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Welcome to Part 2 of my attempt to argue that Lupe Fiasco is the greatest emcee that we’ve seen thus far. There have been a few arguments against Lupe Fiasco that I hope to evaluate here:

01.) He has recorded and released only two studio albums. The Notorious B.I.G. had released only two albums before his tragic death and is still viewed to this day by many as the greatest emcee to ever do it. As of this moment, Fiasco has 5 discs of material: two stellar studio albums and a critically acclaimed three-part mixtape series in the Fahrenheit 1/15 series (The Truth is Among Us, Revenge of The Nerds, A Rhyming Ape). Critics often look down on mixtapes, but with the amount of work put into his mixtapes, I’d dare put them against other rappers’ studio albums and the material would stand up just fine or be considered better.

Also, there are plenty of emcees who have utilized the mixtape game to become critically revered by consumers and critics alike. A few examples include Lil’ Wayne’s Dedication series, The Clipse’s We Got It 4 Cheap series, Chamillionaire’s Mixtape Messiah series and Joe Budden’s Mood Muzik series. Recently, Lupe has announced the release of three more albums before the release of his swan song, the triple disc album known as LupE.N.D. So when he officially retires, he will have plenty of material to be judged on: 6 studio albums (8 if you want to count LupE.N.D. as three albums), 3 critically acclaimed mixtapes and (possibly?) a collaboration album with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams as part of hip hop supergroup Child Rebel Soldier.

While Fiasco does not have the longevity of say a Jay-Z or LL Cool J, he places all of his effort into each studio album. Instead of creating a ten album career in which each album has five great songs littered with misogynistic and gangsta rhymes, along with maybe one classic LP, he is compiling all of his time and effort into every carefully chosen word, lyric and concept that presents a much more concentrated level of quality 6 superb opuses that can be appreciated for years to come.

02.) He is too young to be placed above or amongst proven legends. Who makes the criteria for who can be considered one of the greats? With every creative concept and every verse he releases, Lupe further etches his name into the annals of the all-time greats. It’s understandable that he lacks the longevity of his predecessors, but when he first came out, he explained that he was retiring after three solo albums because he doesn’t want to get to the point of rehashing the same material (Jay-Z, anyone?).

All in all, Lupe Fiasco is and will retire the greatest emcee to do it because he has not allowed himself to be corrupted by the evils of commercialism or industry politics and simply makes the creative music that he wants to. A lot of underground artists have argued that consumers do not want quality music anymore and that is why records are not selling anymore, but Lupe has cracked the formula. He built himself a solid fan base without dumbing down his lyrics for the public. He contains all the technical skills that has made these emcees legends and placed upon a pedestal by avid hip hop listeners and publications. A common misconception is that to be deemed the greatest, you must be the best at every aspect of emceeing. Biggie might have captured the crowd with his mic presence more, 2Pac may have grabbed your attention fast and Jay-Z has the longevity that emcees would kill for, but at the end of the day, when you look at the work that legendary emcees have put in for years, Lupe’s body of work just seems better at the end of the day. The guy’s work ethic in penning creative bars is unparallelled as when it comes to weak lines, Lupe has little to none.

The scary part: He’s still a prodigy and younger than the rest of the emcees on this list, which gives him the time to potentially push the envelope even further. The troubling thing is the fact that his genius will not be fully recognized until after he has retired. With that, I leave you with a small sample of his genius and a small request: anoint him. Like The Company Man has said: Appreciate other artists even if they’re only fighting for second place.

Sample Song (Theme Music to a Drive-By)
“Ugh, I can’t feel a field nigga pain
Devious skill, to make a strong willed nigga wane
Since a little nigga hang, with the killers and distributors
Of caine, they dismemberers of swishas then refill it with the Jane
Then they tilt it and they lit with a flame
Then they took a pull of killer to the brain like (inhale noise) ah
Evil minded like Krang
They became, they deranged like the rover that I rode
That was the Range that I drove when I was a little bit older
Mayne, declaring war on the deck like they the Joker
All while ducking from Bruce Wayne while they poker
With the devil in our moon-littened ghetto
Hello my name, stickers on the stickers of the veins in rehab
Remembering the feelings when they used to get mellow
When they was on back of a nickel like Monticello
When the underworld had to be smarter than Donatello
No honor amongst fellows
It’s harder than sitting with a blind man and trying to describe yellow
Got me feeling like Killer Joe
My life, the album
Know the classics by heart and exactly how the filler go
Repeat it on my way to the liquor store, chocolate”

“Cause I can’t feel the field nigga’s chains
Though I covet mine, so I covered mine in bling
Then I bumped into a bum and covered mine in shame
Then I bumped into a hon and uncovered mine again
Diamonds, they’ll undermine it mayne,
They’ll give a nigga with no mack another kind of game
See, money talks in another kind of slang
Detectives can’t decipher as they listen through the wire
As I accept the call and listen to the life of
Getting religion and making voodoo in the sink of your cell
Reciting Al-Fatiha in the kitchen
In deed on his deem and in addition to doing dishes
Listen as I get schooled on the rules to rule
The fuel of fools, the obstacles, the cool
Had to slow it down homey
Chopped and screwed
They said blow it down for me
Sticks and stones make the homes
Only God’s words can stop the wolves
And don’t fraternize with pigs, those kids will think your stool
Not at the bar, but trying to put him behind the bar, like a bartender
He laid the law like the bar so I put it in a bar for dude
He said borrow my jewels and bar the fools
Cause they a playa like the space bar and tools
Theme music to a drive-by, put it in your car and cruise”

Tracks to check out: Failure; Lupe The Killer; Dedicate; Dumb It Down; Twilight Zone; Theme Music to a Drive-By; The Cool; Mean & Vicious; Gotta Eat

Written By Rakeem Johnson

I go by the name of Mr. Genius. Undergraduate. Professional Writing Major, Psychology Minor. A future in corporate law on the horizon. Very abstract - usually thinking outside the box. A bit unorthodox. A lover of music; specifically Hip Hop, R&B and Neo-Soul, but I'll listen to anything once. Catch Me at YK2Daily.net or on Twitter (@Mr_Genius23)

1. Venom (www.mamasmule.com) says:

   March 21, 2009 at 2:47 pm

   Stellar job homie!!! Even though it’s arguable that he’s the greatest MC, I definitely put him in my top 3 (Hov is #1!). But u did an awesome job breaking down his rhymes and I definitely didn’t fully understand “Gotta Eat” at first but I discovered all the similies as I kept listening to it! But yeah dude’s def. a GENIUS
   Peace

   Reply
   • Rakeem Johnson says:

     March 21, 2009 at 4:12 pm

     Thanks for reading man. I think he’s better than even Hov though (I got him at #5 on my site). My problem with Jay has always been his consistency with his rhymes. He’ll drop 4 hot lines in a song and think it’s dope while emcees like Andre & Lupe make you want to quote the whole damn verse lol

     Reply
2. A.B. Frasier says:

   March 21, 2009 at 5:00 pm

   i want to disagree with you…but i cant….u kinda make great points….especially with lupe making 6 albums of quality rather than littering the rap scene…BUTTTTTTTTTTT!…theres always a but

   people of this time have very very short attention time spans….and emcees with longevity(unless killed)keeps themselves on peoples mind.

   if lupe was to leave the rap game now with the most classic album ever. how long till people forget about it. especially if he takes himself out of the limelight afterwards. this is a different time than the 90’s

   Reply
   • Rakeem Johnson says:

     March 21, 2009 at 5:20 pm

     That has been the biggest cry against my argument (longevity) lol. When it comes to longevity, I downplay it slightly because (for example), Lupe didn’t just drop a hot single and drop chunks after that. He’s been consistent from jump and dropped 2 arguable classics or near classics.

     As of now, he’s planning to release three more albums before his final one, LupE.N.D. (a triple disc). If he drops a classic in LupE.N.D., a THREE-DISC classic, no one will forget it because no one has ever dropped a classic multi-disc album (I’d say Biggie did, but that’s for another day).

     Reply
3. Ethan795 says:

   March 24, 2009 at 5:45 am

   I’m not sure where I stand…I mean don’t get me wrong Lupe got mad skills and I’m a huge fan but I’ve grown kinda…bored of the dude.

   His wordplay is immense and I love finding new music by him but due to the covert nature of his wordplay you’re encouraged to listen to a track over and over…and for that reason I’ve just got bored. I’ve heard it all too many times.

   Reply