Tetsuo & Youth finds Lupe Fiasco returning to the ambitious abandon that defined his first two albums.
Tetsuo & Youth strolls its way into greatness after a couple listens and wipes out all the bitter aftertaste of Lasers as if that misstep never happened.
It's a lot to digest, but Lupe's refound vigour and poignancy make it largely worth the effort, despite one or two tracks that you'll no doubt find yourself drifting in and out of.
After a turbulent mix of starts and stops, Tetsuo And Youth ... is an album that both meets fans’ exalted expectations of the Chicago native while surpassing them in the process.
Something feels different this time around: If Tetsuo & Youth is any indication, something has shaken loose in Lupe, because it's the most focused, thoughtful, and satisfying project he's offered since The Cool.
The main quandary with Tetsuo & Youth is not so much the production, as much as it is the production for the most part sounding the same.
Tetsuo & Youth ... firmly sets Lupe back in the pantheon.
On the whole, Tetsuo and Youth is a shaky album by a newly energized Lupe Fiasco who is newly energized.
Lupe Fiasco's fifth album is a swirl of double meanings, extended metaphors about yoga and math, and increasingly labyrinthine ways to say "I'm dope".
This is the best hip-hop comeback album of all time in my opinion. After 2 duds (even though I personally enjoyed F&L2) Lupe was considered washed. This album changed all that. I can't even choose songs to comment because every song has loads of things to be commented about. The hooks are good, the rhyming schemes are very complex (internal rhymes, alliterations, lots of metaphors), the flow is pretty amazing, the subject matter is also very good most of the time. The only real low point ... read more
Here's two ways to consider music I pulled out of my ass ten minutes ago:
Conceptually - how cool are the ideas on paper, how unique is the thing I just listened too?
Practicality - how often will I return to this, or show it to people I know?
While most albums tend to put their eggs in one basket or the other, Tetsuo & Youth is an album with these two concepts at odds with one another.
Fuck a record playing out like a movie or a comic book, T&Y plays out like a Rubik's cube - if ... read more
Lupe Fiasco, one of the greatest writers in rap and one of the most conceptual rappers you will ever hear music from, proven by one single record.
I never listened to much Lupe Fiasco since i began being a hip hop fanatic, even if that's a little embarassing, so i naturally went completely blind into it and, man, this genuinely slaps so hard. It's honestly already growing to be one of my favourite rap albums. The concept, the insanely detailed and smart writing and even the catchy well-done ... read more
*guys whos only listened to to pimp a butterfly*
"its like to pimp a butterfly but with some flaws"
1 | Summer 1:26 | 79 |
2 | Mural 8:48 | 99 |
3 | Blur My Hands 5:27 feat. Guy Sebastian | 88 |
4 | Dots & Lines 6:32 | 90 |
5 | Fall 1:13 | 78 |
6 | Prisoner 1 & 2 8:36 feat. Ayesha Jaco | 95 |
7 | Body of Work 5:53 feat. Troi Irons, Terrace Martin | 85 |
8 | Little Death 4:29 feat. Nikki Jean | 89 |
9 | No Scratches 4:22 feat. Nikki Jean | 82 |
10 | Winter 1:31 | 78 |
11 | Chopper 9:32 | 87 |
12 | Deliver 3:52 | 87 |
13 | Madonna (And Other Mothers In the Hood) 4:43 feat. Nikki Jean | 89 |
14 | Adoration of the Magi 5:06 feat. Crystal Torres | 93 |
15 | They.Resurrect.Over.New. 5:38 feat. Ab-Soul, Troi Irons | 90 |
16 | Spring 1:35 | 79 |
#8 | / | Stashed |
#11 | / | Complex |
#31 | / | PopMatters |
#50 | / | Pigeons & Planes |
/ | HipHopDX | |
/ | XXL |