So why is Lupe Fiasco’s Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
There’s something uniquely and entirely pleasing about “Kick, Push.” Well, some things really – and that goes for Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor as a whole as well.
A lush string arrangement segues into a big-sounding yet chill horn hook, and then we hear Lupe Fiasco rapping on his debut album, sounding fully formed and confident, yet so mellow and relaxed at the same time. And that allows us to kick (push) back and take in a narrative about a kid growing up with a great love of… skateboarding. Not your typical hip-hop track, in other words, on multiple fronts.
One of the great benefits and pleasures of embarking on this (audaciously mad) best 1,000 albums ever project is that it “forces” me to spend time with albums at different times, allowing me to think about them when in different moods and different frames of mind. It also lets me discover deeper tracks or stuff that I might have frankly overlooked that often end up being my favorite parts of an album.
Such is absolutely the case with, as it turns out, “Kick, Push II” (the 15th of 16 tracks on Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, right before “Outro”). It has the feel of a Dr. Dre-produced rap song, but laid way back in the shack, if you follow. A gentle but super catchy piano chords, strings, and subtle background vocals set the stage for Fiasco to do his thing. And there’s something about Fiasco’s rap thing where you just want to focus tightly on every word.
“Daydreamin’,” featuring Jill Scott, brilliantly leverages a sample chain that runs from I Monster’s “Daydream in Blue” to the Gunter Kallmann Choir’s “Daydream,” itself a cover of the original by The Wallace Collection. Fiasco amps up his energy just a notch, and it works perfectly with Scott’s wonderful vocal part and the dynamite sample and hip-hop track.
Some stats & info about Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rap, Hip Hop, Alternative Rap
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out 5 stars
- When was Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor released? 2006
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #565 out of 1,000
Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
First got it when he was six, didn’t know any tricks. Matter fact first time he got on it, he slipped.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.