lupe = the backpack jay z

2006 appears to be a really good year for hip hop music. Thus far we've been blessed with new dopeness from Ghostface (Fishscale), E-40 (My Ghetto Report Card), J Dilla (Donuts), and Publick Enemy (Rebirth of a Nation). And the year appears to have even more audible candy for the 3/4 of the year that is left: Gnarls Barkley, The Coup, Mistah FAB, Brother Ali, another joint by J Dilla, the Federation, etc. And aside from that rap shit, I've been anticipating the release of the J*Davey album.

Though, as of right now, I'm eyeing June 27, which is the supposed release date for "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor."

I was able to catch a brief performance by Lupe during the "Touch the Sky" tour with Kanye, Fantasia, and Keyshia Cole in September. He only did 2 or 3 tracks on his own and said he was going to be coming back out with Kanye (probably to do "Touch the Sky"), but for some reason dude never came back out. I was never really impressed with what Lupe had to offer on "Touch the Sky," but the tracks he performed on his own during the show were pretty nice. From what I heard, I thought that an album by him might be worth downloading when it came out.

Flash forward to today, and after just catching the video for "Kick, Push" on BET, hearing "Just Might Be Okay" (big ups to differentkitchen), and listening to a few other tracks that have been floating around the internet the past couple months, I must say that he's definitely deserving of all the praise that many in the hip hop community have been giving him. "Kick, Push" is an ode to skating, somewhat related to the previous posts on the skate shoe Vans. The beat is fiyah and destroys the only other skateboard hip hop track that I can think, Murs' "Transitions az a Ridah" (which I thought was a very creative track).

Word is that the album has been leaked though. Meaning it might get pushed back with a different track list. I'm still trying to get myself a copy, to listen to of course. But from what I've been hearing so far, this album is definitely worth picking up to support Lupe with that dollar he gets from cd sales.