, because it's written all over F&L2, and is the main thing weighing the album down from the landmark, industry-shaking album it could have been.
As I said before, the expert, moving storytelling of F&L1 and "The Cool" is barely present on F&L2 at all. Lupe, instead, lectures--a lot. The worst offender is "Form Follows Function"; the song title even sounds like a lecture title, and the song unfolds as such. The lackluster production doesn't help the replayability of the song--but that's perhaps not surprising, since his themes relegated the entire song as just a backdrop for his message. This same phenomenon happens with many songs on the album, making them hard to want to listen to again, lyrically or musically.
"Around My Way" was a single I initially enjoyed, but after being underwhelmed by the rest of the album, I can, in retrospect, even see some of these overarching album issues with this single. Whereas Lupe instead vividly painted pictures and told stories of local and global suffering in songs like "Hurt Me Soul", "Hip-Hop Has Saved My Life", and "Intruder", and left the visceral imagery and lyricism to impact the listener on their own, he flat out bashes you as a listener with depressing world events like a reporter, such as flatly saying "...the horn of Africa is now starving to death", and "Katrina, FEMA trailers, human body sandbags". He throws a slapdash, messy mosaic of dark world events at you, seemingly in hopes that one or some, if not all of the above, hit and stick to you somehow, like throwing balls at a wall and seeing what sticks. As I've cited and said before, Lupe is more creative than this. I know he can do better than this--because he's done it before, but doesn't do it on this album. By attempting to slapdash so many events into one album, one song--even one line--he diminishes all of them, and loses the listener, in an overly ambitious effort that instead becomes sloppy and unfocused.
"ITAL (Roses)" is one of the more uplifting productions on the album, but even then, Lupe can't stray away from didacticness, down to the point of outright saying "It's called being fiscally responsible" (never thought I would hear the words "fiscally responsible" in a rap lyric--he literally says it). Again, his message weighs down the overall enjoyment and impact of the song. This song had the potential to be an inspirational hip-hop anthem, of the "Fight the Power" ilk; instead, Lupe's didactic messages make it more of a public service announcement. That, and this song reveals hypocrisies between Lupe's message and his actions, given that he drops the word "b!tch" and "n!gga" casually despite denouncing the use of these words on "Bitch Bad" and "Audubon Ballroom", and is promoting getting a Camry instead of the typical luxury cars the rap industry idolizes, despite the fact that Lupe is known to have several Ferraris.
The tracks where Lupe takes a break from his propagandizing are then crippled with uninspired production and maudlin lyrics. "Battle Scars" exemplifies this; clearly groomed for the radio, and as such, very dull. "Heart Donor" is just downright cheesy and sappy, even by "Lasers" standards.
Being a whooping 17-track album, I was a mixture of excited and worried--excited for so much new Lupe material, but worried that the high track number might indicate a lack of direction, and almost guarantee many duds. Unfortunately, my suspicions were right, mainly for the aforementioned reasons.
Okay, that was all the bad.
For the good: there are a few gems on the album, that keep me coming back for another listen. "Strange Fruition", "Put `Em Up" (despite the bad chorus), and "Hood Now" are outstanding. "Lamborghini Angels" and "B!tch Bad" deserve honorable mention, too.
Unfortunately, though, again, being a whopping 17-track album, these few gems are outnumbered by many mediocre to poor tracks that are either overly simplistic ("Heart Donor") or overreachingly preachy ("Form Follows Function", "ITAL (Roses)"). Lupe can't seem to find an enjoyable, healthy balance between his message and his music.
Again, I consider "F&L1" and "The Cool" to be classics of the last decade; they had no dismissable songs on them. Every song was great and mindblowing in its own way, and worth a replay. I cannot say the same for F&L2--which is the first time in Lupe's career I can say this.
"Hood Now" was perhaps the most even-keeled, inspiring, and frankly not outright didactic and depressing song on the whole album. It's the first track in the album which Lupe sounds like he's actually having fun. As the outro, however, it comes 16 tracks too late. This is the Lupe I missed, reminiscent of his early days, that I was hoping to see more of.
I love Lupe Fiasco and everything he stands for. I stand by all his messages and beliefs of black unity, of black intellectualism, of rejecting the transgressive, retrogressive stereotypes of mainstream hip-hop ("hip-POP", as I call it--drugs, sex, violence, etc.). I also sympathize with his empathy for the various plights that plague the world at large: poverty, starvation, imperialism, etc. I believe with F&L2, however, he is now on the opposite end of the extreme from the very forces he is battling--perhaps an overcorrection from the forcedly commercial makeover of his music in "Lasers"--and needs to come back to center, and back down to earth.
If you're already a Lupe fan like myself, you'll perhaps still enjoy and appreciate the album, just for the effort and attempt alone, and for his meaningful, conscious messages that you find so little of in mainstream hip-hop. If you're an honest Lupe fan however, you will acknowledge after listening to this album that it just doesn't hold up to F&L1 or The Cool. As painful as it is to say, I think even Lasers might have been a better album, as far as overall cohesiveness goes.
If you're not a Lupe fan at all, or have only been a Lupe fan since "Lasers", I would NOT recommend this album to you. Unless you're already a committed fan, the didactic tone of F&L2 will most likely turn you off, and give you a horrible first impression of him. I would listen to F&L1 first, then "The Cool", and then come to F&L2.
I hope F&L2 Pt. 2 will overcome the stated weaknesses of this album.
Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to "Food & Liquor I" (F&L). It doesn't even live up to "The Cool". I would say both of these previous albums were classics of the last decade. The way he always painted sometimes heartwarming, sometimes dark and tragic stories of pain and struggle in modern urban life and the ghetto always gripped and moved me, which made Lupe one of my favorite rappers of all time.
On F&L2, I saw that Lupe has become less of a storyteller, and more of a lecturer...which is most likely a reflection of his evolving, if not eyebrow-raising extremism in the Obama age. While Lupe was always a bit of an activist and spokesperson for the ghetto and urban youth, he has seemingly become more radical in the Obama age (his extreme Obama critiques, refusing to vote, etc.), and has developed a messiah complex that is weighing down the overall enjoyment and quality of his music. I say this, because it's written all over F&L2, and is the main thing weighing the album down from the landmark, industry-shaking album it could have been.
As I said before, the expert, moving storytelling of F&L1 and "The Cool" is barely present on F&L2 at all. Lupe, instead, lectures--a lot. The worst offender is "Form Follows Function"; the song title even sounds like a lecture title, and the song unfolds as such. The lackluster production doesn't help the replayability of the song--but that's perhaps not surprising, since his themes relegated the entire song as just a backdrop for his message. This same phenomenon happens with many songs on the album, making them hard to want to listen to again, lyrically or musically.
"Around My Way" was a single I initially enjoyed, but after being underwhelmed by the rest of the album, I can, in retrospect, even see some of these overarching album issues with this single. Whereas Lupe instead vividly painted pictures and told stories of local and global suffering in songs like "Hurt Me Soul", "Hip-Hop Has Saved My Life", and "Intruder", and left the visceral imagery and lyricism to impact the listener on their own, he flat out bashes you as a listener with depressing world events like a reporter, such as flatly saying "...the horn of Africa is now starving to death", and "Katrina, FEMA trailers, human body sandbags". He throws a slapdash, messy mosaic of dark world events at you, seemingly in hopes that one or some, if not all of the above, hit and stick to you somehow, like throwing balls at a wall and seeing what sticks. As I've cited and said before, Lupe is more creative than this. I know he can do better than this--because he's done it before, but doesn't do it on this album. By attempting to slapdash so many events into one album, one song--even one line--he diminishes all of them, and loses the listener, in an overly ambitious effort that instead becomes sloppy and unfocused.
"ITAL (Roses)" is one of the more uplifting productions on the album, but even then, Lupe can't stray away from didacticness, down to the point of outright saying "It's called being fiscally responsible" (never thought I would hear the words "fiscally responsible" in a rap lyric--he literally says it). Again, his message weighs down the overall enjoyment and impact of the song. This song had the potential to be an inspirational hip-hop anthem, of the "Fight the Power" ilk; instead, Lupe's didactic messages make it more of a public service announcement. That, and this song reveals hypocrisies between Lupe's message and his actions, given that he drops the word "b!tch" and "n!gga" casually despite denouncing the use of these words on "Bitch Bad" and "Audubon Ballroom", and is promoting getting a Camry instead of the typical luxury cars the rap industry idolizes, despite the fact that Lupe is known to have several Ferraris.
The tracks where Lupe takes a break from his propagandizing are then crippled with uninspired production and maudlin lyrics. "Battle Scars" exemplifies this; clearly groomed for the radio, and as such, very dull. "Heart Donor" is just downright cheesy and sappy, even by "Lasers" standards.
Being a whooping 17-track album, I was a mixture of excited and worried--excited for so much new Lupe material, but worried that the high track number might indicate a lack of direction, and almost guarantee many duds. Unfortunately, my suspicions were right, mainly for the aforementioned reasons.
Okay, that was all the bad.
For the good: there are a few gems on the album, that keep me coming back for another listen. "Strange Fruition", "Put `Em Up" (despite the bad chorus), and "Hood Now" are outstanding. "Lamborghini Angels" and "B!tch Bad" deserve honorable mention, too.
Unfortunately, though, again, being a whopping 17-track album, these few gems are outnumbered by many mediocre to poor tracks that are either overly simplistic ("Heart Donor") or overreachingly preachy ("Form Follows Function", "ITAL (Roses)"). Lupe can't seem to find an enjoyable, healthy balance between his message and his music.
Again, I consider "F&L1" and "The Cool" to be classics of the last decade; they had no dismissable songs on them. Every song was great and mindblowing in its own way, and worth a replay. I cannot say the same for F&L2--which is the first time in Lupe's career I can say this.
"Hood Now" was perhaps the most even-keeled, inspiring, and frankly not outright didactic and depressing song on the whole album. It's the first track in the album which Lupe sounds like he's actually having fun. As the outro, however, it comes 16 tracks too late. This is the Lupe I missed, reminiscent of his early days, that I was hoping to see more of.
I love Lupe Fiasco and everything he stands for. I stand by all his messages and beliefs of black unity, of black intellectualism, of rejecting the transgressive, retrogressive stereotypes of mainstream hip-hop ("hip-POP", as I call it--drugs, sex, violence, etc.). I also sympathize with his empathy for the various plights that plague the world at large: poverty, starvation, imperialism, etc. I believe with F&L2, however, he is now on the opposite end of the extreme from the very forces he is battling--perhaps an overcorrection from the forcedly commercial makeover of his music in "Lasers"--and needs to come back to center, and back down to earth.
If you're already a Lupe fan like myself, you'll perhaps still enjoy and appreciate the album, just for the effort and attempt alone, and for his meaningful, conscious messages that you find so little of in mainstream hip-hop. If you're an honest Lupe fan however, you will acknowledge after listening to this album that it just doesn't hold up to F&L1 or The Cool. As painful as it is to say, I think even Lasers might have been a better album, as far as overall cohesiveness goes.
If you're not a Lupe fan at all, or have only been a Lupe fan since "Lasers", I would NOT recommend this album to you. Unless you're already a committed fan, the didactic tone of F&L2 will most likely turn you off, and give you a horrible first impression of him. I would listen to F&L1 first, then "The Cool", and then come to F&L2.
I hope F&L2 Pt. 2 will overcome the stated weaknesses of this album.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Roger Rabbit
Format:Audio CD
I knew Lupe wasn't gonna put out 2 bad albums in a row this CD is the bomb Lupe always kills it Lyrically but nobody ever talks about his beat selection, the beats on here are flawless he stepped up in production but here are some of my favorite tracks 1. Put Em Up 2. Lamborghini Angels 3. Ital Roses 4. Braveheart 5. Strange Fruition (classic way to start an album) so there you have it those are my top 5 tracks I actually could make another 5 but ill just keep it short BEST HIP HOP ALBUM OF 2012 go buy it you'll be pleased.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Fatboy_Rule
Format:Audio CD
Like most Lupe fans... I didn't really care for Lasers, it was too short, and a lot of the tracks had the exact same sound, which wasn't anything like F&L and The Cool.
Food & Liquor 2 (pt.1) is a perfect album for any Lupe fan and makes me completely forget all about the Lasers ordeal. Every track (except Heart Donor) is an exceptional reminder of why this guy is one of the greatest to ever pick up a mic.
Lupe gets it going right off the bat with Strange Fruition and ITAL (Roses) with great beats and off-the-chart rhymes. Around My Way has a good feel to it. B*tch Bad and Lamborghini Angels are both great tracks to turn up and bump, but still have a deeper meaning to them. One of my favorites is Put Em Up, it reminds me a bit of Dumb it Down with a simpler beat that really gets you focused on the lyrics. We get back into that classic hip hop feel with How Dare You and then back to another banger with Battle Scars.
I'll stop there as I don't want to get into a track-by-track review. For a fan of Lupe since F&L, this is a great addition to his catalog and will probably end up being my favorite album of 2012.
Food & Liquor 2 (pt.1) is a perfect album for any Lupe fan and makes me completely forget all about the Lasers ordeal. Every track (except Heart Donor) is an exceptional reminder of why this guy is one of the greatest to ever pick up a mic.
Lupe gets it going right off the bat with Strange Fruition and ITAL (Roses) with great beats and off-the-chart rhymes. Around My Way has a good feel to it. B*tch Bad and Lamborghini Angels are both great tracks to turn up and bump, but still have a deeper meaning to them. One of my favorites is Put Em Up, it reminds me a bit of Dumb it Down with a simpler beat that really gets you focused on the lyrics. We get back into that classic hip hop feel with How Dare You and then back to another banger with Battle Scars.
I'll stop there as I don't want to get into a track-by-track review. For a fan of Lupe since F&L, this is a great addition to his catalog and will probably end up being my favorite album of 2012.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Gift
I bought this CD for my GF and she is a huge Lupe Fiasco fan. I dont think she was too crazy about this album though...
Published 2 days ago by Lissette Vergara
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great album, but it's censored
Um, didn't realized I was buying the censored version since it says nothing about that on the product description : / But the album is awesome.
Published 4 days ago by Mariposa
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic hip-hop with a real message
He delivers his message without being too preachy. A true lyricist with a good message that just creates great music. I absolutely love this album.
Published 8 days ago by E. Schutt
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!
Great gift. Everyone loved it and plan on getting more as they come out. Would highly recommend to anyone who is getting this as a gift.
Published 1 month ago by Eldon R. Repsher
5.0 out of 5 stars
dope
This is a worthy sequel to F & L. Really lyric intensive. It makes you want to replay and replay.
Published 2 months ago by Lamar Adams
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lupe
Pretty solid album. Seemed like he went back to his roots a little, contrary to Lasers which was too main stream for my taste.
Published 2 months ago by Corey P. Kraft
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Lupe
Pick up the LP and support Hip-Hop with a message. Lupe and a few others are bringing balance to a nearly lost art of emce-ing.
Published 3 months ago by imanrp
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lupe is Number One
As far as lyrics, message and punchline no one is even close to Lupe right now and any one else that comes close isn't making full length albums (Andre 3000) One of the greatest... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Carey
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 Stars
This vendor has a great Collection of rare music and uses fast & affordable shipping. I use them on a regular basis and rate them 5 stars. I will do business again in the future.
Published 4 months ago by StB
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lupe returns to form
If you are a fan of Lupes 3rd lp, this one may surprise you due to its stronger political and social critic. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ogar Ogar
Listmania!
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