"I'm Beamin'" by Lupe Fiasco off the upcoming Lasers, which doesn't yet have a release date (Via Rap Radar).
You can also check out the official music video for "Solar Midnite" by Lupe Fiasco here (which I'm not embedding because 1. it's for a Twilight movie, which I'm not down with and 2. embedding is disabled, but mainly reason #1 . . .).
"Horn Synth [Snippet]" by Lupe Fiasco Feat. Pharrell (No Video).
CRS (Child Rebel Soldier)? (Click here for more info).
It shouldn’t be that surprising, but it still was: if you don’t get to a college hip-hop show on time it’s pretty much a given that you will miss the first act. (I missed Kid Cudi when he opened for N.E.R.D. at Duke a couple weeks ago as well.)(Content originally written for The Daily Tar Heel Diversions Blog, but unpublished.)
And with a first act like the up-and-coming B.o.B, a.k.a. Bobby Ray, the multi-instrumentalist signed to T.I.’s Grand Hustle Records who raps, sings and produces most of his own music, it’s truly tragic.
I did manage to make it in time to hear the last riffs of B.o.B’s guitar-playing fade out. In time for that and in time to wait industry-accepted interminable amount of time before Lupe Fiasco came out at UNC-Charlotte’s Halton Arena last Friday.
Fiasco was backed-up by a guitarist straight out of the ‘80s, who never missed an opportunity to solo, by a heavy-set drummer, by a DJ – who was pretty mediocre for a hip-hop show that cost the general public $40 – and featured a bassist from another group on some songs.
Fiasco is a tireless performer (having only heard "Kick, Push" when I saw him perform at Bonnaroo in 2008, his indefatigable performance of songs such as "Hip Hop Saved My Life (Feat. Nikki Jean)" made me a fan) who may yet earn the title of “hardest working man in hip-hop.”
Not satisfied with simply playing songs from his first two studio records, Food & Liquor (2006) and The Cool (2007), or with debuting songs from his upcoming Lasers (2010), Fiasco also performed songs from his recent mixtape (download available here) Enemy of the State (2009), as well as his verses from the N.E.R.D. song (watch/listen here) “Everyone Nose (remix)” off the album Seeing Sounds (2008), which features hip-hop supergroup Child Rebel Soldier (comprised of Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes).
Fiasco brings a punk-rock ethos to his performance and, unlike many other performers, he made use of his hype man, who also doubled as his DJ at this performance, to enhance his entertainment value, rather than utilizing him so he could catch his own breath.
If Fiasco’s hyper-lyricism doesn’t do it for you, do yourself a favor and wait until you see a live show before dismissing this Chicago emcee.
Short shows and a whole bunch of white kids: college hip-hop.
No comments:
Post a Comment